 Provided by Clinician 1
(I thought this posted already, but the **magic** of the internet made it disappear. Or maybe it’s Halloween, anyway!)
With Halloween around the corner, I thought I’d lighten up a bit and share some thoughts about superstitions that some of us believe in.
You don’t have to look at the calendar.
Or look up in the night sky.
You just KNOW what time of the month it is by the type of patients you see.
Of course, I’m referring to what we superstitious folks call as the “full moon.” We seem to see more “weird” stuff. Patients are more, um, “quirky.” (Oh, YES, they are.) We scratch our heads when taking phone triages... what was THAT all about?!
Perhaps we diagnose a “zebra” or two, rather than the usual “horse” hoof-beats we hear.
Oh, yeah... it’s the full-moon phenomenon.
For those yet uninitiated, it’s the belief that working during the full-moon week will bring in the strangest calls, the oddest patient issues... that one may have seen. Emergency rooms are full... more babies are born, psychiatry units get more calls... all of this occurs cyclically to those of us who believe in the “full-moon” cycle.
I personally believe that this phenomenon exists, and my nurse-colleagues have talked about this for years. It has been marveled at on my listservs and among my friends. You don’t have to be superstitious to notice this occurring.
Even my kids looked up into the sky this weekend and said, “Uh, oh, Mom... you’ll be busy on-call NOW.” They see the trend, too.
Personally, I find that the week leading up to AND the week leading away from the full moon to be equally as busy and strange. Which leaves two “good” weeks or so per month, if you believe in this kind of thing. I hail from Pennsylvania Dutch country, where odd superstitions abound... and I have Native American blood in my background. I completely believe in the “quirky” stuff, the so-called “unbelievable.” I have witnessed many things that don’t make “sense” in the traditional thought process.
Do you have any superstitions or “quirks” of your practice? Share them if you like.
Kim Spering is a family nurse practitioner who currently works at Brndjar Medical Associates, P.C., a family practice in Emmaus, PA. Her past experience includes the fields of medical/surgical ICU, open heart/trauma ICU, labor and delivery, nursing education, nursing supervision, and as a nurse practitioner in both family practice and OB/GYN settings. She currently serves as a NP preceptor for her graduate school alma mater, DeSales University, as well as for local baccalaureate programs. She is passionate about patient education and helping patients understand that they are ultimately responsible for their own health. She also firmly believes that the public needs to be educated on the value of NPs and PAs in meeting the health care needs of the next decade and beyond. In her free time, Kim enjoys family vacations with her optometrist husband, Mark, and her two sons, Matthew and Connor.
The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.
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