Marianna Crane is the author of Nursing Stories and the sixth place winner of our Top Nursing Blogs contest. She has been a nurse for over forty years and has practiced in a variety of settings including hospitals, clinics, home health, and hospice.
Marianna was one of the first people to become a gerontological nurse practitioner. Over the course her career, she developed a passion for home health care.
Marianna is now retired from nursing. Her work is now focused on her writing, and her fellow nurses certainly benefit from and appreciate this gift!
Check out Marianna’s blog here and read on for a Q&A.
Q&A
IntelyCare: What inspired you to start writing about nursing?
Marianna: “I have always wanted to be a writer. When I retired after a 40-year nursing career, I began to take writing more seriously. I attended writing classes, workshops, conferences, and joined a writing group. I write about what I know: nursing.
I started my blog, Nursingstories.org, in 2011 and eventually published a book, Stories from the Tenth-Floor Clinic: A Nurse Practitioner Remembers, in 2018.”
IntelyCare: What inspires you to continue writing a blog?
Marianna: “I believe that nurses are generally reluctant to call attention to themselves. My blog shows what nurses really do and how they make a difference. Under the umbrella of “Olden Days of Nursing,” I spotlight nurses in my cohort to document the evolution and history of the profession.
The COVID pandemic has opened doors for the public to watch nurses in action and appreciate the contribution they make to health care. This is an unprecedented moment for nurses to take advantage of their popularity and visibility. We see more articles in the media about nurses and nursing practice than ever before. Recently, I have been re-blogging timely facts I have found on the internet or in the news media about nursing that would be of interest to my readers.
I try to include other topics in my blog such as writing, growing older, and confronting ageism, and my love of food. Lately, however, because of all the recent rich material about nursing, my posts center around nursing issues.”
IntelyCare: What advice would you give to other nursing professionals looking to start a blog of their own?
Marianna: “I encourage nurses to start their own blogs and write about their nursing practice. There are many free websites available. The time is ripe to show the challenges the profession faces. The public has seen how much of a difference nurses make to the improvement of health in our communities. There are many changes needed to improve our health care system in general, and nursing practice, in particular. The attention the nursing profession has received of late will only promote better outcomes for our patients if nurses continue to promote themselves. A blog is one way to do so.”
Check out the full list of Top Nursing Blogs here!