Nursing Encouragement

[Starrla Crystal]

One of the highest of human duties is the duty of encouragement...It is easy to laugh at men's ideals: it is easy to pour cold water on their enthusiasm; it is easy to discourage others. The world is full of discouragers...We have a duty to encourage one another. Many a time a word of praise or thanks has kept a man on his feet. Blessed is the man speaks such a word.:kiss

[Veneta Masson]

The Nurse's Job

"...with Mom so sick and everyone asking

where's her sister, the nurse..."

The nurse's job is to make it better

whatever it is

(even a child knows this)

to smooth the forest of furrowed brows

to explain pathologies and pain

to say it will be all right

when it will

and when it won't

to relieve, to be there, to stay.

I have failed at my job.

Even a child knows this.

I offer sporadic intensive care

long-distance counsel

and two thousand miles of excuses.

My absence must smack of

malpractice.

And yet, in the end

there is sanctuary at St. Rose.

As two nurses wedge

between me and her bed

I know I can't distance myself again.

I cling to the rails

confess that I, too, am a nurse.

You're not a nurse here,

you're her sister

one says, swaddling me

tight in her arms.

I believe she has loved a sister.

I believe that she has known shame.

She does not say

it will be all right

but in her presence

I give in to grief

I begin to let go.

This nurse is doing her job.

Veneta Masson

[Fgr8Out]

Starrla... thank you for your beautifully positive spirit. I would be happy to work with one such as you.

Peace :)

[mother/babyRN, RN]

:).....Thanks for giving the extra effort to remind us how special we (and therefore you) are.....Words work wonders.....

[micro, RN]

starrla.......thx for the +++++++++ of your thoughts to us and yourself.....never forget yourself.........

veneta.........what you post is beautiful also.......don't sell yourself short.........keep on postin".......xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Fgr8Out.........you are way cool.......but you knew this.........

mother/baby rn.........thx.....simple, and thx.......sometimes i will tell you more.........

to all xoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

we do not give ourselves enough kudos.......

and we do not think of ourselves first enough.......

we are gods.......we are first.........

'cause if we don't care for ourselves.........FIRST.......

THEN HOW CAN WE CARE FOR OTHERS.........

[RN4peds]

Let's not overdo it.

[Paris]

Thanks for the encouragement! It nice to hear people not always focus on the bad b/c there will always be good and bad times. So we should focus on the good and remember the reason we're here and why we do what we do. Its to help improve other peoples lives. One smile can outweigh all the bad in one day. Once when I used to work for a daycare I was really depressed and about ready to quit and cry, when a little boy came up to me and said "I love you" and he gave me a hug and all of a sudden everything seemed worth it again. All the stress was gone. Thats all it took was one person's encouragement to make my day. So each day we should all try to help encourage one another.

[Cubby]

Sounds like someone is starting Nurse appreciation week a little early! Thanks for the positive thoughts though.

[RN4ustat, BSN, RN]

WHEN GOD MADE NURSES

When the Lord made Nurses, He was into his sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared and said,

"You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one."And the Lord said, "Have you read the specs on this order?

A nurse has to be able to help an injured person, breathe life into a dying person, and give comfort to a family that has lost their only child

and not wrinkle their uniform." "They have to be able to lift 3 times their own weight, work 12 to 16 hours straight without missing a detail, console a grieving mother as they are doing CPR on a baby they know will never breath again.""They have to be in top mental condition at all times, running on too-little sleep, black coffee and half-eaten meals.And they have to have six pairs of hands."The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands...no way.""It's not the hands

that are causing me problems," said the Lord, "It's the two pairs of eyes a nurse has to have.""That's on the standard model?" asked the angel.The Lord nodded. "One pair that does quick glances while making note of any physical changes," And another pair of eyes that can look reassuringly at a bleeding patient and say, "You'll be all right ma'am" when they knows it isn't so.""Lord," said the angel, touching his sleeve, "rest and work on this tomorrow.""I can't," said the Lord, "I already have a model that can talk to a 250 pound grieving family member whose child has been hit by a drunk driver...who, by the way, is laying in the next room uninjured, and feed a family of five on a nurse's paycheck."The angel circled the model of the nurse very slowly, "Can it think?" she asked. "You bet," said the Lord. "It can tell you the symptoms of 100 illnesses; recite drug calculations in it's sleep; intubate, defibrillate, medicate, and continue CPR nonstop until help arrives...and still it keeps it's sense of humor.This nurse also has phenomenal personal control. they can deal with a multi-victim trauma, coax a frightened elderly person to unlock their door, comfort a murder victim's family, and then read in the daily paper how nurses are insensitive and uncaring and are only doing a job." Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the nurse. "There's a leak," she pronounced. "I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model." "That's not a leak," said the Lord, "It's a tear.""What's the tear for?" asked the angel."It's for bottled-up emotions, for patients they've tried in vain to save, for commitment to that hope that they will make a difference in a person's chance to survive, for life." "You're a genius," said the angel. The Lord looked somber.

"I didn't put it there," He said.