Friday | March 17, 2023

Healthcare starts with you. This is your beat.

Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhaoibh, Nursing Beat Friends!

In case I just confused you, and you thought I might have had a stroke, that jumble of letters is actually how you say Happy St. Patrick’s Day to a group of friends in Irish Gaelic! Today we have a very special edition of the newsletter dedicated to Irish nurses of the past and present! 

Irish nurses have left their mark worldwide through their work and care for generations. Across the pond, they even helped to establish the NHS in the United Kingdom! So today, we salute Irish nurses everywhere and their contributions to the nursing profession!

🍀Slán go fóill!🍀

Kel M. 

Managing Editor of TNB

TODAY ON TNB'S BLOG:
Answering the Call of War: Irish Nurses That Served During World War I

MORNING BRIEF 🍳 ☕️

Qualities of an Irish Nurse in America: Compassion, Technical Competence, and Good Humor

Much has been said about the vital role that Filipino nurses have played in the American healthcare system. But did you know that in the late 1980s, the US saw an influx of nurses from Ireland? These nurses have a unique mix of qualities that have allowed them to succeed in their profession for the betterment of their patients. 

Anne Kelly attributes her successes to the nuns of University Hospital, Galway, who were strict and instilled in students the belief that the “patient is the most important person.” Mary Anne Gallagher says Irish nurses can engage with patients thanks to their mix of independence, humor, firmness, and stubbornness. And Anne Shea Flynn says that “the Irish instinctively understand the power of language and the distinctions between being sincere and patronizing.”

Meet more Irish nurses and the qualities that make them successful at Irish America Magazine. 

Documenting the Irish Nurses Who Helped Build the NHS

Just as Irish nurses have helped bolster the US healthcare system, they’ve also helped build and sustain England’s National Health Service. Irish nurse Ethel Corduff recently documented Irish nurses’ contributions to the NHS in her book “Ireland’s Loss, Britain’s Gain: Irish Nurses in Britain, Nightingale to Millennium.” 

Twenty years in the making, the book became a reality during the Covid pandemic lockdown. Corduff had become fascinated with the topic of Irish nurses in Britain and began researching it – her initial writings on the topic contained a lot of figures and statistics but little in the way of personal stories. So she began interviewing new Irish nurses and those she had previously spoken with, collecting their stories for her book. The book was a hit, and Cordon is now looking to publish a sequel of personal stories and anecdotes from Irish nurses and their families. 

Irish Nurses Across the Globe

Nurses from Ireland didn’t only move to America and England to practice their profession. The Irish Times has documented some of the stories of Irish nurses who moved to New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and France. Their differing views are quite interesting. 

According to Dr. Helen Rook, who holds a Ph.D. in nursing, there are similarities between the conditions for nurses and their patients in Ireland and New Zealand — population size, healthcare priorities, and financial constraints, to name a few. Aisling Fallon says nursing in New Zealand is a “pleasure” compared with Ireland, which suffers from unsafe and stressful levels. 

In Canada, Irish nurse Sharon Steeves laments the government’s unraveling of health system growth by closing emergency rooms, laying off nurses, and ending positions. But Jacinta Pieterse notes how nurses are celebrated more in Canada and colleagues are open to new ideas and past experiences. 

COMMUNITY PICKS 🌼 

In 1918, Belfast, Ireland, was in the grip of the worldwide influenza pandemic. Nurse Julia Power was working in an understaffed hospital with quarantined patients in a tiny ward where their work and care is paramount to survival. In the novel “The Pull of the Stars,” one cannot help but see the parallels that Nurse Power experienced in our struggles as we navigated the Covid-19 pandemic over 100 years later.

💸 FINANCE FRIDAY powered by

Tax Refund Tips

Keeping up with taxes can be a tricky process to understand, especially for nurses who may not have the time or resources to learn the ins and outs of how they work. Do not get discouraged! The tax code is thousands of pages long, with many foreign concepts. But I assure you, learning tax basics is all you need, and it is much easier than passing the NCLEX. 

Start with these steps:

1. Use a checklist

2. Learn tax basics

3. Stay organized throughout the year

4. Consult a trusted financial professional 

5. Understand how your career, side hustles, and charity play a part

To help out busy nurses looking to understand taxes better, here are some additional tax tips and resources that will provide you with more clarity and comfort. Download this Free Tax Prep Checklist created by United Way, watch this three-minute video on Understanding Tax Brackets, and read this great article on The Nursing Beat’s blog; “Five Ways for Nurses to Make the Most out of Tax Season!” You can also learn more about top tax deductions for nurses here!

Follow our website and socials for more personal finance tips for nurses!

DAILY DIVERSION 💊

Without context, the moniker “Queen of sinking ships,” given to 20th-century ocean liner stewardess and nurse of Irish descent Violet Constance Jessop, probably doesn’t sound too appealing. However, “Miss Unsinkable,” another name for Jessop, hits the mark. Jessop survived the sinking of the sister ships RMS Titanic (1912) and HMHS Britannic (1916). She was also onboard the RMS Olympic, the eldest of the three sister ships when it collided with the British warship HMS Hawke in 1911.

🤯 ONE BIG NUMBER

Thanks for reading! 🤓