Common Threads between Teaching and Nursing

There really are some common threads between teaching and nursing, as I have discoverd these past two years as a new teacher.

Teaching requires seeing the potential in your students and creatively addressing individual needs.
Nursing requires you to see the real person behind the disease or illness or situation, and creatively solving problems.

Teaching requires you to set aside stereotypical ideas regarding people.
Nursing requires you to set aside stereotypical ideas regarding people.

Teaching often involves nursing in the sense of extending care and concern to a student.
Nursing often involves teaching a person how to care for themselves.

Teaching requires you to be other centered.
Nursing demands that you be other centered.

So, these two careers are very much intertwined with each other. There are some differences between them as well...which I will explore in my next post.

Kathy Redmond

First rambling notes...

This is my first foray into this venue of blogging. I teach writing at the Community College level, but I am also a nurse. I have done a wide range of things within the nursing profession...oncology, med-surg, ICU/CCU, newborn nursery, pediatrician's office, Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator.

Then, I went back and earned a Masters in English, and currently I teach Part-time in a local CC.

But, I am considering re-entering nursing by becoming a birth doula. Teaching is rewarding and full-filling, but there is something missing...which is caring for people on a deeper level.

In my Lamaze training I did support women in labor several times, and found it to be extremely rewarding. So, I checked out the DONA website, and ordered the books I'm required to read, and plan to attend their next doula training workshop in February.

There are many parallels between these two careers, but I'll come back to that on my next post.

Kathy