defining moment ( kinda long sorry)

[nursepenny]

Hi all,

Was just wondering if any of you gals/guys had a "defining moment" when you knew you were meant to be a nurse?

Mine happened while I was working as a CNA while in school. We had a patient with severe decubitus on several areas of his body (i.e. no butt cheeks, no heels on either foot and several up and down both legs) {makes me cry even now just to think about that}. But that is another thread, LOL. Any way this man never spoke and would always withdraw when any one tried to check vitals, reposition etc... I would alsways talk to him and tell him who I was and what I was goning to do and soon he started relaxing when I spoke to him.

Then one night, I assisted the nurses with a dressing change ( I only held him over while the nurses did the changes) and he spoke. He said, "I am falling". I said"No Mr. Charlie I am a big woman and I am not going to let you fall". I was so upset because I could then put a voice with my patient, ( i guess that is the reason I became upset). Anyway I had to go to school the next day and I was still crying when i got there.

I asked my instructor to tell me again why I was putting myself in place to be upset. She told me I showed the type of compassion needed to be a good nurse, but I needed to learn to seperate myself from my patients. She encouraged me to think about it before I made a final decision to drop out of school and give it another week. So I wanted until I went back to work the next week-end to make a decision.

I also had a patient, during this time, who had a CVA and he was so distraught. he couldn't walk and could barely talk. PT was working with him on a daily basis and I tried to encourage him as much as possible. That week-end, I saw this patient walk with the aid of a chair and PT. He saw me and gave me the biggest grin I have ever received in my life and I KNEW at that moment why I wanted to be a nurse.

I know this is long and probably boring to some, But if it can encourage even one to remain in Nursing or Nursing school, then it will have been worth it.

Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, only God can count the apples in a seed.

[SmilingBluEyes]

yes when i had my son....that WAS a defining moment in so many ways, not just becoming a mother the first time.......

he was premature by 6 weeks, had trouble breathing, was septic and had a birth defect. those nurses were AWESOME....from my LONG labor to his discharge from the NICU.....

i wanted to be

"one of them"

that is how much i thought of them......

but it took me a while to believe i COULD do it.

now I am where I want to be....an L and D nurse, treating my patients exactly how I was treated...with respect, dignity and compassion. I remember all my nurses' names from 11 years ago....that is how strong an impression they made on me.....I will never, ever forget them or my experiences in the hospital those two weeks.....

I hope some of my patients remember me as fondly. If so, I have done my job!!!!

[prmenrs, RN]

Thank you both for sharing those stories. Reading something like that re-inforces why all of us 'hang in there' through all the staffing and administrative stuff that goes on.