Click Submit — Because Silence Isn’t Healing

You ever been asked, “How can we improve?” Then told your response was too honest? Welcome to “Tools vs. Truths — where nurses are handed breathing exercises for the trauma they didn't cause.

Photo by Felipe Ignacio on Unsplash

🩺 “Click Submit. That’ll Do It.”

You’re probably wondering how I got here.

I clicked “submit” on a nursing mental health survey.

That’s it. That’s the tweet. *wink*

That click?

It carried more than just a response.

It carried truth.

It carried resistance.

Photo by Antoine Dautry on Unsplash

Yah, da tool dey ask fa survey — CAST. Cute name. Soft colors. Focused on supporting nurse mental health. Ask mi questions like:

Would you recommend this to your coworkers? Do you think your manager should use it with your team?

And I thought…

Baby, you assume a lot.

Like:

• That my coworkers are safe enough to be vulnerable with

• That hospital manager knows how to use anything On top o’ dat intimidation and burnout.

• That I haven’t already survived a shift with one CNA, 31 patients, and a full moon

Let’s pause here.

📊 What Is CAST Anyway?

CAST = Cognitive Affective State Tool.

Created by researchers to help nurses check in with their mental state during high-stress shifts.

On paper? Ummm..Sure.

In real life? It felt like another “we care” campaign with no actual care.

You can read more about CAST go on, be curious) — but I’ll summarize:

It’s a tool that wants to measure how you’re feeling, without changing what’s making ya feel that way.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

📉 So… Did I Fill It Out?

Yep.

Because I builds the systems I want to see — not just for me, but for the next one in line.

And here’s the ting….🤓:

CAST (and surveys like it) often skip the questions that matter most:

• “Did someone call you ‘aggressive’ for setting a boundary?
  Or try to hit you with the call bell… like a weapon?”( yep… actually happened)

• “Did you skip lunch again — not because you weren’t hungry,
  because ya didn’t want your patient to die alone?”

• “Did management blame you for the unsafe ratios they created?
  Then hit you with a ‘back in my day’ story — when they had 10 patients,
  and somehow that was supposed to make you feel “grateful” or less abused for your 6. Or 7. Or 8.”

No?

Cool. Then you’re measuring what exactly?…

🤡 Let’s Talk About Barriers

The survey asked what might stop me from using CAST in practice.

Here’s te honest answer:

🧠 Your tool is the barrier. As is The system.

We’re not lacking resources.

We’re lacking respect and repair.

• Don’t give me pie charts when Nurses out here making trauma triage decisions.

• Don’t ask if I’d recommend it to others when I can’t even recommend the break room.-( Dirty, small, ill-equipped - pick one.)

• Don’t call it support if using the tool puts a target on our backs.

💬 Final Thoughts (aka the “Ouch” Section)

CAST might work in a world where:

• Nurses aren’t called “weak” for expressing emotion

• Management actually checks in after incidents/ not micromanage.

• Racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, and abuse aren’t part of the shift

But until then?

It’s giving emotional regulation theater.

So I hit “submit.”

Not because CAST is the answer.

But because I will name what hurts — and since you're asking via the survey, the answer is… Johnnie, …..we’ve been holding that hurt long before institutions made da form for it.

✊🏾 AND…. When institutions are ready to build something that actually supports us…

• I deh right here – if yuh ready.

I in the field.

Literally.

Farming. Healing. Teaching.

Telling the truth — without waiting for permission.

🌸 Raine

Nurse. Farmer. System Disrupter.

Builder of the Next Door.

#NursingDifferently

#BurnoutIsABadgeINeverAskedFor

#SayThatWithYourClipboard