A Nursing Experience That Had A Great Impact On Me

Two years ago, we had this clinical rotation in the intensive care department of our local hospital. We were assigned to our patients for two weeks. There was this patient, he's in his 50's. I barely know him. We barely know him. He was intubated, thus, he could not speak. He was bedridden already when we got there. History revealed that he suffered from a brain attack, lost consciousness and brought to the emergency department, by his neighbor. He was alone then. He was also suffering from hepatitis B at that time, making my group mates wary of taking care of his body secretions, who would not right?

But what's bothering me that time, is how come, no one visits him?

Doesn't he have friends?

But I should care less than him. It was almost the end of the rotation and we thought that we couldn't see an even slight improvement on his status. I gave it another day. Last day of the rotation, I was surprised that his attending physician made a request to transfer him to the medical ward.

He was awake then, sitting on his bed and was off the vent. He was on his route to the medical ward, then he looked at us, smiled at us and he waved his hand and he said: "Thank you".

We were all so happy for him at that time. I thought to myself that he must have survived this because he still needs to do something.

That moment, my world suddenly stopped. I was so happy. I couldn't actually put into words how much happiness was there on his face. I have seen several people rushed to the ER because they wanted to end their lives, not for any other reason, just because they have this chronic illness, but this man, despite his chronic condition and his status in life he still has this "life must go on" aura on him.

And yes, he is right, life must go on.

This is rather a very simple story, but at that time it made me realized how wonderful it is to care. The smile on the patient's face is something that cannot be replaced by any material thing in this world. The sense of fulfillment I felt that time will stay with me for life. Whenever I am down due to nursing difficulties, I tried to remember his smile and it gives me an instant boost.

I shared this experience for all nurses, veteran or newbie or even to those aspiring nurses out there, so you could take a moment to reflect on something. I know a lot who uses this career path for financial growth, but I could just hope that at least, this simple story could make you look into the more deeper meaning of caring. After all, we are nurses, we are bound to care.