It's the Little Things That Make it Worthwhile...

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.

I had one of my frequent fliers who's a complete jerk. At the end of my interaction with him, he screamed at me, "You've got a bad attitude and you really know how to tick people off." My response was, "You know, most of my patients really like me..."

Six hours later, I was taking care of a young lady who was terrified that her new pregnancy might be coming to an end. At one point she said, "Thank you. You have a really calming effect on me." As she was leaving she said, "Thank you again. You are a really wonderful nurse."

That one expression of gratitude from a girl young enough to easily be my daughter will help tide me over for the next group of jerk-offs like the first guy. Those little moments make nursing worthwhile and they're found in precious few other vocations. They're like a breath of fresh air. I hope they never lose their effect on me.

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Specializes in ER.

Must be an ER nurse!... Or at least one at

I agree! Kudos to you! :)

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Specializes in CVICU, CCU, SICU, MICU.

It's so true! I had one of those yesterday with a pt whose adult daughters were visiting and I got to do a LOT of teaching with them and give emotional support- it was so sweet of them to tell me how much I'd helped and that they thought I was a wonderful nurse (even though I don't graduate for 3 weeks =D).

We're definitely in the right profession :heartbeat:

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.

Yeah, it's nice when things like that happen. I had a sweet little old lady last night who needed her BiPAP, but hated it. In order to keep her BiPAP on, I sat by her bedside for three hours and held her hand. It was thankfully a very slow night and I was able to do that.

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