The Florida Nurse - December 2014

December 2014 The Florida Nurse Page 3
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Association Today!
Tiffany Massey, RN
This past November
6th, as I was on a plane
from Tampa to Oregon
for the NSNA Mid-
Year Conference, I was
reading a book that I
have been wanting to
read since I started
nursing school. Never
in the past, I felt guilty
trying to read anything
other than nursing
texts. The opening acknowledgment instantly
was disturbing; speaking about the thankless and
easily forgetful work us as nurses and student
nurses do day in and day out at the facilities we
work in or the homes that we are invited into.
We all believe that from day one, we enter into
this career, this love of helping others to do just
that. Our goal is to ease someone’s suffering or
support new mothers and their families in the joy
of welcoming a new life into the world. In my brief
time as a nurse, I am learning that it is much more
than that. I am currently a nurse in labor and
delivery in a small six bed unit and have learned
and gained so much more insight into patient
care and nursing from my patients than any book
will ever teach me. I have learned the difference
between sympathy and empathy for my clients;
the difference between hurting and harming;
and the difference between sadness and grief.
These are lessons that must be experienced by the
individual nurse rather than taught.
Throughout my two years in nursing school,
I was frequently criticized for my decision to
specialize in a specific practice area in nursing. I
was advised that this choice would be detrimental
to my career. However, after three months on a
unit where I have been blessed to observe smiling
faces after five arduous hours of labor as well as
experiencing the outright grief and despair of
having to tell a mother her worst fear has come
true in regards to the birth of her child I wouldn’t
trade my choice for anything in the world. All of
that being said, I encourage every nursing student,
new graduate, and seasoned RN to stay connected
with their passion and revisit what made you
choose nursing to begin with.
I also encourage everyone to become active with
their professional organization, to get another
view and to gain the networking and support to
help you through the tough times as well as take
action as it relates to those issues you feel need
“fixing” in nursing. It is only with the voices and
actions of nurses that this can occur.
FNA Congratulations the 2015 FNSA Board of
Directors elected at the FNSA Convention in October:
Tiffany Massey
President
Marlen Lukatsky
1st Vice President
Frank Thomas
2nd Vice President
Macy Thomas
Recording Secretary
Kathy Hayes
Corresponding Secretary
Board of Directors
Melissa Derringer
Treasurer
Region 1 Director
Dionne Williams
Breakthrough to
Nursing
Region 2 Director
Terry Tokash
Legislative
Region 3 Director
Ricky Bettencourt
Community Health
Visit floridanurse.org
or scan for complete
information.
Region 4 Director
Kimberlyn Sauer-Watts
Resolutions
Region 5 Director
Jamal Bernard
Membership
Region 6 Director
Arsalan Hamid
Nominations and
Elections
Region 7 Director
Kevin Morrow
Communications
Tiffany Massey is an RN-BSN student at Florida
Atlantic University. She is currently a Woman’s
Health nurse in North Florida and is pursuing her
long-term goal of becoming an ARNP. She enjoys
helping students with questions from class to
questions about leadership. She enjoys fishing and
hiking and being in nature in her free time.
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