A simple reminder of why we do what we do, for everyone to reflect

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Surgical Intensive Care.

So I wanted to post this because I know how easy it is, with all of the chaos we experience on a daily basis, to forget OUR pledge as nurses..... How easy it is to sometimes lose that memory of what it was like first coming out of school when no leaf was left unturned and every patient was innocent until proven guilty haha. For the time when we were all "present" and were not there just to collect a paycheck, to put in the time, waiting on 1830 or 0630 so you could run to the elevator to get the heck out of there.

With this post I hope to bring back some of the morality and substance that we all once held so close and placed on the highest pedestal.... The void within us, filled by Nursing.

.....So, About Nurses:

Somebody asked: "So you're a nurse!? That's cool, I wanted to do that when I was a kid. How much do you make?"

The nurse' reply:

"How much do I make?"

I can make holding your hand seem like the most important thing in the world when you are scared. I can make your child breathe when they stop...I can help your father survive a heart attack.

I can make myself get up at 5am to make sure your mother has the medicine she needs to live.

I work all day to save the lives of strangers. I make my family wait for dinner until I know that your family member is taken care of.

I make myself skip lunch so that I can make sure that everything I did for your wife today is charted.

I make myself work weekends and holidays because people don't just get sick Monday thru Friday.

Today, I might save your life...

"How much do I make? All I know is, that I make a difference.

God Bless and thank you to all of the nurses out there MAKING a difference.

This all comes across as a little self-important to me ...like a tomato-picker boasting that people would starve to death if he didn't wake up early, skip his own lunch and harvest the fields so that we could all eat.

I do enjoy my work, but I wouldn't keep showing up if they stopped paying me. I could fill any "void within me" by traveling around the world or simply spending time with my family. :facepalm:

Specializes in OB.

Sorry, can't agree at all with this. Nurses are human beings, not martyrs or pillars of moral rectitude. We don't need to be placed on pedestals. There is nothing wrong with going into nursing to collect a paycheck. I expect nurses to show their patients competence, respect, empathy, and general human decency, but we are not super human, nor is our profession more noble than any other. IMO!

I, too, don't really care for inspirational pieces about what selfless, long-suffering martyrs nurses are. I assure you I am the farthest thing from a selfless, long-suffering martyr, and the reason I continue doing my job has nothing to do with any "void within (me)."

Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

You can make a difference without being a martyer. Just saying.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

Why can one just say "I make a difference" in response to that question? :wacky:

And even that phrase alone comes off presumptuous.

I don't miss breaks, my family doesn't miss dinner.:no:

I use my critical thinking skills to utilize deductive reasoning, educate, attempt to empower others, meet people where they are at and soft skills like a negotiator to help challenging pts and families.

What I can do can prevent mortality, or help someone get to the other side...

But MOST of all...I love my work life balance MORE than anything else...I have a LIFE OUTSIDE of nursing.

I make money for the man... because he makes me.

Specializes in Hospice.

OP, I'm really ambivalent about your post. I think it's important to find meaning in what we do ... after all, we spend so much of our waking time doing it. Your post is an eloquent statement of what nursing means to you.

I was put off by the implicit judgement of those who find different meanings. Some of us take pride in doing honest work well enough to keep a roof ever our heads and the bills paid, allow for time to actually be with our friends/families, to make a contribution to our various communities or just to appreciate the world we live in.

Some of us use the honest work of nursing to support activities that don't pay: writing, music, art, animal rescue, caring for family, religious ministry or collecting guns ... and that's morally ok, too.

Some of us work in areas where "saving a life" is can be the worst thing you can do to a patient.

I could go on and on - but I hope I've made the point that good nurses can be motivated by very different philosophies than yours and still be "good".

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
I make myself skip lunch...
Nurses who frequently skip meals, ignore the urge to pee, and neglect their own personal needs are not doing any favors to the profession as a whole.

I readily admit that I'd rather not work unless I'm being paid a competitive rate for the services I render. The question "How much do you make?" is an important one.

Those in the nursing profession who claim that money doesn't matter are the same folks who indirectly keep pay rates depressed. After all, compassion pays the bills and concern pays for food on the table, so who needs a paycheck? We might as well work for free.

Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

I can't even begin to address the many ways in which I disagree with your post.

I will say, however, that I do believe that I've read this before, with authorship claimed by someone else. Best be careful online if you're claiming that you wrote something that you did not. If you DID write this, I withdraw my suggestion.

Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.
I make myself skip lunch so that I can make sure that everything I did for your wife today is charted.

I don't. I chart after reporting off, and collect the OT. Labor laws apply to us too. :laugh:

So I wanted to post this because I know how easy it is, with all of the chaos we experience on a daily basis, to forget OUR pledge as nurses..... How easy it is to sometimes lose that memory of what it was like first coming out of school when no leaf was left unturned and every patient was innocent until proven guilty haha.

With this post I hope to bring back some of the morality and substance that we all once held so close and placed on the highest pedestal.... The void within us, filled by Nursing.

It sounds like you started your nursing career with a more idealistic outlook than I did. I'm a second career nurse and my previous career has made me a bit cynical, or perhaps just realistic. I certainly don't look at the world through rose-tinted glasses and I don't think that I've lost any "morality" or "substance" compared to the day I started my nursing career. Truth be told, I'm not even sure what that means. I can understand losing some starry-eyed enthusiasm along the way when idealism is inevitably confronted by the harsh reality of modern healthcare. But losing one's morality, how does that happen?

I never made an actual pledge. I'm not trying to save the world. I do however try to do my job to the best of my abilities, make an effort to stay abreast of the most recent research relevant to my field and I do my best to treat people kindly unless they give me a very good reason not to. That's not any different from how I approached my previous career, in my opinion it's not unique to nursing.

When you say that nursing fills a void within us, it's not something I can really identify with. The things that give me happiness and fulfillment in life are my family and friends and all the interests I have outside of work. Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy my job. I thrive on the challenge of increasing my proficiency and gaining more experience and expertise and I do like the fact that I, as a part of a larger team, get to help people regain their health in the cases that's possible or hopefully provide comfort or relief when it's not. But my job isn't what defines me. And the pay matters. I need a roof over my head and I enjoy travelling during my time off.

I work all day to save the lives of strangers. I make my family wait for dinner until I know that your family member is taken care of.

I make myself skip lunch so that I can make sure that everything I did for your wife today is charted.

I think that taking good care of ourselves is a responsibility we all have. Doing so isn't selfish in a negative way. We owe it to ourselves and our loved ones. And what good are we to our patients in the long run if we ignore our own health? I've never taken a lunch break in the middle of a code, but I will see to that I eat regularly and use the bathroom if I need to. I expect that my employer provide a work environment that has room for these very basic needs.

Not taking meal breaks is in my opinion either poor prioritization by the nurse or inadequate staffing, and that's the responsibility of the employer.

Many people get up early in the mornings to go to work and many people also work nights, weekends and holidays. I agree that nursing definitely has it's challenges and I am proud of what I do (most days anyway ;)) but we aren't the only ones who have jobs that aren't 9-5, M-F.

I'm sorry if my reply is a bit negative, but I'm just having a hard time identifying with what you write. But we all look at our jobs in different ways and different things motivate us, and I'm okay with that :)

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