Welcome to TheHearingImpairedNurse.com!

Hello All. My Name is Luke B. I have been a Critical Care Nurse since 2017. I have arguably had one of the most exciting careers in such a short time. I have created this space in attempts to bring you all on my newfound journey of coping with hearing impairment while working as a nurse. To begin with I would like to provide a brief introduction about myself. Like I said before, I began my nursing career in 2017. Prior to that I began a fun and exciting career in the Fire Service in rural Georgia. I worked my way through college doing just that. It was an ideal career due to the amount of downtime that would happen at times. I could sit at the station "on the clock" while studying and taking notes for class. Even after starting as a nurse i continued my career in the Fire Service due to it becoming like an addiction. I never could get enough. Those that have never experienced the "brotherhood" of a public safety member could never begin to understand the sense of belonging. I made the difficult decision to leave that career behind in 2021. Now, time to get into my nursing journey. I began my nursing journey at a large Level I Trauma facility. I knew that getting the most experience would be the most beneficial at the beginning of my career. I knew if I started there that I could go to work anywhere there after. After I had completed approximately two years there, I gained employment at a Critical Access facility that was much closer to home. I worked there for a while before pursuing my dream career in HEMS (helicopter emergency medical services). I had dreamed of flying on a helicopter since I was a small child. I often times thought I would be the one flying it, but turns out there were different plans in store for me. I unfortunately began that career in 2020 during the rise and fall of COVID-19. Long story short, I quickly learned that was not going to be something I could see myself doing long-term. I left there after about a year and have been a contract nurse and a PRN house supervisor since then. So, that just about sums up the highlights of my professional life. As you can imagine, from the previous readings and title of this site you can take an easy guess of where my recently diagnosed "hearing impairment" is suspected to come from. Again, I could never even begin to isolate one single incident that caused my impairment. However, I like to think that most of us (nurses) don't exactly make the best patients'. Of course being of the male gender probably doesn't help either. Needles to say, I probably let it go way too long before finally swallowing my pride and having a hearing exam completed. For those of you out there like me who were struggling to "hear" providers as they gave verbal orders, you are not alone. After coming home with a new pair of "hearing aids", I was amazed to find that there are not many resources for "hearing impaired" nurses. So, I decided I would start a page and bring you along on my journey. As time progresses I will bring you along as I experiment with different things. Again, thanks for stopping by. Any advice or questions can be sent to TheHearingImpairedNurse@gmail.com. Until Next time, See ya later!