Last week, I was fortunate enough to attend a train the trainer course presented by the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) in beautiful Chicago, IL. The ELNEC-Core curriculum is designed to provide nurses with the tools and knowledge to disseminate much needed education regarding end-of-life care.
With a five-year-old daughter who can out-craft me any day, I have many opportunities to color. Every time I focus on the coloring, no matter what it is I am actually coloring, I find myself more relaxed. The repetitive nature, the colors, the sound, the shading, the progress, the finished product—it’s all relaxing.
I am home from Congress, and it was a blast. The sessions that I attended were very informative, and being able to download the session recordings for concurrent or missed sessions is terrific. I also met with my special interest group (SIG), of which ONS has many. There are SIGs for surgical oncology, chemotherapy, different types of cancer, spiritual issues, and many more.
I just got back from a long road trip across Nebraska and Iowa, traveling to a race for which I’ve trained for some time. I took 11 days off of work, and it was over 800 miles of driving in each direction. I thought driving would allow me time to think and focus on some loose ideas that have been rattling around in my brain.
It’s a week later, and I am still basking in the glow of my first ONS Congress. What a ride! On Thursday morning, when I walked into the massive New Orleans convention center and spotted the long line for pre-registered nurses, I felt a little knot form in my stomach. But it was impossible to stay nervous after the opening ceremonies.