3.5 minute read

HUDDLE

Good Morning, Readers,

Here is your weekly recap (in case you missed the good stuff):

1️⃣ Indeed is giving away a once-in-a-lifetime trip to some lucky nurses to NYC (all expenses paid) to rest, find your people, and care for your career. Learn more

here.

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3️⃣ Learn about the AONL conference and why you should go.

Today's Top Beats

💋 Gen Z Intimacy
🥂 Hypertension & Alcohol

🩺 Who Gets Believed?

HANDOFF

Strike Authorized in Minnesota

A strike is imminent in Minnesota as thousands of union nurses push for fairer labor practices. The Minnesota Nurses Association announced a strike in the Twin Cities and Duluth areas at all union health care systems, which includes M Health Fairview, Essentia Health, Allina Health, Children’s Hospitals, North Memorial, and Aspirus St. Luke’s. Despite three months of negotiations, nurses are frustrated with hospitals’ refusal to “bargain in good faith” and offer better scheduling, overtime pay, and wage increases.

Less Sex Among Gen Z

The current generation of young adults are a far cry from Boomers of the “free love” era. Generation Z—those born between 1997-2012—are having sex less often than any previous generation, according to a new book, The Second Coming: Sex and the Next Generation's Fight Over its Future. Author Carter Sherman shares the results of more than 100 interviews that explore how sexual behaviors and attitudes are changing.

What’s Happening at the FDA?

When the new FDA commissioner, Marty Makary, took over at the agency, he joined HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr. in advocating for more “radical transparency” in meetings and getting rid of conflicts of interest among committee members. But with 3,500 jobs slashed at the agency, Makary is finding it hard to follow through when there simply isn’t the staff to do the work. Though some were rehired, staffers say the agency is in turmoil.

TODAY'S TOP VITAL

51.6%

The increased amount of deaths from hypertension caused by excessive alcohol consumption in a new study. See how many women’s hypertension deaths result from alcohol.

NURSE ON-CALL

CARING COLLECTIVELY WITH TOGATHER

Whose Story Gets Believed?

Narrative medicine asks us to treat stories like vital signs: essential to diagnosis, care, and healing. It reminds us that listening is a clinical skill. 

But not all stories are treated equally.

• A patient labeled a “poor historian” because their language or culture didn’t match clinical expectations.

• An “obese” patient whose concerns were dismissed as weight-related, despite explaining something very different.

• A nurse dismissed while advocating for what her patient said and what her gut knew.

While not always talked about, storytelling is part of nursing—showing up in how we document, advocate, and build trust. And often, it’s also where bias appears, too.

Whose story gets believed can change everything. So let’s try:

• Slowing down and really listening to patients, and our gut.

• Documenting with curiosity, not judgment. Asking “why,” not “whose fault.”

• Learning how stories shape care. This podcast offers 1 free CE on how narrative medicine can shift practice.

Let’s change the narrative, together.

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SUPPLY ROOM

On the Loose

Silly gooses will love these funny badge reels! 

BREAK ROOM

Post-PTO Blues

Summertime is here, and that means more PTO requests for your much-deserved vacations. Do you ever have post-vacation blues? You won’t believe how this husband imitates his nurse wife’s reaction when vacation ends. Can you relate?

DISCHARGE INSTRUCTIONS

Remember: you are a human first and a nurse second. 🩷

YOUR BEAT. YOUR VOICE. OUR FUTURE.