{"id":200,"date":"2020-11-19T07:03:25","date_gmt":"2020-11-19T07:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/learningandteachingsonm\/?p=200"},"modified":"2020-11-19T07:03:27","modified_gmt":"2020-11-19T07:03:27","slug":"empathy-communication-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/learningandteachingsonm\/empathy-communication-connection\/","title":{"rendered":"Empathy + Communication = Connection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To mark International Mens Day, School of Nursing and Midwifery Head of School, Prof. Donna Fitzsimons reflects on the connection made between her brother when he was ill and a male nurse, and argues that the profession and our patients would benefit from more men in nursing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My name is Donna Fitzsimons and I\u2019d like to share a short story with you that as a Head of a busy School of Nursing & Midwifery where less than 10% of our undergraduate students are male, I tend to reflect on quite a lot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It starts some 20 years ago now, when my brother Joe was 32 and he was diagnosed with a Ewing\u2019s Sarcoma in his spine. This was a big shock to Joe who was an average sort of guy \u2013 a builder, married with three kids and a strong circle of family and friends. He was very much a man\u2019s man, if you know what I mean, liked a pint with his mates and a game of golf at the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the word \u2018Go\u2019, the odds were 50\/50 at best, and the gruelling 3 weekly chemo would last almost a year and require a minimum of 3 days hospitalisation for each one. A self-employed guy, Joe had to give up work, he lost his hair and he was pretty sick and sore. Despite that he loved a joke, was competitive on the Mirror Crossword and when I called up to see him at lunchtimes he was usually found begging the nurses to speed the drip and let him out of there. He hated living in pyjamas, wasting daylight and going bald. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More importantly he hated sympathy or being treated as a sick person and that\u2019s where Mark came in. He was a Staff Nurse on the chemo unit, always ready to have chat about his golf game, or seek Joe\u2019s advice on how to fix a leaking flat or get new double glazing. Mark saw beyond the pallid guy pushing a drip around and helped Joe connect with his usual identity. They developed a therapeutic connection that really made that treatment journey less toxic to my brother; and all the more so when the cancer returned – when treatment had to start all over again, and when Joe acknowledged his days were numbered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In those days Mark came into his own and helped Joe get his head round some of the most challenging of physical and mental issues \u2013 usually with a joke or a pat on the back and a palpable \u2018we\u2019re in this together\u2019, shoulder to shoulder approach.  Mark was a fabulous nurse, he had great empathy and communication skills, exemplifying that these are not gender specific qualities and that they are at the very heart of our professional practice as nurses and midwives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I often reflect whether this was a gender issue? Were all the female nurses who cared for Joe in such an exemplary way not able to provide the kind of support that he got from Mark, just because they weren\u2019t a man? I don\u2019t really believe that. But what I do believe is that because roughly 50% of patients are men, we need to rectify the gender balance in our profession. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diversity and inclusion are a top priority for Nursing & Midwifery. I think our professions provide wonderful opportunities for career development and job satisfaction, and despite all of the inherent challenges that we face, we are also privileged to have rewarding and enriching careers. Currently we also have job security and reasonable pensions to enable us to provide for our families. So let\u2019s stop worrying about the optics and do what we know in our hearts is the right thing to do \u2013 shout it from the rooftops \u2013 patients need men in Nursing & Midwifery and so do the professions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Donna Fitzsimons<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To mark International Mens Day, School of Nursing and Midwifery Head of School, Prof. Donna Fitzsimons reflects on the connection made between her brother when he was ill and a male nurse, and argues that the profession and our patients … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":841,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-uncategorised"],"yoast_head":"\nEmpathy + Communication = Connection - Connected learning QUB SONM<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/learningandteachingsonm\/empathy-communication-connection\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Empathy + Communication = Connection - 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