I have a confession to make. I am a nurse who stammers. Most people may or may not know that I stammer because for years I have done thinks to cover it up. Like use fill in words for what I want to say. Use the "um" in between my phrases so that I wouldn't stammer over a word. Pretend that I can't pernounce the word and spell it out. Or talk in a lower tone so that people don't hear me stammer. Or just remain quite most of the time. This is something I have been battling since I was a child.
Before I started my nursing job I saw a speech therapist and he encouraged me to just tell people that I stutter and not be embarassed about it. Because I wanted to be the most effective communicator possible. He said the most important thing is that you communicate and take care of your patients. No one cares if you stammer over you words when you talk as long as you get your point across. It is so embarassing. I tend to go out in the hall and do my report because the nurses station is so crowded, and I don't want anyone to hear me stammer.
Or I don't explain report as well as I would like to for fear of stuttering across a word, but I write detailed nursing notes. I give the important life saving information, but it's not as smooth as I would like it to be. I am so embrassed to tell anyone because if they hear me stammer over a word, I will loose my self confidience that I have worked so hard to build. I am a good nurse, I just have a speech impediment.
What should I do. I have been seeing a speech therapist but because of my busy work schedule I have not been seeing him as frequently. But my goal is to set a aside at least one day a week to see him, so that I can keep my confidence up. What should I do? I fear that if I tell my Director of Nursing, she will fire me.
