I recently went to a job interview and one of the first questions I was asked is, "When was the last time you wow'ed a patient?" Up until this point I thought the interview was going pretty well. I had worn my nicest suit, shaken my interviewers hand firmly when meeting, smiled when appropriate, and all of the rest of the textbook niceties of the dreaded interview.
NursesRelationsArticle
I recently went to a job interview and one of the first questions I was asked is, "When was the last time you wow'ed a patient?" Up until this point I thought the interview was going pretty well. I had worn my nicest suit, shaken my interviewers hand firmly when meeting, smiled when appropriate, and all of the rest of the textbook niceties of the dreaded interview. I'm usually quite calm in situations like these. I have a natural desire to be on stage, to act, to have the attention on myself. When this is the case, I usually perform to the best of my ability, manipulating my audience into loving what I love, hating what I hate, and most importantly, becoming smitten with me.
Then there was this question.
When was the last time I wow'ed a patient? I thought to myself. Picture the depths of the ocean floor. Picture the dark side of the moon. Imagine the inside of your eyelids. These things all resembled the thoughts that were coming to my mind. Nothing. I could think of absolutely nothing.
What does he want me to say? That I brought a box of donuts to my patient once? That I did cartwheels in the room or juggled flaming wands? Oh I know! I once put my entire fist inside my mouth! That really wow'ed Betty and her COPD exacerbation! Wow'ed her right to health!
On my way home from the interview I reflected on what that question could even mean. I thought about the fact that our hospitals are becoming more and more customer service oriented. They're no longer patients (that's an ugly word) - they're clients. It's no longer acute renal failure (that might hurt the kidney's feelings) - it's acute kidney injury. These are the types of changes many people within our health care systems spend their time making. These things are what we consider important.
What about the time I sent 200 volts pulsating through a man's body to bring him back from the dead? I think that probably wow'ed him! What about the time I stood silently in a room while a demented patient in restraints screamed about how much she hated me. What about the times that I've yelled at my patients to sit down because they were unsteady and medically unsafe to walk. Or the times when I've had to firmly remind my patients that while they are on my unit, I am the boss. Did these moments wow the patients? Maybe. Is that really our goal? To wow all the patients?
I've concluded that it's not about how customer service oriented we are with our patients. It's now about how politically correct we are. It's about being a good nurse, which stems from a desire to truly help people. When you care about people, you care about not offending them. You care about going the extra distance for them. You choose to do things like go to another unit to get chocolate pudding because you know they'll like it better than the vanilla, or take the time to grab the lotion and put it on their feet even at the end of your shift. Sometimes you do things like tell a patient what they don't want to hear. Sometimes we hurt patients, physically, emotionally, mentally, all for their own greater good. Sometimes patients aren't wow'ed. Sometimes they're healed.
I didn't get the job. They went with someone who was "more qualified". That didn't exactly wow me. Maybe though, this is a time when I'm not supposed to be wow'ed. I want to get the right job, on the right unit, in the right hospital, in the right city. Not getting this job did hurt a little, but maybe it's supposed to. Maybe we're not meant to be wow'ed all the time. Maybe we go through some hurt every now and again for our own greater good. When was the last time I wow'ed a patient? I don't know. Next question.
