Contributor – Lynn Hamilton

A nurse’s contribution to literature that uplifts the human spirit is always welcome, and for nursologists, the story can expand insights into our own profession.  Such a narrative is Korean-American nurse Sung Yoo’s extraordinary and particularly reflective life journey in her now-published personal memoir, “North Korea to America in Three Wars, a Nurse’s Journey,” by Sung C. Yoo, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.

Stretching across eight decades, this memoir covers Sung Yoo’s harrowing childhood escape from North Korea; her miseries of life as a refugee in South Korea as war followed her; her difficulty in finding dignity as a nurse; her pain in splitting her family during the Vietnam War; and her struggle to find language, stability, and purpose in the United States.

It is rather remarkable that Sung Yoo ever became a nurse at all, given her culturally-shaped view of the profession in South Korea in the 1960’s.   Her entry was driven by the necessity to do something to improve her lot in her post-war-torn country.  Her perception, prevalent at the time, was that being a nurse would mean being no more than a maid—and she wanted better for herself.  Nudged by a protective older brother, she was a highly reluctant enrollee in an early BSN program at Ewha Woman’s University. 

Subsequent jobs, in South Korea, South Vietnam, and later, the United States brought the financial security she had sought, but always with the hope to escape the field someday, not satisfaction.  Sung experienced no sense of professionalism. 

What did it take to change, to turn her “gaze,” as professional nurses must, in the direction of the discipline: “knowledge of the human health experience, and knowledge of nursing actions leading to health and human well-being.” (See post “What Makes a Theory or Model “Nursing“)

What changed her views was more education.  Having immigrated to the United States, seeking to improve her English while she worked, Sung Yoo enrolled in local community college literature classes.  Having experienced so much life and death herself, now, e.g., Homer’s Iliad, deeply touched her as a revelation about humanity itself.  The perspective broadened.  For the first time in her life, she says, she related the meaning of literature to nursing care.

Her immersion in humanities catalyzed profound introspection about her previously-held prejudices about nursing.  She hadn’t known what she didn’t know.  She calls it an awakening, having been blind and now seeing much more clearly.  She not only felt happier and more enriched, but saw the world as larger, higher and wider. 

Notably, as Sung’s metaphorical “gaze” was beginning to turn the direction of the discipline, her description of the change happens to be reflected in an array of visual metaphors, e.g., “blind to seeing”; “awakened”; “seeing with her own eyes.”  How resonant with the shift of “gaze” that nursologists describe.      

While working in a long-term care facility, becoming more interested in comparative treatment of elderly in Western and Eastern culture, Sung enrolled in a Master’s program in gerontological nursing.  Surprised to learn that nursing theory even existed, she was amazed to hear that nursing could be a profession.  Her desire was piqued to question and learn about what nursing was—and could be.  She was an eager and enthusiastic student of nursing now.  Learning about Florence Nightingale’s life and work hugely expanding the scope of nursing practice were particularly stunning and meaningful.  Now, Sung saw a holistic and innovative point of view a requirement.   Awakened and inspired, now Sung wanted to be nurse until the end of her life.  “I had to be different than before.”

Sung’s perspective toward the long-term care residents and staff changed—no longer did she work in a depressing setting, but a philosophical laboratory about human endurance.  With a conceptual background, she could apply critical thinking skills more knowledgably, with awareness.  In a radical change from her Korean nursing education, which was more prescribed, she used judgment to improve collaboration, becoming more thoughtfully supportive to the nursing assistants and more confident and effective in work with residents’ families. 

At age 66, Sung Yoo joined a university-based RN-to-BSN program available in 2005 for South Korean nurses.  She felt stronger, clearer, and more confident the older she grew.  Her new dynamic—her depth of understanding and ability to think and reflect critically about nursing, made her not only more confident, but obligated to help this particular cohort of students to achieve their goals.  Now she could utilize the full scope of her background—her cross-cultural, experiential, and conceptual knowledge and skills to their utmost.  As lecturer, she was well-positioned to use culturally-distinctive examples to teach, e.g., the significance of the meaning of eye contact, and culturally-relevant similes to convey the concept of critical thinking.  Ultimately, she became Director of the program. 

In 2015, as a capstone, Sung gave the presentation, “What are the Educational Components of Global Nursing?” at the ICN in Seoul.  And now, having acquired and embraced the gaze on the foci of our discipline, and bursting with appreciation for the value of nursing for the well-being of all human beings, Sung Yoo, a “new nurse with an old heart,” wants to share her story to encourage others to think of becoming nurses themselves. 

About Lynn Hamilton

Lynn Hamilton was a U.S. Army nurse, 1966-’68, caring for Vietnam War military casualties at the 106^th General Hospital, Yokohama, Japan.  She and Sung Yoo met through a mutual friend who knew each had experiences related to nursing care in the Vietnam era.