Post Removals

So...anyone who visited my blog since Saturday got to see my NICU post.  I removed it today for a variety of reasons.  I am always very careful about the information that I post about patients here.  It would be illegal for me to post specific identifying characteristics about any patient (as well it should be), but it is generally acceptable (to the best of my researched knowledge) to write about a patient as long as names, dates,  locations, or over-specific descriptions of their medical conditions are not used.  I posted about my recent experience because it is so much a part of who I am and why I have a blog in the first place.  I am confident that I left out all identifying details and have kept my patients' privacy intact throughout my school experience.  I also do not have a F.ace.book page (I am verrry anti-f.ace.book, but more on that another time), and I do not use specific names of teachers, hospitals, fellow students, my school, or even the town I live in.  None of my fellow students know of this blog.  

However.  I recently read a story about some nursing students (who shall remain unidentified here) that got booted out for posting details about their clinical patients on f.ace.book.  I don't know how personal the details were, but it doesn't matter.  I can't be having that.  Someday (hopefully sooner rather then later), I will be done with nursing school and will be free to leave many ranting posts on here detailing the many reasons why I call my school "The Nursing School From Hell."  Seriously.  My school has booted students out for some very minor infractions and once even no infraction at all other than a perceived "attitude problem."  I often write about things here that I would never express out loud in real life.  It is a place of therapy for me.  It is a relatively new blog, and not many people even read it.  So I never really thought about what I should or shouldn't say here other than to protect the privacy of my patients and my own personal privacy (you know, so that I don't have to be afraid of the cars that drive by my house at night).  You may also notice that other than the picture of my deceased child and the side of Jerry's face while holding him, there are no pictures on my blog.  I would love to post pictures of myself and my daughter but I don't know how I feel about that yet, and I would never want to be recognized by someone stumbling upon this blog (like my sister-in-law.  or my mother for that matter.) and making an association between my face and my school.  I also don't use my real name (Gasp!)(It is my stripper name, though)(Just kidding) or my daughter's name. Matthew is safe from anything another human being can do.  And Jerry is such a common name that it could never be used as an identifying characteristic.

I still believe that my post was safely within the boundaries of what is appropriate and will likely repost it after I graduate.  If anyone is reading this and you missed it then here's the gist:  I went.  It was good and bad.  I loved it.  I made it out okay and I will go again.  Like any blogger, I love the feedback and the comments that I get here, but for now I will have to satisfy myself by writing posts in word and putting them up at a later date when it comes to my NICU experiences.