Ok fellow nurses, we complain(and rightfully so;-) we get burned out, we become angry and all that other stuff but can you think of anything good you learned as a nurse(besides saving someone's life...and YES that is wonderful...but I mean, in dealing with people, life skills, etc?
I have learned(and I still work on it all of the time;-)...to take things alot less personally and to be more compassionate, my patient just yelled at me...hey, she is dying and angry, she is not mad at me, she is mad because she is leaving her loving husband and children who are so very young.
To let go of anger more quickly and try not to thing the worst about things...."ARGH"...the med wasn't re ordered..they are so lazy..hmmm...maybe it was innocently overlooked, because she had a terrible shift or maybe not but why be so angry about it?
there is so much more i want to type but I have to go....I just know that even though I am not in my perfect job right now or sometimes I don't want to be a nurse anymore, being a nurse has given me way more than i could I ever give back. Maybe right now around the holidays, I am becoming a little sentimental...but I am thinking of some of the patients i have had over the years...and how much they taught about about what is really important in life. I could not have that exposure as a computer programmer or a stock broker or really any other career except nursing....
when my beloved grandmother was dying, i knew to lie on her bed with her and hold her hand for hours. i knew to tell her i'd miss her and that i'd tell my grandchildren about her, and say, "goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, i love you."
that i have my children rolling their eyes, but they know and recite the following instructions: when i am old and some smarta** case manager tells my children that i'm not safe to go home, that they are to sign me out ama and get the home care and hospice in there, because i'd rather trip on one of my cats on my own stairs and die of a broken neck in my own front hall than spend three years, or three months, or three weeks, or three days in an institution that isn't really my home.
that it is always ok to smuggle pets into the hospital, and to break isolation so a child's kisses can be felt first-hand and not through a mask.
Specializes in Acute care, Community Med, SANE, ASC.
That life is short.
That you can make someone feel important and cared for by doing the little things that address their comfort like temperature of the room, food and drink, clean linens, etc. Sometimes I think I don't have time for this stuff but it almost always pays off in the end.
I have learned that however bad a day I am having at work, I at least get to leave after 12 hours. The critically ill patient and family are probably experiencing the worst days of their life.
I've learned that good health is not something that anyone can take for granted, because it can be gone in the blink of an eye. I've learned to be grateful for my continued good health and the good health of the people I love. Working in peds, I am especially grateful that I have a (so far) completely healthy child (knock wood!).
Nascar nurse, ASN, RN
2,218 Posts
Patience with the patients
Patience with the families
Patience with the Doctors
Patience with the those under and above me
Patience with myself.