Sharing a Pearl

Flare, ASN, BSN

The brand new nurse's assistant is sitting in my office with tears welling over her bright blue eyes. "I...can't...do...this..." she manages to moan out between sobs. What has gotten her so worked up? Simply an assignment to sit with a belligerent geriatric patient for part of her 8 hour shift. It was apparently a string of profanities aimed at her and a dinner tray launched across the room that was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

I sit beside her. Offer her the box of Kleenex and a drink from the water cooler. She drinks the water and crushes the paper cone with one hand like she's pretending it's her troublesome assignment.

I offer her a few soothing words. It seems to calm her. I tell her a funny anecdote. She smiles and relaxes.

"I'll bet you never let anyone rattle you like this." She finally says, gazing at me with a look of admiration that makes me feel a bit uncomfortable.

I know what is going on in her head. She is a young nursing student trying to pay her way through school and get as much experience as possible. She is taking a moment to map her career and she is thinking that maybe, just maybe if she can get through this one bad evening that she will come out a better and stronger person and one day be a great nurse.

She is looking at me, thinking about my years of experience and current role as ADN and thinking it's always been this way for me. She wants the same for herself. She is looking for a mentor and someone to show her the way. For the moment that person is me.

I would hardly think of myself as the perfect role model nurse.

She doesn't know that while I've been a nurse for many years, I've only been doing the job of ADN for 6 months. She didn't see the time that I hyperventilated because I had a patient that refused to leave and I didn't know how to handle it. She didn't see the time I couldn't adequately staff three units one Sunday evening so I went to hide in the morgue and cry for a little while.

I assure her that experience is the best teacher. That the good days out number the bad the more experience you have, but also that the bad days never entirely go away. I tell her that attitude is everything and just believing you can handle what is before you is half the battle.

I've given her the right pep talk. Her bright blue eyes are now dry and I can see a bit of a smile coming to her lips.

"Make up your mind that you are going to have a good day." I offer her one final pearl of wisdom on her way out the door. It's just in time too. My phone is ringing with the needs of an entire hospital. It's nothing I can't handle. My days of screaming out in frustration when alone in the elevator are few and far between lately. The good days are starting to outnumber the bad.

I wander by later on. I can hear that the belligerent patient is again spouting a string of profanities that would make a sailor blush. The young assistant looks horrified for just a split second then remembers to decide it's going to be a good shift. She gently tells the patient to calm down and to speak politely to her. She even tells him that she wants them to have a nice evening together.

She has strung my pearl of wisdom onto her necklace and is wearing it proudly. Other mentors will come along. Other nurses will offer pearls of wisdom to her along the way. I hope that she will keep stringing them onto the necklace of experience.

Sharing a Pearl

About Flare, ASN, BSN

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