One of your best moments in Med Surg is...

[Thunderwolf]

...when a little elderly patient introduced me to her grandson, informing him that I was her nurse, and that she is very happy that her grandson was thinking about going into the field as well. She was smiling ear to ear.

You should have seen that smile.

[bear611]

I've had many thank you's and moments that make our insane choice of work worth it, the two that come to mind right now is the 90 year old woman who knitted me the most adorable booties that I still wear and on May 1st (lei day in Hawaii) two women came up to me with a beautiful lei at a crowded concert to thank me for being with their father when he passed, they said they never would forget the care I gave him and them. I didn't and won't forget them either.

[Moranguinho]

A 78 years old lovely gentleman. He stayed at our unit for almost 3 months before he died of cancer. His daughter came to our unit bringing me a thank you card signed by all his relatives 1 week after his death. I couldn't hold my tears.

[arizonanurse]

When our unit manager told me that one of the doctors (who could be quite demanding and terse at times; I was never quite sure how I stood with him) had told her that I was a really good nurse and he liked me.

When a middle aged lady told me she was so glad I'd been her nurse and asked if I'd be there tomorrow.

When a lady who'd had a labial abcess came back a month later to tell me thank you; she'd been really nervous but I made her feel comfortable (I didn't remember her at first, but finally did).

When a baby of mine was discharged, smiling, happy, and cooing, unlike three days before when I'd admitted her crying, irritable, dehydrated, and feeling awful.

When I got a blood draw on someone that no one, not the lab, not the night nurses, and not the charge nurse, could get.

And last, but definitely not least...when I get out on time :)

[maps4care]

I took care of an 80 year old pt. At the end of my day I was going to her room to say goodbuy to her, when I heard that she was talking about me to another nurse. She was telling her how nice I was, how good care I took of her, and that God should bess me....It felt good!

[MikeyJ, RN]

I am still a nursing student but I have these type of moments everyday of clinicals. As everyone knows, as a student I get to spend a great deal of time with my patients in comparison to the staff nurses. Most of my patients are thankful for the time I spend with them.

The best moment so far was actually my first day of clinicals on the Med-Surg floor. I was taking care of a hispanic woman (late 50's) who could not speak English. She was pre-op and was heading off to surgery that day for a lap chole. I could tell how terrifed she was, so I tried soothing her with my broken Spanish as I did morning assessments and administered her med's. After charting I went back into the room and spent some more time in there trying to speak to her in Spanish and her trying to speak English. When transport came to pick her up, I helped her on to the stretcher and she started to cry. I walked over and gave her a hug and told her she would be fine and God bless. In her broken English she said "thank you very much nurse".