How has nursing changed you?

Nurses General Nursing

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I definitely don't feel like the same person I was, years ago, before I started going to nursing school and working in healthcare. How has nursing changed you?

Specializes in LTC, Rehab.

It's maybe a little different for me since I'm a late, second-career nurse. And I think getting older, life lessons, and thinking about mortality is part of all of this too. I was already like this in many respects, but I think I'm more empathetic, more generous, less judgemental, more service-oriented ... I think it's part of what's made me a better person, actually, in recent years.

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Specializes in Medicine.

I have definitely learned to brush off people's rudeness and bad attitudes. Many patients are great,but there are always going to be rude ones and ones that are just plain mean. I learned to not let it bother me (where as before nursing it would have really bothered me).

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
I remember quite a few things, mostly sounds, and I understood some of what was said by others. Some of those things I interpreted wrongly (and, for some reason, always unpleasantly)

That is so interesting that you say you interpreted things unpleasantly, Katie, as there were two different stages of my comatose state.

The first stage, which was probably the deeper state of being unconscious, was akin to many stories I've read of near death experiences. GENERALLY pleasant experiences. The second was misinterpretation of my environment, the ICU, which were generally unpleasant experiences.

Back in my home country, I once cared for a young woman who fell asleep drunk in the middle of winter. She was, pretty much, deep frozen, but she was young and otherwise healthy, so we tried our and her luck and started intensive care. In the middle of it, the chief physician said aloud something like "couple of hours more, and we'll quit working on that frozen piece of meat". She was comatose all right at that point with, as far as I remember, not even corneal reflex. She slowly woke up with minor residual deficits. In a few weeks, when she by chance met that doctor again, she suddenly asked him, straight in face if he ever named her "a piece of frozen meat" or it was her bad dream, or something? Poor doc almost got heart attack then and there!

Again, interesting! I first learned of the mammalian diving reflex in a seminar as an EMT in 1981.

Sherwin Nuland in his book How We Die, believes the brain during its shutdown is bombarded by neurotransmitters to the point that the individual is capable of extraordinary senses, like the out of body experiences by those having had an NDE.

Interesting!

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
Just the usual stuff:

  • I look at my friends and families and see chronic conditions starting and wonder how it will end.
  • I am very protective of my mobility.
  • I look at my spouse and think of all the things that I have seen and want to spare us from as we age.
  • My words are optimistic but my thoughts are very pragmatic.
  • I have become somewhat utilitarian in my clothing and nutrition.
  • I am wary of excess sugar in my diet.
  • I care about organs, like pancreas and kidneys, that I never thought about before.
  • I am grateful that I live a life free of pain.
  • I am grateful for the affection, support, and humor of my loved ones. Some people are so alone.
  • I am grateful that my mind is clear and I am not at war with myself.

I can't "like" this post enough. When I saw the question, my first thought was "I don't know how nursing has changed me. I was 20 when I started and I know life has changed me. How much do I attribute to nursing?" Reading this post brought it home to me, because I think all those thoughts too and probably wouldn't if not for being a nurse.

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So, my best comes with my religious convictions. The only reason I'm a nurse and not an accountant is because of my religious convictions. I have had so many dying patients. I have been on so many codes. When you've walked a mile in my shoes then I might listen to you. I loved my patient as I love myself.

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This is wrong on so many levels. It is 100% UNETHICAL to impose your religious convictions on a patient who has not personally told you that they share the same convictions as you. You could have easily made this man's final moments frustrating and upsetting and if you became a nurse purely based on religious convictions I would highly suggest a different career. Nursing is not, and will not ever be, a religious profession- when you are at work your beliefs and opinions stay outside of the hospital doors. Your focus is on your patient, their beliefs, their needs. If your patient doesn't believe in the same thing you do then you focus on helping them using THEIR beliefs.

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).

The old saying,"The road to hell is paved with good intentions" can be interpreted with "good intentions, when acted upon, may have unintended consequences".

Actions are often perceived by others as being right or wrong. Intentions cannot always be interpreted by others as such.

There are basically two emotions: love and fear- all other emotions spring from these two.

An attempt to provide comfort for another, stems from, and is, an act of love. The act of judging another's actions stems from fear, motivated by a perceived challenge to our basic system of beliefs. In other words, if someone's act of love is a challenge to our system of beliefs, we may judge that act as being wrong; that act was a sin.

An act of love is never a sin, for the act of selfishness is the only true sin. If we act for the benefit of others, we act for love. If we act only for ourselves, it is an act of sin.

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Specializes in Private Duty Pediatrics.
Just the usual stuff:

  • I look at my friends and families and see chronic conditions starting and wonder how it will end.
  • I am very protective of my mobility.
  • I look at my spouse and think of all the things that I have seen and want to spare us from as we age.
  • My words are optimistic but my thoughts are very pragmatic.
  • I have become somewhat utilitarian in my clothing and nutrition.
  • I am wary of excess sugar in my diet.
  • I care about organs, like pancreas and kidneys, that I never thought about before.
  • I am grateful that I live a life free of pain.
  • I am grateful for the affection, support, and humor of my loved ones. Some people are so alone.
  • I am grateful that my mind is clear and I am not at war with myself.

Wow. Just wow. You have read my mind, and you've said it better than I could have, especially the first several points.

I cannot separate who I am from the fact that I'm a nurse. I see things differently. I see a person limping, and I think, "He has a progressive, muscle-wasting disease," or, "He had a stroke affecting the right side of his body." I think about what his life is like, what problems he's had to overcome.

If I meet him and actually get to know him, I might see that my initial diagnosis was wrong, but I still can't help but run these possibilities through my mind.

No, I don't go up to him, trying to tell him what's wrong, or whatever; these are things that I keep to myself.

Now, when I see "medical" things on a TV show, I can hardly keep silent, even though my long-suffering husband doesn't really want to know why that particular episode couldn't really happen.

I'll bet others have some of the same insights, especially when it comes to TV.

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Specializes in LTC, Rehab.
For the record, I hope my patient was able to hear me. I doubt it, but I hope so. I did my best for him and his family, and my best is something I have always had a very good reputation for as a nurse, even among people who didn't like me. Keep in mind, the reason I did all that I did for him was because a bunch of lazy nurses before me never did--probably atheists.

Oh My God. No pun intended. So now atheists are always lazy? I'm going to stop before I say a LOT more.

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For the record, I hope my patient was able to hear me. I doubt it, but I hope so. I did my best for him and his family, and my best is something I have always had a very good reputation for as a nurse, even among people who didn't like me. Keep in mind, the reason I did all that I did for him was because a bunch of lazy nurses before me never did--probably atheists.

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This is where you lost me. I am an atheist, and over the years I've had patients and family members of patients ask to pray with me countless times, and I hold their hands and listen as they pray. I've been told by patients and their families that I am an angel. I've been blessed more times than I can count. Do I believe in any of this? No. But I believe in the power of belief, and the comfort it gives my patients. I treat all my patients with dignity and respect. It has nothing to do with religion. I take offense when you suggest that my lack of religious belief makes me lazy, or somehow less compassionate. It's just not true.

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Specializes in PACU.
Just the usual stuff:

  • I look at my friends and families and see chronic conditions starting and wonder how it will end.
  • I am very protective of my mobility.
  • I look at my spouse and think of all the things that I have seen and want to spare us from as we age.
  • My words are optimistic but my thoughts are very pragmatic.
  • I have become somewhat utilitarian in my clothing and nutrition.
  • I am wary of excess sugar in my diet.
  • I care about organs, like pancreas and kidneys, that I never thought about before.
  • I am grateful that I live a life free of pain.
  • I am grateful for the affection, support, and humor of my loved ones. Some people are so alone.
  • I am grateful that my mind is clear and I am not at war with myself.

I agree ^^^^ (and I should be more wary of excess sugar... enough that I stop eating it!!)

I do think that nursing has allowed me to see into "windows" of others lives that I would otherwise never experience. By witnessing the hurt and pain I have come to appreciate how good my life actually is and have gratitude for good friends, family and a clear conscious.

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Specializes in Travel, Home Health, Med-Surg.
I'm not surprised you don't feel like the same person. The nurse at whatever level (PCT, CNA, LPN, RN) does earn a living, but they are in a vocation of service to earn that living, and that vocation of service--dare I say it: compassion and caring--changes a person. It's supposed to. It's why God called you to it--to change you.

Now, I realize that it may be that you feel jaded. That as bad as you thought people could be, you've learned that they are a whole lot worse. But you are becoming something: You are becoming a love that is big enough to take in all evil. And that changes you.

And by love, I don't mean something abstract, but rather the concrete empathy and kindness that you can give--even though your job description doesn't require it. It glows in the tiny extra things that you do. And that love changes you. It changes you now, and it changes what you will be in the hereafter. Don't ever doubt that, and no matter how cynical or skeptical you feel, always hold on to the faith that you are changing for the better, because it is true.

I recognized my change when I had a patient in ICU that was dying. He was no longer responsive, on a vent, four different IV's, TPN, and in MODS. His family was flying in and would arrive in a couple of hours.

So, I closed his door; I cleaned his room, and I whispered into his ear: "You may not be here much longer, but you will look presentable and respectable for your family. I will not let you be seen without your dignity and honor. You must endure this for them. We are men; we put our faith in God."

Then I gave him a complete and thorough bed bath and peri-care. Changed all his linen for some crisp new linen. I shaved him, washed and combed his hair, straightened all his IV tubing, and made things look orderly. I folded his sheet over the top of his blanket and tucked him in without a crease. I hid his foley bag. Everything was neat and clean and in order. And he was lying there peacefully, looking sharp and ready for the next world.

I don't know if he heard me when I spoke to him. But he looked respectable and clean, practically military, when his family arrived.

He was my patient, and I was his nurse. I gave him my self-respect, my dignity that he could not do for himself. I loved him as I loved myself, and that changed me in that moment.

Some nurses in here will understand what I'm talking about. Others will judge me for it. But that's my long answer to your question. Thank you for asking it.

I have been in many many situations like yours with a dying patient. I also have spent time bathing and putting the surroundings in order for the patient/family, either before or after the death. This is our job if this is our patient; to provide dignity and respect as much as possible.

I am a Christian but I would never assume to think that my patient was also a Christian unless I had either spoke to them or reviewed the chart, you haven't said that you knew this so I guess you didn't. If you didn't know (that pt was Christian) this was not appropriate. As others have stated, a person in a coma can (more than likely) hear you, I thought this was medically accepted but maybe I am wrong on that. As a nurse it is your responsibility to provide the best medical, emotional, and spiritual care that is possible at the time. Spiritual care does not always mean "Christian" care. If you are attempting to provide spiritual care you must find out what the patient wants, because just like medical care, the pt has a right to refuse. How can a person in a coma refuse you? (they cant!). If I, as a Christian, am in a position that I am able to help another Christian along their journey, then great I am happy to do that, and I do that as much as possible. I am also happy to help anyone else, no matter what they believe, as much as possible. So, while I understand maybe your intentions were good, maybe it would have been better to (only) offer that instead of assuming.

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Specializes in Travel, Home Health, Med-Surg.
Surely not this old, this tired and this fat.

Same here!!

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