Celebration Party
Submitted by Theresa Dobbin, MSN, APN-BC, CCRN, WCC
Tags: health care professionals networking nursing education online learning
Of course, the traffic from New Jersey is heavy today as I am heading to Villanova University for a party that I was invited to. I received the invitation from Dr. Susan Slaninka who is our professor for our class called “Development of Nursing Science”. This is a celebration party to mark the end of our class, and since our class is online, we have never even met each other. I am anxious to meet everyone and end the semester with a party!
I do not like being late to anything especially to a party where I really do not know anyone nor have I ever met anyone. The party is on the first floor of Driscoll Hall at Villanova University. I am late but take a deep breath and walk in. The first thing I notice is the large Christmas Tree. It is beautiful! There is music playing and the atmosphere is a happy and exciting one. Everyone is busy talking, eating, and drinking. The current undergraduate nursing students are there to take our coats and make sure things run smoothly. I am anxious to meet the members in my class but there was one thing I noticed.
I notice there are more people than just the students in our class. At first I was not sure who they were, but everyone was already mingling amongst each other while music played in the background. I look around for a familiar face and the first one to catch my eye was a woman all dressed in black with a little hat on. She looked out of place like she was dressed up for Halloween. She did look familiar like I have met her before somewhere. I noticed she was holding a little lantern. I looked closer and realized it was Florence Nightingale herself! I introduced myself and as all nurses know, age or different parts of the world make no difference, nurses always have something to talk about. Florence was so honored to have been invited to the party. She finds it fascinating when I talk about reciting the Nightingale Pledge at my pinning ceremony in 1990. I tell her about our class and that she was the first theorist we discussed this semester. Luckily, I had my tablet with me and I showed her our stories regarding cleanliness, ventilation, warmth, smell, noise and light. She was very impressed with the tablet and how we are learning in class since has never seen a tablet before! I explained how we each did a scavenger hunt using her elements and applied them to an area that we all chose. She was very quiet and listened very intently as I described our online class.
As I move across the room, I see that Regina and Nicole are busy talking to each other about their future careers as pediatric nurse practitioners. It is great to finally get to meet some of my classmates that we have been in class with all semester! Pediatric nursing is something that I have never done, so it was interesting hearing them speak about their current jobs and their plans for their futures as Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. I ask them if they have met Florence Nightingale yet and they have not, so I show them were she is in the room. I told her to just follow the lamp since the lights were dimmed a little. They told me that they just met Cornelia Ruland and Shirley Moore and said that they told them I would be there soon to meet them since I did my presentation on their theory. They point them out in the room and I head over to them while Regina and Nicole go to meet Florence Nightingale. As I approach Cornelia Ruland and Shirley Moore, I see they are busy having a conversation with Amanda. I do not want to interrupt their conversation, but Amanda sees me and calls me over. She introduces me to Cornelia Ruland and Shirley Moore and I am fascinated by meeting the theorists that I just completed my presentation on! Amanda says she really wanted to meet them because she has a strong interest in hospice and end of life. She explained to them that recently she has been thinking about hospice and wanted to meet them. Amanda says goodbye and starts to walk around the room as I turned back to speak with Cornelia Ruland and Shirley Moore and about their Peaceful End-ofLife Theory. Cornelia Ruland does most of the talking, most probably because she was the one that started this theory while she was in Shirley Moore’s class. I listen intently as she discusses the major concepts of the Peaceful End-of-Life Theory and I then realize that she has a Norwegian accent! I discuss that I work in an intensive care setting and how important a peaceful end of life is to me when it comes to caring for my patients. They ask to see my PowerPoint so I pull out my tablet and log on. They ask if I could email them the PowerPoint Presentation which of course I do while we are standing there. As we are speaking, a delicious tray of hot hors d’oeuvres are being offered to us and when I look up it is Dr. Slaninka serving them! What a great hostess!
I thank Cornelia Ruland and Shirley Moore for taking the time to talk with me and I excuse myself as I make my way across the room to a group of my classmates. I realize it is Mariya, Michelle, Scott, Amanda, Peter, and Rachel. I then realize that being that they have not met as a group, they are all in the Nurse Anesthesia Track and this was their first opportunity to finally meet and network! I notice that Katharine Kolcaba is walking up to them and asking for Peter. She wanted to meet the student who did the presentation on her Comfort Theory. Peter introduces himself and the rest of the Nurse Anesthesia students. I say a quick hello and introduce myself and as they continue to talk to Katherine Kolcaba, I excuse myself to continue to mingle around the room.
I turn to find Sarah sitting at a table with Dorothy Johnson. They are intently talking about her theory and the subsystems of her theory. I walk up to the table and Sarah introduces herself to me and introduces me to Dorothy Johnson. Being that we are both in an intensive care setting, we share with Johnson the different subsystems and how we apply each of them to our practice daily. Sarah pulls out her cell phone and quickly takes a selfie of her and Dorothy Johnson and then asks if I could take a photo of them. Being that Sarah did her presentation on Johnson, she wanted the pictures to prove she finally got to meet her! We separate to go mingle amongst the guests, and Sarah finds Sheila who has just finished talking to Florence Nightingale. Since they realize that they are both in the Family Nurse Practitioner Track, Sheila and Sarah quickly start talking about their futures as Family Nurse Practitioners. I saw that Dorothy Johnson was now by herself so before moving on, I introduce Dorothy Johnson to Regina and Nicole. Dorothy Johnson, Regina and Nicole begin to discuss their pediatric nursing stories. Right away they have a lot in common as pediatric nurses. I grab a drink and start to walk around while the sights and sounds of nurses and nursing stories filling the room.
I head over to the staircase, where I see Kaitlyn and Jennifer talking about their futures as Adult/Gerontological Nurse Practitioners. I tell them about my difficulty deciding between Adult Nurse Practitioner and Nursing Education and how in the future I may go ahead and obtain a post masters in the Nurse Practitioner Track. As we are discussing the different tracks, Dr. Madeleine Leininger walks up to us and shakes Kaitlyn’s hand. She said she was talking to Dr. Slaninka and she mentioned that Kaitlyn did a great presentation on her theory. Kaitlyn eagerly tells Madeleine Leininger how much she learned while researching the Transcultural Theory. We thanked God for technology today because all the theorists wanted to see the presentations! A simple log in on a tablet or phone and there were the presentations.
As Kaitlyn and Madeleine Leininger are discussing her theory of transcultural nursing, Jennifer and I start talking about how quickly this class has gone by this semester and how great this party is. We were excited to finally meet the theorists that we have been learning about all semester. It was then that I saw Imogene King. I tell Jennifer that Imogene King is there and that I thought I remembered her doing her presentation on her. She is standing by herself staring up at the large Christmas Tree. We walk closer to her and see her face intently staring at the tree. She seems sad but quickly turns to us when she sees us approach her. She apologizes and says that Christmastime is a difficult time in her family since she passed away on Christmas Eve. We thought that was odd that she said she had already passed away since she was standing right in front of us here, but we were so excited to meet her. Her sorrow quickly changed to joy when Jennifer tells her how honored it is to meet her. She talked about how she did her presentation on her Goal Attainment Theory. I talked to her about how we use goals in the intensive care setting daily. We talked about how we develop goals with our patients. Jennifer asks questions of her that she did not find in her research. I quietly listen as they discuss the theory and how important it is to involve patients in goal making. Since Jennifer and Imogene King are so deep in conversation, I quietly slip away to let the two of them talk about her theory.
As I mingle around the room, I see one of the theorists that looks familiar but cannot quite place her face. I introduce myself and apologize for not recognizing her. She tells me she is Dorothea Orem! Embarrassed I tell her that I should recognize her because our hospital is based on her “Self-Care Deficit Theory”. I explain how her theory is applied to my setting in the critical care unit. I explained how most of our patients have self-care deficits in almost every area. Orem is anxious to know which student presented her theory in their presentation. I look around for Rachel and see that she is speaking with Katharine Kolcoba with the nurse anesthesia group so I point her out to Dorothea Orem. She heads over to meet her and thanks me for talking to her. She also is very honored that our hospital uses her theory!
I head over to the food table because I realize that I have not eaten anything in hours! Of course, Dr. Slaninka only got the best for this party, every type of food you can think of! From the healthy to the not so healthy and everything in between. As I take a cookie, I look up and see Nola Pender filling her plate with veggies and sipping on her water. I walk over and introduce myself and complimented her on her choice of food on her plate! She talked about her Health Promotion Model and we talked about health. We talked about healthy eating and exercise. I explained how Amanda did a great job with her presentation on her model and how we all shared our experiences on how we dealt with eating and exercise. As we are discussing her theory, Amanda walks over to the table and I introduce her to Nola Pender. They discuss her theory and Nola Pender thanks Amanda for choosing her theory to do her presentation on.
As I continue to walk around the room and mingle, I realize that I am the only one in the Nursing Education Track. There is no one in the class for me to talk about Nursing Education and the different paths one can take in this track. I look at my watch and I realize that it is getting late and although I would love to be able to mingle some more and talk to the other theorists, I know I would not be able to speak to them all. As I look around the room, I want to get a better look at this amazing party.
I walk up the staircase to get a better look at the entire room. As I reach the top of the staircase, I look down. In one room, on one floor of Driscoll Hall at Villanova University is a beautiful sight. Nurses from the past and the present all mingling and sharing their stories both old and new. The undergraduate nursing students have even begun to mingle with the others. These nurses are our future. The theorists of the past have taught us so much about nursing. In our undergraduate courses, they were just theories to us. We could not apply them to our practice, mainly because we did not have a practice to apply them to. Now, here we are today meeting them all for the first time and having the chance to talk to them, to learn from them and even to have them learn from us.
As it is getting darker outside and the room is getting dimmer, I look around one last time before I need to leave. There is laughter of the room, the theorists that we have learned about all semester are starting to leave. My classmates we have all met for the first time tonight are starting to leave. Our professor who kept us updated throughout the semester on which assignments were due and giving us constructive criticism was saying good bye to all the theorists and students. Everyone was thanking her for a great party to end the semester. As I was about to descend the staircase I stopped. It was then that she caught my eye.
It was the lady I saw when I first walked in. The lady dressed in black with the little hat on. The lady who was walking around with a little lantern. The lady who quietly walked amongst all the nurses young and old. The lady that started it all. It was The Lady with the Lamp: Florence Nightingale.