I haven’t written anything in quite awhile. Life has been wonderful and fulfilling and that has kept me enthralled. I hope you have been well and enjoying the spring weather. I sit here getting ready to start the trek to work and you nurses are on my mind. It is nurse appreciation week. It is also teachers appreciation week. If it wasn’t for teachers, we couldn’t be nurses. Very symbolic if you think about it. I think a lot at times.
Think about Florence Nightengale, THE nurse! She forged a field of care and compassion and acted on a calling for her life. Little did she know that she would be talked about her whole life, her words made into quotes, that she started this field of nursing. As I look back over my nursing career and how alot has changed, old Florence would be surprised. Gone are the aprons covering your clothes while at the job, no head coverings, no nurses hats. We all wear scrubs that feel like pajamas, hair in messy buns and coffee or a diet soda in hand. But hopefully she would see the heart of a nurse. Those that step up and step forward because they felt called, just like Florence felt, called to care for others and to help heal wounds seen and unseen. She would see the ones looking for a quick paycheck, that went into nursing for the wrong reasons,. She would see the battle wounds nurses carry from the emotional weight of their jobs, the patients in their care, some carry wounds left by other staff and doctors, some carry the grief of losing a patient, the laughter lines and the very inappropriate humor…. She would see you nurses.
I have been blessed to be a nurse for the last 34 years. It seems like yesterday I was in nursing school. So nervous for my first clinical rotation, polished white nurse shoes and my nurse’s hat pinned to my head like super glue. I was barely 20 when I had my pinning ceremony, not even 21 when I had my first job caring for patients. I had a brief start in orthopedics and then transitioned to women’s health where I have spent the past 32 years walking beside women and their life events. It all has gone by in a blink of an eye. People see nurses as gate keepers, sometimes adversaries when the tough advice comes down, some see as friends and confidants. I see you nurses for who you are. We work long hours, we hold our bladder longer than it should be pressed, we carry the emotional weight from the situations of our patients, we carry the responsibility of bed side care, we carry care and compassion, hands to help and heal. Sometimes, and I say this from my experience, our patients can heal us. For myself, to walk beside women through some of the most intimate and exciting times in their life is a privilege. To see the human spirit persevere, to see the miracle of the human body, to see life through the eyes of a patient has made me a better nurse, a better woman. I have had the blessing of working with amazing and smart physicians and fellow employees that have enriched my life and some have become life long friends.
Now don’t get me wrong, it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is hard at times and your heart breaks for the loss of others, you become emotionally spent. You become frustrated with insurance companies, the cost of medicine, the helpless feeling of not being able to reach a patient who refuses care. The dance of representing a patient and the practice. The change in the attitude of people in general and you do a dance of providing care and not be abused. Nursing is a tough job yet so rewarding. And I know every job is like this. We each have our own circumstances and unique situations, I am just seeing them world through the eyes as a nurse. Sometimes it is hard to cut off the work nurse when she gets home. Some people still want you to be the nurse after hours. But it has all been amazing and a blessing. My career has let me support myself and two kids, it has stressed me, has made me grow in knowledge and patience, it has taught me about myself and others. I think Florence Noghtengale would be proud of some of todays nurses!
So we celebrate nurses this week. Celebrate the nurses in your life and realize they care! Our families sometimes get less of us because you got more, the nurse gets tired of all the charting, their fingers get tired, their brain is processing the note they are on with thoughts of the next patient, the need for caffeine, the need to pee, the emergency that trumps it all. They carry your burdens, they carry your hurt and frustration, they are your advocate even when you scream at them. They represent the physicians they work for, they represent you, they are Switzerland. They juggle continuing education, they carry meeting the standards of the nursing board, OSHA, governing organizations that inspect but those inspectors don’t know what it is like to navigate the halls of patient care. They fight with your insurance company for you, they chart and chart and chart some more. Then they juggle their own health needs which honestly gets put last, they juggle their families and life and I will say most do with great care. The heart of a nurse is to care and comfort, to bring knowledge to the patient and use that knowledge in your care. I think nurses are pretty amazing but I say so with great prejudice! So love on a nurse in your life because they love you for all of your simple needs and your complicated care needs and all the while holding your hand and your heart in theirs.
