Pediatric ICU nurse has advice for supporting nurses

Friends and family can support nurses in these difficult times if they “listen to what the nurse is actually distressed about in the moment, and stay with them there,” wrote pediatric intensive care nurse Hui-Wen Sato in a post on the American Journal of Nursing’s “Off the Charts” blog. Among her other advice: Don’t tell nurses, “You chose this.” Instead, help them regain balance in their lives. Many challenges of nursing have not changed in the last five years, she noted, but others have, primarily as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Community support matters more than ever,” she stressed. (Off the Charts blogpost, 5/2/22)