Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051 http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137, AOL “nursefriendly”
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit-
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow -
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
Whe he might have captured the victor's cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out -
The silver tint in the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It might be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.
I have a story to share-it doesn’t relate to any one patient but to a group. I used to be a float nurse and have now been based on MBU for a year and a half. I am bilingual in Spanish but not what I consider fluent. It seemed obvious to me that we were missing an opportunity for teaching an entire population of our patients. Some Hispanic moms register for prenatal classes but I’m told as time goes on, fewer attend in the end. We send our moms home with discharge instructions and a Spanish booklet after they view their video. However, there was no plan of care for them explaining what to expect from us while they were hospitalized. I developed, with the help of Eva Valenzuela, RN, MBU, some Spanish communication tools for bedside use by patients and staff in the hope of enhancing communication, teaching a standard plan of care for vaginal and cesarean deliveries, and improving patient outcomes. Feedback so far seems to be good. It feels good to contribute to the unit. My hope is that both staff and patients benefit as a result.
- Connie Caban, RN
Mother-Baby Unit
There are times in our lives when we sit down and wonder where our lives will lead us.
Sometimes we get so caught up in our jobs that we forget what we truly represent.
We get frustrated, aggravated, pushed to the limits and so mentally tired that we feel what is the use in being a Nurse.
But then someone gives us a weak smile or holds our hand and may say "thank you, you are so special."
The we feel the warmth growing in our hearts.
All the bad feelings disappear and replaced by the core values that we present:
human dignity, compassion, dedication, integrity, stewardship, leadership and excellence.
So when the bad feelings begin to show take the times to say this prayer:
Lord, help me to bring comfort where there is pain.
Courage where there is despair.
Acceptance when the end is near.
A touch gentle with tenderness, patience, and love.
And, always remember, all Nurses are truly blessed.
For you see --- God gave of Hearts of Gold.
Nurses are compassionate and caring,
With love in their hearts for all.
Forever extending a heart of mercy,
Always there when there is call.
Endless hours they stand on their feet,
Wondering, “Did I do my best
To help this patient get through this illness,
Ease their pain so they can rest?”
In their hearts you hear God’s whisper
Through a nurse he sends his love.
Ever sensitive, kind and caring,
Souls as pure as a snow white dove.
Angel, yes, she tends to be,
For her presence comforts me.
Concern for the sick shows on her face,
Her gentle touch, my fears erase.
Lori Mesko, a registered nurse at Botsford Hospital in Farmington Hills, Mich., is no different than any other amazing nurse. But she is special in that she’s getting a little media kudos for the way in which she treated a recent patient!
Mesko told The Huffington Post in an email that she’s always wanted to take care of others. “Growing up with a older mother who was sick quite often made me realize I wanted to be a nurse,” she wrote to the site.
Last month, Mesko was treating an elderly patient, Marjorie Fisher. The patient’s daughter, Peggy Fisher-Kmieciak, had posted on the hospital’s website that her mom was having a tough time. Her potassium level was dangerously high and, left untreated, could have caused her heart to stop beating. The doctor was able to prescribe a medicine, taken in drink form, that would significantly help her out. But Fisher resisted.
Like any good nurse, Mesko gently encouraged Fisher to take her medicine. While Fisher wasn’t responding to the requests, she did admire Mesko’s bracelet and pointed it out to her daughter.
“Just then it felt right to tell her she could have the bracelet if she agreed to take all of her medications,” Mesko said.
“With a twinkle in her eye, Lori made a deal with Mom. She could have the bracelet only if she would drink the whole glass of medicine. Mom’s face lit up, and she took that glass and downed the whole thing,” Fisher-Kmieciak wrote to The Huffington Post.
Mesko gave her the bracelet right away, which Fisher never took off while at the hospital. She went on to become a resident of the Botsford Commons Continuing Care Center. “Mom doesn’t really need jewelry in the nursing home,” Fisher-Kmieciak wrote, so she tried to return the bracelet.
“Peggy [Fisher-Kmieciak] and her sister were kind loving daughters engaged in their mother’s care,” Mesko said. “I believe Peggy returning the bracelet was her way of thanking me and making me feel special.”
Eventually, Mesko did take her bracelet back.
“Each time she wears it, she’ll remember what she did to help a frail, elderly patient to accept treatment,” Fisher-Kmieciak wrote to The Huffington Post.
“The bracelet was given to me from a friend, as a gift, in the time of need,” Mesko said, “and it felt right to give it to Marjorie in her time of need.”
Nurses, what do you think of Nurse Mesko’s actions? What special methods have you used to treat patients?
My mother who had been a RN in Taiwan came to the United States to give us a better life. With her degree in Taiwan, she was able to take the RN test in the US; however, due to language barriers, she was not able to obtain her RN license. Instead, she became a LVN. For the past twenty or so years, she has been working as a dedicated graveyard shift LVN. But her mindset was always at becoming a RN.
She studied whenever she had time and took the NCLEX many times but never passed. But her failures did not stop her from achieving high. She said to us that she will keep trying ‘til the day she dies. The moment has finally come. She just passed her RN test!!! Even though she is 57 years old now, she has taught us something important in life. Don’t give up! Reach high and someday your dream can come true.
Two years ago, I decided to follow in my mother’s footsteps of becoming a nurse. After having completed my prerequisites and sending in my applications, I am just crossing my fingers now and hoping I will get accepted somewhere soon.
For those people who doubt themselves, all I can say is that the fear of failing and constant doubting yourself will not help you in reaching your goal. It is the risk that we never took in life that we regret the most. Good luck to all of you!!
The Heart Of A Nurse
Nurses are compassionate and caring,
With love in their hearts for all.
Forever extending a heart of mercy,
Always there when there is call.
Endless hours they stand on their feet,
Wondering, “Did I do my best
To help this patient get through this illness,
Ease their pain so they can rest?”
In their hearts you hear God’s whisper
Through a nurse he sends his love.
Ever sensitive, kind and caring,
Souls as pure as a snow white dove.
Angel, yes, she tends to be,
For her presence comforts me.
Concern for the sick shows on her face,
Her gentle touch, my fears erase.
One of the things that’s changed most since I started nursing more than a decade ago is the concept of age. 70 used to be old. Now 70 is middle-aged, mostly, and we’re seeing more and more patients in their late 80s and 90s, usually in better shape than 70-year-olds were 10 years ago.
With that lengthening of the time people are healthy comes interesting changes. People are getting remarried now, sometimes more than once, when their spouses die or they divorce. Families get more and more blended. Sometimes it’s hard to sort out who’s related to whom.
A year or so ago, I had an elderly man in who’d had a minor stroke. He and his first wife had adopted 20-some-odd children over the years, from the time they were first married until he was well into his 70s. She died six years ago, and he’d remarried at the age of 90. His wife was 80-something.
So here we have this man, now age 92, and his wife, and his various adopted kids, some of whom had kids and even grandkids of their own. (His oldest, a son, was in his 70s and had a great-grandchild.) I asked how he’d been able to support the constant flow of children, some formally adopted and some just taken in, on his wages as the pastor of a very small fundamentalist church.
He told me that God had not blessed him and his first wife with children, but that God had raised up a table that made it possible for them to care for kids who had nowhere else to go. I nodded; I don’t argue politics or religion at work.
Then his wife said, calmly, that she and he hadn’t yet had any children, but that they’d only been married two years; who knew what could happen?
I opened my mouth, then shut it. It wasn’t that she didn’t understand basic biology; she just lived in a different world than I did. God had sent a child to Rebekah and Sarah and Elizabeth, so why not her?
I am not religious. Not even a little. I was so touched, though, by those folks. They walked their talk, they obviously loved and enjoyed each other, they had fun together, they flirted. With somebody like that, 90-plus wouldn’t be so bad.
We all have our own nursing stories to tell our colleagues and even our children. But the greatest nursing stories of all are those that inspire others to understand why nursing is more than just a calling; why every experience can be considered a gift.
His name was Randolph and he was ninety four years old, according to the neighbor who found him early one morning. He was apparently out for his morning walk to buy a newspaper when he collapsed on his front porch. When I first laid eyes on Randolph, he was lying helplessly, but conscious, on a gurney in the emergency area of our small local hospital. He was dressed in a grey tweed suit, white shirt and a bow tie. His eyes were bright blue and staring straight at me.
“Hello, Randolph”, I began. “My name is Janet. I will be your nurse today and I am going to take really good care of you. It seems you had a little accident this morning.”
As a first year nursing student, I was new to the emergency area. I had only cared for patients who were stable or who needed very basic cares. Randolph was a new nursing challenge for me. My assignment was simple enough, however, I was to transfer him to the floor (station 12 med/surg) and assist him into a gown.
As I undressed my patient and prepared him for his hospital stay, I talked to him as though we were having an actual conversation, although I was the only one talking. I tried to look at him directly as I spoke. He seemed to understand me and occasionally made a little sound of some sort. He even tried to smile and would raise his left hand as if to acknowledge that he did truly understand my ramblings.
Randolph’s blue eyes were intense as he watched my every move. They were kind, but focused. Concerned, but trusting. He seemed to be acutely aware of his surroundings and of me.
“Randolph, I’m going to give you a little sponge bath.”
I began washing his well shaven face. I doubted he needed a bath. It was obvious to me that he was a well groomed older gentleman from the way he had dressed himself that morning. I spoke to him about the hospital, the weather and whatever else I could think of. He followed my every step with his eyes.
My mind raced. My heart pounded. My eyes filled with tears. I began to wonder where Randolph’s ninety four year old feet had taken him during his life. I wondered what paths they had trod, what roads they had taken. I felt overwhelming gratitude that I was the nurse who was assigned to care for him. How was it that I was the one who was so fortunate?
It has been many years since a sweet man by the name of Randolph was assigned to me. I don’t know the end to Randolph’s story. Maybe I don’t want to know. I would like to believe that he recovered well enough to return to his home - that he was able to get back into that grey tweed suit of his with the little bow tie.
You will never be bored.
You will always be frustrated.
You will be surrounded by challenges.
So much to do and so little time.
You will carry immense responsibility
and very little authority.
You will step into people’s lives
and you will make a difference.
Some will bless you.
Some will curse you.
You will see people at their worst--
and at their best.
You will never cease to be amazed
at people’s capacity for
love, courage, and endurance.
You will see life begin—and end.
You will experience resounding triumphs
and devastating failures.
You will cry a lot.
You will laugh a lot.
You will know what it is to be human
and to be humane.
Some women receive a beautiful piece of jewelry in the delivery room, in celebration and thanks for their hard work while giving birth. You might have heard such a gift referred to as a “push present.”
Sentara Healthcare awarded a “push present” of a different kind to nursing students at Thomas Nelson Community College. The gift? A human-like birthing simulator machine.
Many nursing students and teachers know such machines as a Laerdal SimMom, which “lies” in bed, and from across the room might be mistaken for an expectant mom. The 120 students in Thomas Nelson Community College’s nursing program and the team at Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center where she’s located took a personal approach and named their SimMom “Sarah Sentara.”
“Sarah” does everything a real mom does: She goes into labor and has contractions that a nearby monitor records and tracks. She sometimes experiences a faster heartbeat — and even a complication or two – as she delivers a baby.
“The SimMom is a wonderful tool to help students learn about obstetrical and newborn issues. She provides nursing students the opportunity to care for patients experiencing life-threatening obstetrical emergencies they otherwise would not have an opportunity to experience,” explains Jean Midyette, nursing simulation lab supervisor at Thomas Nelson Community College (TNCC).
Simulation equipment has become the expected, state-of-the art equipment in nursing education, yet the expense of one mannequin is, in most cases, far beyond many college nursing programs’ capacity to obtain. “Sarah Sentara” required an investment of $50,000.
“Without the partnership with Sentara, I doubt that TNCC would have been able to purchase the SimMom this year,” says Cynthia Callaway, vice president for institutional advancement and executive director of the TNCC Educational Foundation Inc.
Sarah’s value for the nurses isn’t underestimated by the program’s teachers and nurses.
“Sarah provides our students with the most realistic birth scenarios and allows a team of students to ‘care’ for the mother and the baby,” says Midyette.
We received many articles for the NurseTogether article contest and it was a difficult process to pick just three, as there were so many inspirational, entertaining, touching and informative articles submitted. The team would like to thank everyone who participated for sharing your experiences with us, and thank you for being a part of this amazing profession! Tune in tomorrow to find out who the 3rd winner is!
My nurse story started when I was a young child in grade school. I read historical biographies on Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton and was struck by the deep desire to go into nursing.
I grew up in a small community and the hospital in town had a Candy Striper program. When I was thirteen years old, I had the great experience to work with the nurses assisting them in their very busy day. I was able to help with ADL’s, provide massage and be there to listen to their stories. This experience solidified my decision to go into nursing for my career.
During high school, I obtained my certified nursing assistant certification and went to work at a local nursing home. The work was hard but I was able to learn much about patient care, how to be a collaborative member of a healthcare team, how to work with families and how important listening to the patient was. After I graduated from high school, I moved to the big city and worked at a local hospital as a CNA in various departments. It was then that I decided it was time to enroll in nursing school.
I was not the traditional nursing student in that I was married and had a two year old and a 4-month old at home when the semester started. Not only was I juggling home, children and school, but I also continued to work part time at the hospital.
I had been in school for about three months when my 6-month old daughter was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She had to have surgery just before finals. I explained my situation to my school and they committed to work with me to help me finish up that semester.pediatric home care
I was left to believe the tumor would remain stable and no more care would be required, so I made the decision to continue with school. It was during the second semester that I realized something was not right so I took my daughter to a specialist and learned that the tumor was growing and we would need to go to UCSF in San Francisco. The trip was made and a treatment plan given and we were able to return to Portland and receive care there by a pediatric oncologist.
I decided to continue with school but did give up working part-time as a CNA. During the remaining school years I was very fortunate to receive the support of my nursing instructors and professors. During one of my rotations I met a fantastic nurse practitioner who built a practice to serve children in her community that were underserved. Her stories as a nurse were priceless. She became a mentor to me as she too had undergone struggles to get to where she was. She provided me with so much encouragement during the many tough times. When I was unsure I had the strength to make it through, she was there to tell me I could. Despite having to return to San Francisco for another surgery, going through 6 weeks of twice daily radiation and on-going chemotherapy, I finally made it to graduation day. I looked out proudly seeing her there at the ceremony celebrating my achievement.
After losing my daughter, I went to work for the home care company that provided such wonderful support to me during the week my daughter was at home dying. I spent many years devoted to pediatric home care. I was able to help several families work through the dying process with their children with the hope of it being a positive and supported experience, where their children could die at home with their family and friends around. Many people ask me how I handled losing a child and I truly say that, while it is hard, I feel so lucky that I could take my tragedy and turn it into something positive. I am certain I am a better nurse and know my role in helping other parents through the process truly made a difference.
I have had many great opportunities in my career path including: adult oncology nurse, childbirth coach, pediatric office nurse, pediatric oncology nurse, pediatric home care nurse, pediatric shift care manager, disease management supervisor, supervisor at a clinic serving the uninsured and am now currently working back in the world of oncology, creating an unprecedented cancer care product that will change the direction of cancer care for patients.pediatric home care
Looking back, I have no regrets. I have always looked forward to going to work and nothing makes going to work more rewarding than knowing I make a difference every day.
Years ago, while still in nursing school, I worked the overnight shift at a nursing home. More often than not I was the only Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) for the 50 residents in one wing of the facility. Some nights I was the only CNA for all 150 residents. As you can imagine, I spent the entire night going from soiled bed to soiled bed, changing sheets, and changing and re-positioning patients.
One of the women living there had night terrors. She was never able to name that which she feared, but woke every few hours screaming in panic. Her confusion and fear touched my heart as I tried to imagine experiencing her quality of life. I immediately discovered that she would calm down and return to sleep if I spent 10-15 minutes talking to her. Soon thereafter, I discovered that if I came to work 20 minutes before my shift started, held her hand, and talked with her she slept peacefully the entire night through. 20 minutes a day, five days a week out of the life of a student nurse was a small price to pay for her peace of mind.
JT Hayes, RN, PHN
Palm Spring, California
JT’s comment: “I believe that a large part of nursing involves giving of that of which we are made to those in need.”
If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don't!
If you'd like to win, but you think you can't,
It's almost certain you won't.
If you think you'll lose, you're lost;
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will;
It's all in the state of mind!
If you think you're outclassed, you are;
You've got to think high to rise.
You've got to be sure of yourself
Before you 'll ever win the prize.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man;
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the person who thinks he can!
Don't Quit - Author Unknown
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.
As nurses we are taught that we are professionals and we must maintain a certain emotional distance with our patients. It’s a boundary that encompasses the therapeutic relationship: nurses as caregivers, patients as the recipients of the care. But now, working as a nurse, I have found that while most of my professional boundaries are well defined, sometimes the line between a professional and personal relationship with a patient can become blurred.
I work on an orthopedic surgical unit where most patients are coming in and going out very frequently. That makes it hard to get to know anyone too well. But there are some patients that we never forget, for good or bad reasons. Most of the time these patients stay with us because, for whatever reason, one of us crossed the invisible boundary nurses set for themselves.
Recently, I cared for two patients who touched me so deeply it was impossible to maintain a professional distance. My grandfather had recently passed away, and both of these men reminded me of him. My grandfather, or “Grand-Daddy” as we all called him, was one-of-a-kind, and one of the kindest and most generous people I’ve ever met. He was hard of hearing but constantly fiddled around with his hearing aids, so it was wise to always be prepared to repeat yourself once or twice. He had an extraordinary memory until the day he died, and was one of the funniest people I’ve ever known.
One day at work, an older man arrived on my floor after a total hip replacement. As I worked to admit him to our care, his room was crowded with half a dozen family members who surrounded him with love. I asked him about his family, and he told me about his eight children, 30 grandchildren, and a couple of great-grandchildren too. It was uncanny how much this man reminded me of my grandfather, who also had a large family of six children, 28 grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
I smiled as I watched my patient fiddle with his hearing aids, and tears welled up in my eyes as he answered all of my questions with a familiar, “What did you say?” I didn’t mind repeating myself, and for a moment, it was as if I was speaking with my grandfather again.
After I was finished admitting him and settling him in, I found myself constantly peeking back into his room asking if he was O.K. and if he needed anything. He was pretty low-maintenance and never really needed much, and eventually, he was gone. I never told him that he reminded me of my grandfather, or how he tugged at my heartstrings, and I often wonder if I should have. But I worried that in showing this man a little extra attention, I had somehow breached the therapeutic relationship.
Not long after that, another patient came up to the floor. The report said he was an older man who was in “comfort care.” This essentially means that no lifesaving efforts would be made on his behalf; we were there to keep him comfortable during his final days. When this patient came up to the floor, I was quite taken by him. His gruff, Irish exterior belied his sweet nature. Medically, he had a lot of issues, but when he came up to the floor, the only thing he wanted was a bowl of oatmeal. When his tray came, he found cream of wheat instead. He was so disappointed, but I was determined to find him a bowl of oatmeal.
Miraculously, after a search through our floor kitchen, I found oatmeal and delivered it to him. He was delighted and blew me a kiss and gave me a wink. His chart said he needed assistance to eat, but he dug right in. Sure, he made a mess, but he managed just fine on his own.
Watching him eat that oatmeal reminded me of some of my last meals with Grand-Daddy. Grand-Daddy never was the neatest eater, and we would always laugh about what a mess he made. But he didn’t care — at his age, he just wanted what he wanted when he wanted it. My patient’s personality was strikingly similar to that of my grandfather. As he lay curled up in the bed, I thought about the strong man he must have been a long time ago.
When his wife and children came to the room, I felt a pang of familiarity. His wife remained so graciously composed during her visits. It brought back memories of my grandmother during my grandfather’s last days. Despite her deep sadness and fear of what was to come, my grandmother kept full composure and took care of not only him but also everyone around her. I still am amazed by how strong and selfless she was during that time: a true role model for unconditional love, and I saw these saintly qualities in this man’s wife.
The following day, the man was sent back to a nursing home where comfort care would be resumed. When the transporters came to get him, I started to feel emotional, like someone I loved was going to leave me. Even though I knew he was going to a nice and comfortable facility, I didn’t want him to go. We transferred him onto the stretcher and I made him cozy in his blankets. His family was sincerely thankful, and I remember telling them with tears in my eyes how much we enjoyed taking care of him, and how much we would miss him.
The tears continued to well up as I watched his stretcher go around the corner and out of sight, because I knew I would never see him again. I felt like I was saying goodbye not only to him, but also to my grandfather all over again. But once again, I stopped myself from sharing these feelings with my patient or his family. They knew I cared, but they never knew how much caring for him meant to me personally.
Looking back, I still don’t know if I did the right thing, keeping my feelings to myself. I now realize that both of these patients were helping me heal, even as I was helping them. Watching them leave was like letting go of my grandfather again, but they also gave me the gifts of laughter and reminiscence, right when I needed them most.
I know that, ultimately, I am still just the nurse, and they are still just my patients. But I think it’s better for both the patients and myself if we both sometimes allow ourselves to feel something more than a professional bond. Nurses and patients move in and out of each others’ lives so quickly, but we are nonetheless changed by every encounter.
I became a nurse because I want to care for people and make a difference. Being touched in return is an added bonus.
I became a nurse because of the flawless care my grandmother received in a hospice. She had everything she could ever need, and the support that she and my family had throughout her passing was nothing short of fantastic. Today, as a qualified staff nurse, I try to bring a bit of sunshine to all my patients, even when the government targets and general displeasure at the state of the NHS makes it hard. Its not easy being a staff nurse, but its the person in the bed that matters, not the ridiculous amounts of rules and regulations. I wouldn't change my job for anything.
When I was 19, my mother decided to quit her job as a CNA, and open a boarding home where she would provide 24-hour care for up to four live-in residents. Before long, my extended family included an old man who had memory loss issues, an old lady with MS, and a 26-year-old guy who had suffered TBI in a car accident when he was a teenager. And, (to my surprise), I really enjoyed having those strangers around!
A year later, I was accepted into the Nursing program at the local community college, but by the time I graduated and became an LPN, my mother had closed up shop and returned to working at a local nursing home. So I moved from our small town to a nearby city and went to work as a live-in caregiver for a small agency that paid twice as much as I could get back home. After a year of that, I started working at an extended care facility, where I met a pretty, young CNA that I would soon marry.
A few months later, I convinced my new wife that we could make a better living and have a better life by renting a place big enough to take care of a couple of patients in our own home. She had serious doubts about it but trusted me enough to give it a shot.
Within two months, we had rented a place with two bedrooms upstairs and one downstairs, borrowed enough money to get two used hospital beds and all the supplies we’d need, and ran advertising in the local paper that brought us our first clients— two elderly ladies who had previously been wasting away in a nursing home.
We promptly quit our jobs and really enjoyed being able to spend all day, every day, together with our new clients and our newborn baby boy. Before long, we took out a big loan and rented a huge seven-bedroom home that quickly filled up with four more clients, and our business became our way of life.
My wife and I have now been married for almost 20 years, and we STILL provide 24/7 care in our own home! Our marriage is stronger than ever, our son has grown up and moved out, and our humble little business now provides us with a gross income of more than $140,000 a year.
So trust me when I tell you that you don’t have to work for a hospital, nursing home, or agency if you would prefer to be your own boss. Bet on yourself, and there’s a good chance you’ll eventually strike it rich. Plus you can share in, and add tremendously to the lives of some really nice people in the process. Yes, there will be many challenges and sacrifices along the way, but the security and satisfaction will make them all worthwhile.
About a month ago, I had this little Spanish speaking girl as one of my patients. She had just gotten admitted before my shift started, she was scared, crying, her mother was a mess. She had been attacked by two rottweilers and by the grace of God a neighbor shot a gun in the air and they released. She had bite marks all over her legs, scraps and bruises everywhere and five penrose drains in her leg.
I had to put her in the tub once on my shift per orders and soak her legs. She did okay for me, but subsequent baths didn't go so well. I made sure her pain was well controlled, her Mom got a chance to get in the shower, and I stroked her hair every chance I got. She cried a lot during my shift, sometimes she spoke small words to me and sometimes not. I went home that night, hoping she would learn not to cringe at the sight of a dog.
The next shift I worked, I stopped by her room to check on her. As I pulled back the curtain and approached her bed, she had the biggest smile on her face and she put her arms out to me for me to give her a hug. I was floored and tears immediately came to my eyes. THAT is the reason I am a pediatric nurse.
I started out even wondering if I should get a RN degree. I came from being mostly a stay at home mom, and also had a degree in a non health-related field. Nursing school was VERY strange to me, as were clinicals, my preceptorship and the actual preceptorship on the floor. It was just all so new to me — the culture of nursing and the hospital.
Through so much of it I was nervous, SEVERELY anxious, would go home crying, etc, etc. — wondered if I’d made a mistake, HATED the job, HATED the coworkers, the patients, their nutty families, etc. I SO doubted myself so much of the time and had so much fear about things and my abilities.
And then, something just seemed to turn around. I can’t even pinpoint it. I’m about five months off orientation now and a lot of it I’ve done before now, a lot of it I CAN handle, a lot of it I keep in my head now. I seem to be gaining my confidence now and don’t really get riled about things as much. I mean — doctors don’t even bother me anymore — even if they ARE mean — I just realized they also are under a lot of stress and patients are making incredible demands on them as well.
I don’t know if I’ve trained my brain, or what — but for some reason, not much scares me anymore. Things just all seem to work out and I’ve come to realize that the entire WORLD does not rest on my shoulders. Nursing is a team effort and I am just a part of it.
I can’t say I absolutely LOVE my unit — there are crazy things about it. I will probably move on when the commitment is done, but I can now see myself surviving it for the next year and am excited to move on to the next specialty. I mean — I am STOKED about wherever it is I will go next!!
And I have even taken another nurse or two under my wing now, which was REALLY a confidence booster for me.
And I have had my challenges — a special needs son while in nursing school, a non-existent spouse, family demands, budget demands, NO HELP, fighting fatigue, etc.
I don’t know. All I can say is stick with it, wade through the pain, the suffering, the hurt, and the fear — and you CAN come through it and start to gain confidence. And believe me, I am the most self-doubting, unconfident, shy, anxious self-beater-upper you’ve ever seen!!
I had an acute patient the other day — albeit a very sick one. He was lethargic during most of the time I was caring for him. But after a couple days of taking care of him, I confidently asked if he would give me a smile — and he did. A toothy grin, right at me — he KNEW I enjoyed taking care of him — and his smile was the most heartwarming thing I’ve seen in a long time.
Stick with it – the confident YOU will emerge. It takes time — sometimes it takes dealing with that humiliation, or terror, or disappointment — but you CAN turn that corner. If I did, anyone CAN.
I became a nurse because of the flawless care my grandmother received in a hospice. She had everything she could ever need, and the support that she and my family had throughout her passing was nothing short of fantastic. Today, as a qualified staff nurse, I try to bring a bit of sunshine to all my patients, even when the government targets and general displeasure at the state of the NHS makes it hard. Its not easy being a staff nurse, but its the person in the bed that matters, not the ridiculous amounts of rules and regulations. I wouldn't change my job for anything.
I am celebrating Nurses' Day because as a child, I always wanted to be a nurse. I achieved this in my 30s and from the moment I put on my uniform, my aim for that day is to make differences, however small or big - to patients lives, either by giving a patient a drink who cannot do it for themselves or giving counsel to families who are grief stricken over their loved one who is approaching end of life. Each episode of care I give, I give with my whole being. To bring a smile to a person who cannot communicate because she's had a stroke, or changing a continence pad from a patient who cannot perform personal care, providing dignified and compassionate care is always at the forefront of my mind. The patient with dementia who is bewildered and anxious, I give person centre care, promote independence, offer reassurances and be humble in my approach.
To me, this is the essence of nursing and I would do nothing else in life except nurse.
To all my colleagues who also work hard, are dedicated, committed and caring, it's a pleasure to work with you all. May our philosophy always remain strong and know that we place our patients always at the centre of their care.
One thing that keeps happening every time I work is that the patients tell me what a good nurse I am, or I’m the best nurse they’ve ever had. Those compliments really keep me charged.
This convinces me that nursing is not about the medications you give or the procedures you perform. It’s about listening to your patients and making them smile. I never leave a patient room without making them laugh or smile, even when I’m in a hurry. Patients WANT to know and NEED to know that you care about them.
I’ve been complimented that every time I enter my patients’ room I have a smile on my face and that I made the patient feel at ease. I also engage the family. They’re stressed and worried. I’ve been told by patients’ families that they go home with peace because they know their loved one is well cared for.
Although I do not enjoy medical surgery — it’s not my dream job — I know it’s the beginning. I leave every shift feeling like I did my best and that I made a difference. It’s been another good day!
One thing that keeps happening every time I work is that the patients tell me what a good nurse I am, or I’m the best nurse they’ve ever had. Those compliments really keep me charged.
This convinces me that nursing is not about the medications you give or the procedures you perform. It’s about listening to your patients and making them smile. I never leave a patient room without making them laugh or smile, even when I’m in a hurry. Patients WANT to know and NEED to know that you care about them.
I’ve been complimented that every time I enter my patients’ room I have a smile on my face and that I made the patient feel at ease. I also engage the family. They’re stressed and worried. I’ve been told by patients’ families that they go home with peace because they know their loved one is well cared for.
Although I do not enjoy medical surgery — it’s not my dream job — I know it’s the beginning. I leave every shift feeling like I did my best and that I made a difference. It’s been another good day!
Whether you’re an active professional, student, or job-seeker, the health care industry is certainly not for the faint of heart. From pushy patients to HOBET studying stress to looking for a job in the tough economy, it’s easy to get down in the dumps, regardless of what stage you’re in in your career.
That’s why we’ve put together the 10 most inspiring stories straight from the trenches, just in time for bringing in the New Year. So make the resolution to be positive and hope for the best!
Get inspired as these real-life health care professionals share their special stories that’ll remind you of why you got into health care in the first place.
Years ago, while still in nursing school, I worked the overnight shift at a nursing home. More often than not I was the only Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) for the fifty residents in one wing of the facility. Some nights I was the only CNA for all 150 residents. As you can imagine, I spent the entire night going from soiled bed to soiled bed, changing sheets, and changing and re-positioning patients.
One of the women living there had night terrors. She was never able to name that which she feared, but woke every few hours screaming in panic. Her confusion and fear touched my heart as I tried to imagine experiencing her quality of life. I immediately discovered that she would calm down and return to sleep if I spent 10-15 minutes talking to her.
Soon thereafter, I discovered that if I came to work 20 minutes before my shift started, held her hand, and talked with her she slept peacefully the entire night through. Twenty minutes a day, five days a week out of the life of a student nurse was a small price to pay for her peace of mind.
For The American Nurse Project, filmmaker Carolyn Jones set out to interview and photograph nurses around the country about their work, and ended up having broader conversations about life, death and things that matter to all of us.
Seventy-five portraits of caregivers are collected in a beautiful coffee-table book The American Nurse (the pages in our copy were quickly wet with tears -- not all of them the sad kind), and Jones continues to add life-affirming stories to the web site, americannurseproject.com. A documentary featuring six of the nurses is forthcoming in the fall of 2014.
There are over 3 million registered nurses in the U.S., and almost all of us will have an important relationship with a nurse at some point in our lives, whether it be while they're caring for us or a loved one. Through this project, they share the most challenging and inspiring parts of their jobs, as well as the insights they've gained about the human condition.
I was 50, tired of working outside, and needing a change in occupation. While taking a math course at the university, I was told about the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation Program. With bad shoulders from being a lifelong carpenter, I qualified for the program. “What do you want to do?” “I want to be a nurse”, I replied. To make a long story short, I was accepted to the BSN program at the University of Alaska.
Four years later I finished, passed the NCLEX, and was an RN. Faced with a great deal of debt, having four children to support, and being 54 years old, I wondered if I had made the right choice. My wife and I calculated we would be debt free when I was 75 years old. A week later my wife and I decided to go to the mall to walk around. We didn’t have any money so were not concerned about overspending!
As we walked through Nordstrom, my wife was sidelined by a beautiful watch. She looked at it for a long time and just loved it. She then saw the price, which was $3,000, and I saw the disappointment in her face. I felt bad, feeling that she deserved the watch for putting me through the last two years of nursing school.
The next day she told me how she had prayed that the desire for the watch would leave her and her prayer had been answered. A few days later, the doorbell rang and it was the postman with a registered letter. I thought, “Oh no, we are being sued.” I opened the letter, which was addressed to my wife. She looked at the letter from the Reader’s Digest. The opening of the letter read, “Congratulations. You have just won the Sweepstakes worth $250,000.” She got the watch.
I was lying in bed last night contemplating what I should post here, then it hit me. I want to dedicate this post to inspirational nursing stories.
I can't tell you how many times when I have said that I am studying nursing, or that I want to be a nurse people have commented "Why would you want to do that?" The worst offenders tend to be nurses!! who usually add to the end something like "I wouldn't if I were you", or "You'll hate it", or "I don't know why you would choose Nursing!".
So it got me to thinking I would love to collect some stories about positive Nursing experiences on the job or on prac. That way when someone makes a negative comment or I am feeling sorry for myself I can read my blog for inspiration...(and other people aswell). Well it sounds like a good idea in theory, now all it needs is some good stories.....Ok first I will share mine, then you can share yours??!!!
Firstly I haven't had heaps of experience, I am just a newbie, but I have had some great nursing experiences. This one was on my last placement which was 2 weeks at an Acute Mental Health unit.
A few days after I started working on the ward R was admitted. R verbalised strong suicidal ideation and was assessed as having situationally induced severe depression. R's expressions were blunted and he withdrew from interactions with other patients and staff.
I was privileged that R allowed me to work with my buddy nurse (excellent mental health nurse with 20 years experience) and get to know him. Over the next few days I got to know R's story and received insight into the circumstances which led R to the Mental Health facility and his current mental status. My buddy nurse and R's examined his experiences, choices and circumstances. We learnt that R had broken most of his family ties and someone close to R died hours after his admission.
Gradually we began to see a change in R. He started to accept his mistakes, having examined the choices he made and was able to initiate plans for the future. R's affect began changing and he responded appropriately to staff interactions. My buddy nurse encouraged R to seek support in his family network which thankfully was readily forthcoming.
As the days went on R began to initiate positive interactions with staff. R had made some remarkable progress and he was discharged. I have to be honest and say that my eyes welled up for just a minute seeing such a positive outcome and seeing R have such hope for the future. I felt like I had participated in something special, that the care R received had really made a difference in his life, and to top it off I had well and truly overcome my anxiety of my Mental Health placement. I have to say this placement was definantly one of the best for me.
Whenever I am asked to reflect upon the Nurse-Family Partnership and to share my perspective from having been a part of the program, I am reminded of a keynote speech delivered by Dr. Dudley Floyd, a former Assistant Superintendent of Public Instructions for the State of North Carolina. He stated he loved his job so much he would have done 85-percent of the job for no pay. Later, in his speech he related an encounter with an irate parent. This encounter let him know why the state paid him – to perform the unpleasant tasks he was required to do which comprised about 15-percent of his duties. Until I had the opportunity to be a part of Nurse-Family Partnership his statements were merely an anecdote. Now I understand on a very personal level his sentiments. I have taken some time to really process my experience at Guilford Child Development, and more so my experience as a member of the Nurse-Family Partnership team. When I came to the agency, I never dreamed my work with Nurse-Family Partnership would become a peak employment experience. First of all, as a registered nurse, I had not worked in this area of nursing, maternal-child health, since I completed my bachelor's degree at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Nor, had I worked with teenagers, pregnant mothers, or infants. Consequently, I knew I had a huge learning curve to overcome. I would not have described myself as one who would be comfortable doing an intense home visitation program. Boy, was I wrong! The Nurse-Family Partnership training represented a paradigm shift in my views of infant development. I have worked in many different areas of nursing. Other than the training I received as a surgical intensive care nurse, none has come close to the depth of preparation I received for Nurse-Family Partnership. The program also had internal supports in place to help new practitioners circumvent failure. During the initial site training, I became acutely aware of what the nurse's visits meant to an inexperienced mother. Throughout the prenatal months, the nurse was a source of support and information that covered the gamut of topics and concerns a new mother might anticipate. Another important program goal was to convey the messages required by the program's protocol in order to give the mother an opportunity to experience a healthy pregnancy. What does experiencing a healthy pregnancy entail? This meant for me, the nurse, that the mother engaged in behaviors that were conductive to a healthy pregnancy. The components of good behaviors during pregnancy included prenatal care, good nutrition, timely physician visits, and good mental and emotional health. The desired outcomes were not to deliver prematurely, give birth to a healthy infant, no low birthweights, and participate in timely postpartum care. To the mother, it often meant someone to teach her and her family how to make a healthy pregnancy possible. To impart information in order to alleviate fears of the unknown abyss of childbirth, breastfeeding, and the day-to-day care of a newborn. Oftentimes, this process required dispelling myths on pregnancy and child rearing passed from one generation to another, thus dismantling generations of paradigm paralysis for new mothers. The paradigm shifts I witnessed in the mothers was a source of gratification for me. To observe the benefit our relationship had upon their infants' social and physical development gave me a sense of accomplishment. For many of the young women learning not to continue counterproductive habits suggested by family members or the culture was a tremendous change. In order for me to facilitate such a major change in their beliefs and practices, a trusted relationship was required. Having someone trust me with one of the most important and sacred events of their life sprung from the strong commitment I had to guard and protect their trust in me. During the two years I spent with each mother, I witnessed changes that were life altering. Many of the mothers I served were from different countries and cultures. Therefore, ideas I suggested were sometimes directly opposite to information prevalent in their homes and cultures. I was also exposed to new information and customs as I listened to understand their thinking and feelings. The sharing of cultures and beliefs allowed us to decide what was negotiable. This strategy also created an environment in which both parties were given opportunities to learn and share while working toward common goals. Once an infant was born, the structure of the goals changed. At this juncture, not only was it important to teach the mother how to be an informed parent, but also it was important to facilitate self-efficacy. Assisting the mother in finding solutions for positive outcomes was an integral part in the mother's development of self-efficacy. Many times, providing emotional support was essential to mothers experiencing positive outcomes in their lives, which ultimately benefited the lives of their children. For this challenge, it was necessary for me to understand the mothers' dream for themselves. Some articulate their life's vision quite easily, while others were in the formative state of goal setting and exploration was required. It was this experience that separates Nurse-Family Partnership from other programs designed to improve outcomes for low income, under educated, and underserved new mothers. I felt as if I were teaching these young women to fish. It was not an experience wherein gratification was realized at the end. I had moments of great pleasure throughout the two-year relationship. At first the outcomes were medically based and the goal was the delivery of a healthy full term infant. Then, a positive transition into motherhood, eager to provide a safe environment that would foster physical growth and an infant striving to meet developmental milestones. Once the first objectives were an actuality, the imperative for holistic family development was evident. As a relationship was coming to an end, I realized I had a very strong feeling of ownership. I was ecstatic to see a two-year old, who had been destined to be physically, emotionally, and developmentally delayed move within the normal ranges of infant growth and development. Even more rewarding was to watch them progress into toddlerhood with flourishing cognitive, motor and language skills. I was impressed with the mothers' commitment to create a nurturing and supportive environment that allowed children to meet developmental milestones. Knowing that there were no unwanted pregnancies for these young women, but instead school and/or work as part of their daily lives was an immeasurable accomplishment for them, but for me I knew I had made a difference in their lives. They were in the position to teach their children and others to fish. - See more at: http://www.nursefamilypartnership.org/Nurses/Stories-from-nurses/Gail-s-story#sthash.Y0DpNwNM.dpuf
I have nine patients, you are but one
I will walk five miles before I am done
Tiptoeing in and out of the rooms
Darkened and quiet like silent tombs
I try not to wake you, for there is no time
When trying to divide eight hours by nine.
I vividly remember how much I loved to hear stories when I was young. I still remember many of those stories because there was an element in the narrative or a personality attribute in the character to which I could relate. Many times I remember being able to experience the emotions and feelings of the characters in the story. Those emotions ran the gamut from proud to happy, all the way to terrified and sad.
Becoming a nurse sometimes elicited the same feelings for me. As I learned to be a nurse, I realized that I was becoming part of people’s lives and their stories. Their stories became important to me, not just because it was my job but also because I wanted to help them and be a positive part of their stories. I remember many of the patients and families that I have been in contact with and have been privileged to care for over the past 30 years. Some of their stories were amazing. They are stories of hope and courage.
I also remember very clearly how it felt to be a student nurse and how overwhelming it was to assimilate all the content, procedures, and skills needed to be competent in the real world. That educational process was also a story, one that involved my classmates and instructors who, now as I look back, all encouraged and challenged me to finish nursing school and become a lifelong learner in nursing.
The unfolding case study book series — including titles such as, NCLEX-RN Excel: Test Success Through Unfolding Case Study Review, Fundamentals of Nursing Test Success, and Maternal-Child Nursing Test Success — were born out of my love for stories. These books make stories come alive for nursing students! They use storytelling in unfolding case studies format to make information about the lives of nursing students and patients and families they care for memorable. The best part is that the nursing student is learning valuable content as they enjoy the stories. The stories reinforce the classroom content in a unique way because they infuse names, feelings, and decision-making into the situations to make the content more personable than the usual lifeless words attached to paper or an electronic resource.
Becoming a nurse was wonderful, and it filled my life with thousands of stories about people and learning experiences. So these books are a take-off on those stories and I wrote them down to share my experiences with nursing students everywhere who will, before long, have their own stories to share.
We all have our own nursing stories to tell our colleagues and even our children. But the greatest nursing stories of all are those that inspire others to understand why nursing is more than just a calling; why every experience can be considered a gift.
His name was Randolph and he was ninety four years old, according to the neighbor who found him early one morning. He was apparently out for his morning walk to buy a newspaper when he collapsed on his front porch. When I first laid eyes on Randolph, he was lying helplessly, but conscious, on a gurney in the emergency area of our small local hospital. He was dressed in a grey tweed suit, white shirt and a bow tie. His eyes were bright blue and staring straight at me.
“Hello, Randolph”, I began. “My name is Janet. I will be your nurse today and I am going to take really good care of you. It seems you had a little accident this morning.”
As a first year nursing student, I was new to the emergency area. I had only cared for patients who were stable or who needed very basic cares. Randolph was a new nursing challenge for me. My assignment was simple enough, however, I was to transfer him to the floor (station 12 med/surg) and assist him into a gown.
As I undressed my patient and prepared him for his hospital stay, I talked to him as though we were having an actual conversation, although I was the only one talking. I tried to look at him directly as I spoke. He seemed to understand me and occasionally made a little sound of some sort. He even tried to smile and would raise his left hand as if to acknowledge that he did truly understand my ramblings.
Randolph’s blue eyes were intense as he watched my every move. They were kind, but focused. Concerned, but trusting. He seemed to be acutely aware of his surroundings and of me.
“Randolph, I’m going to give you a little sponge bath.”
I began washing his well shaven face. I doubted he needed a bath. It was obvious to me that he was a well groomed older gentleman from the way he had dressed himself that morning. I spoke to him about the hospital, the weather and whatever else I could think of. He followed my every step with his eyes.
My mind raced. My heart pounded. My eyes filled with tears. I began to wonder where Randolph’s ninety four year old feet had taken him during his life. I wondered what paths they had trod, what roads they had taken. I felt overwhelming gratitude that I was the nurse who was assigned to care for him. How was it that I was the one who was so fortunate?
It has been many years since a sweet man by the name of Randolph was assigned to me. I don’t know the end to Randolph’s story. Maybe I don’t want to know. I would like to believe that he recovered well enough to return to his home - that he was able to get back into that grey tweed suit of his with the little bow tie.
Who’d have thought we’d be having to defend?
We don’t do this for our families, we don’t do this for our friends,
but for strangers.
Because this is our vocation
and we’re sick and tired of hearing we don’t do enough for this nation.
So, listen to us, hear us goddamn roar, you say we’re not doing enough?
Then we promise we’ll do more.
This time, next time, there’s nothing we can’t handle,
even if you bring us down, show us scandal, scandal, scandal.
Ever feel like you’re 90 years old at the end of a long shift? So does Ruth Hepler.
Here’s the difference, though: Hepler actually is 90! Well, 89 to be exact.
Four days a week you’ll find Hepler at Nella’s Nursing Home in Randolph County, W.V, according to WBOY.com. She will have driven herself there and will likely be overseeing and comforting patients in addition to performing nursing treatments.
Interestingly, Hepler didn’t even become a nurse until she was 54. She joined the Davis and Elkins College RN Program after her husband died. Before that she was a homemaker, and before that she worked in a factory making plexus glass for B29 bombers for World War II.
She doesn’t restrict her work to West Virginia, either. She has also volunteered as a nurse in Haiti and has traveled around the world. All of this sits well with her reason why she’s still a nurse after all these years.
“If you are going to retire to something, that’s different. Just don’t retire and sit down,” she told WBOY.
As a kid, I accompanied my mum to the hospital and was hugely impressed with the tidiness of the nurses uniforms, their politeness , care, compassion and readiness to help. It made me wanted to become like them and put smiles back on the faces of patients, their relatives and loved ones.
Becoming a nurse was a long road for me but I was so determined that I started as a health care assistant in a nursing home before working my way to an NHS hospital. The ability to cater for elderly residents whom I see as my mum and dad was so satisfying that I wanted to do more hence the need to qualify as a nurse. The smile when you feed that resident who cannot feed herself, the gratitude when you do the personal hygiene for an ageing dad is so gratifying . The "thank you" from an appreciative daughter and son is such that I began to see this as my calling.
The relaxed mind, peace on caring for a dying resident makes this a satisfying job. There are times when my eyes are filled with tears on seeing a dying patient but making them comfortable, dignified and peaceful even at such an emotional times makes nursing worth it for me.
I now work in an elderly ward in an NHS hospital. The greatest happiness is in seeing a patient back on his/her feet, in good health again and returning to their normal life. I am gratified when a relative says thank you for looking after daddy and mummy. I remember the day, I was trimming the nails of one of my patients. The daughter walked in when I was doing this, she was amazed and told me she has never done that for her mum.she was so happy and when her mum was being discharged, she blew me a kiss. These little acts that makes a great difference to my patients, their relatives and loved ones makes nursing forever a calling for me.
Years ago, while still in nursing school, I worked the overnight shift at a nursing home. More often than not I was the only Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) for the fifty residents in one wing of the facility. Some nights I was the only CNA for all 150 residents. As you can imagine, I spent the entire night going from soiled bed to soiled bed, changing sheets, and changing and re-positioning patients.
One of the women living there had night terrors. She was never able to name that which she feared, but woke every few hours screaming in panic. Her confusion and fear touched my heart as I tried to imagine experiencing her quality of life. I immediately discovered that she would calm down and return to sleep if I spent 10-15 minutes talking to her.
Soon thereafter, I discovered that if I came to work 20 minutes before my shift started, held her hand, and talked with her she slept peacefully the entire night through. Twenty minutes a day, five days a week out of the life of a student nurse was a small price to pay for her peace of mind.
So there I was, having a tough night in the ER. Five PTs, couple of belly pains, acute pancreatitis, intractable pain (not drug seeker but the real thing d/t spinal stenosis) and yes, one actual drug seeker (great actor though). Orders coming in simultaneously, docs calling to give more orders, call bells going off, charting being done on scrap paper for later input into the computer, you know, the usual new grad time management spin and futz.
Actually get to d/c one of the belly pains. She’s developmentally and physically disabled, very pleasant, just has a full plate medically so to speak. Everything’s done and her aide is starting to wheelchair her out when the PT yells, “Wait, I forgot say goodbye to {insert my 1st name}!”
The aide wheels her over to me and the PT grabs my hand and tells me how nice I was, how well I treated her and that she was glad I had been her nurse. All I could say was “you’re welcome.” Anything else and I probably would’ve teared up. She then leaves. I turn around, and the medical director, charge nurse and other staff are standing there smiling at me.
And magically, everything fell into place after that. Got everybody else admitted or discharged, finished up my charting and left on time. As Travolta said in Broken Arrow, “Ain’t it cool?”
I am a community nurse working in an intermediate care team. My job is to prevent people from having to be admitted to hospital if I can. For me, the best part of my job is still what it has always been - to make my patients feel better, to make them smile again.
I've been nursing for 29 years and although there has been a lot of change in the nhs the job satisfaction is still what keeps me nursing, my patients' appreciation is what drives me to always give my best, I couldn't imagine doing any other job.
I will continue to make my patients my priority, my nursing principles ensure that I put patients first and, in return I will continue to feel fulfilled knowing that I did my best.
Years ago, while still in nursing school, I worked the overnight shift at a nursing home. More often than not I was the only Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) for the 50 residents in one wing of the facility. Some nights I was the only CNA for all 150 residents. As you can imagine, I spent the entire night going from soiled bed to soiled bed, changing sheets, and changing and re-positioning patients.
One of the women living there had night terrors. She was never able to name that which she feared, but woke every few hours screaming in panic. Her confusion and fear touched my heart as I tried to imagine experiencing her quality of life. I immediately discovered that she would calm down and return to sleep if I spent 10-15 minutes talking to her. Soon thereafter, I discovered that if I came to work 20 minutes before my shift started, held her hand, and talked with her she slept peacefully the entire night through. 20 minutes a day, five days a week out of the life of a student nurse was a small price to pay for her peace of mind.
Sat in the staff room a few days ago, I found myself talking to a consultant about how we love working in intensive care, and how we need time away from it to preserve our sanity. While talking I had a vague feeling of the jigsaw pieces not quite fitting together but I didn't really grasp the significance of that feeling until a few hours later when we found ourselves at the bedside of a child who was doing their best to slip away from this world. My shift had ended, I should have been out the doors and on a tube home. But when a bed space looks like a bomb site you know there is still work to be done.
In a lull of activity, the same consultant said to me "This is what I'm talking about, this is what I love." Suddenly, I saw the jammed-together jigsaw pieces and realised they were from different parts of the picture.
What I love about ICU is that it embodies the most cardinal quality of nursing. A few weeks ago, in a mentorship class, I raised the question of what we have to offer our patients that no else has because until we can define that, our entire profession is endangered. In danger of encroachment, of sidelining, of marginalisation, of being thoroughly demonised by a culpable government and a complicit media. To my disappointment, the majority of people in the class when they answered focused on the technical skills required of nurses. There is no doubt I am technically competent in many nursing tasks but so would you be if I trained you. Anyone can dress a wound or insert a catheter. That doesn't make you a nurse and it certainly doesn't make you the thing that your patient needs most in the world right here and now.
So what is it? What is the thing that I love, that makes nursing what it is? The secret comes, in fact, from the meaning of the word midwife. It means 'with women'. The one thing I can give my patients that no doctor or physiotherapist or psychologist or any other of the team of experts can is simply to be with them. In ICU this is somewhat easier. I have my one or two patients for 12 hours at a stretch and there we are, all day or all night. Together.
I don't crave the drama of saving a life. I am rather compelled to preserve the self, that has fallen into my hands, from the indignity of illness. Some would hypothesise that in the unconscious states often found in ICU, the self almost ceases to exist. Without consciousness, there is no you. You do not think, therefore you are not. I would hypothesise instead that the self of the critically ill individual simply migrates into the guardianship of those around them. Principally the family, but also the nurses. I keep your favourite toy next to you, I play your favourite music, I style your hair the way you always liked it, and I never let people see the bits of you that you wouldn't want people to see, unless it's absolutely necessary.
In the ultimate battle of life and death, medicine vs nursing, nursing always wins. When the drugs no longer work, I hold your hand, or the hands of your devastated parents. We talk, we laugh, we cry. We're together. Because that is what my time is for.
Some still believe there is mileage in the 'too posh to wash, too clever to care' sound bites. Let me go back to the entrusting of your self to my guardianship. As a nurse, with a degree, I understand that the skin is the largest organ of the human body, that it regulates immunity, temperature, sensation, excretion and that it is fundamentally linked to your body image and therefore your psychological well being So as an educated nurse, it is my duty to wash you. As a nurse entrusted with the guardianship of your self and your well being, it is my honour.
I decided at the age of about five that I was going to become a nurse. My uncle tried to persuade me to go into banking as I was good at maths but I never waivered from my dream. I did a pre-nursing course just in case I couldn't actually stand blood etc. I have now been nursing for 34 years and my passion is education and helping students and colleagues get the best out of their career. I am an RCN Learning Representative and hope that I can inspire/motivate RCN members in getting as much education and learning from their jobs to make a difference to them and their patients.
Nursing has always been a dream for me since I was a child. I remember the first time I told my family I wanted to be a nurse I was only 9 years old. My Aunt told that to be a nurse I will have to spend few days in a morgue alone (scary). However, that did not discourage me to leave my dream.
Coming from a background where financial is an issue, this immediately put a barrier in my goal of being a nurse as tuition fees will be an enormous burden to my family. However, wanting to help and make a difference in people lives has never left me. It took me awhile to achieve my long life dreams, but now I am living the dreams.
Being a single mom of two, going into nursing has been a huge sacrifice for us all, juggling study and family commitment was not easy, however this all paid off in the end.
Being a nurse for me seeing the family smile when the patient recover, knowing that you deliver an effective care and the self satisfaction comes with job, even though most of the time we walk around looking like a zombie after a long week of 12 hours shift. I love being able to care, give advice and just being their for the patient and family, even if they just want to talk.
Furthermore, nursing has many things to offer, many channels that one can enter eg specialise courses, professional development are endless, you can just imagine how much you contribute to patient care and come home at night and say to yourself I made an impact on patient recovery and to the patient family today...Nursing is a very rewarding career with job satisfaction.
Now my son is also on his first year of nursing and enjoying the role of being nurse.
Imagine some one comes in with severe pain and just seeing a nurse smile and give a drink and reassure them that I am a nurse here for you and will continue to look after you. Suddenly they get up and tell you "Nurse I feel better now." No tablets given; the presence of a nurse has treated the pain. I am proud to be e nurse even without pay.
Chemotherapy nurse Ellie Hodge is a remarkable nurse. She hasn't lost sight of why she went in to nursing in the first place - there's real passion there for what she does.
When I first went into hospital and met Ellie she was instantly warm and very quickly put me at ease. She treats everyone like a human being rather than a number or a piece of data. I always felt like a person that she genuinely cared about and I know other patients have said the same.
Not only that, but while I was undergoing my treatment she offered so much support to my husband as well. He used to say that he felt Ellie was there for him as much as she was for me.
Throughout my treatment Ellie was incredibly patient - I never felt like she was in a rush even though I am sure that she was. It meant so much to be able to ask questions and not be rushed or made to feel silly.
One of the special things about Ellie is her ability to retain information about all of her patients - she always knew exactly what was going on with everybody's treatment. And it wasn't just medical information she remembered, it was all sorts of things going on in our lives outside the hospital.
The only way she can possibly remember all that is because she cares about all her patients as individuals and is actively interested in their lives. She speaks to the person, not the symptoms or the disease.
I just hope she realises how appreciated she is and what a difference she makes to so many people's lives.
I love being there for my patients at night. I had a patient the other night who had a bad cough that was preventing her from getting any sleep, so I called the doctor at midnight and got a cough suppressant ordered for her. I love how I can do something small like that that makes such a difference.
I had another patient on Sunday that I had Friday as well, and when I walked in her room she said, “Ooh yay, you were the best nurse I’ve had since I’ve been in here,” which meant SO much to me! I admitted this guy from the E.D. on Friday night and when I passed by his room Sunday he said, “Hey Stephanie!” I stopped by, got him some ice cream, and just saw how he was doing.
I love my patients, I love my coworkers, and I love my job!! Yes, I have some bad nights where I can’t wait for the shift to end, but it’s always a challenge and I’m always learning and taking care of people. I can’t ask for anything more.
Becoming a nurse many years ago i did not ever dream i would be traveling with the army and nursing in areas of conflict, supporting and caring for our soldiers in these difficult war torn countries. I am a Terrortorial Army nurse and only by joining the nurse profession I have had the opurtunities to travel to Bosnia, Kosovo, Irak, Afganistan and Ghana, performing nursing duties and proud to call myself a nurse.
Some time ago I was working with a 75 year old patient who had been sexually, physically and psychologically abused throughout her life. She had developed chronic agorophobia having not left the confines of her house/garden for 14 years (except two emergency admissions to hospital for physical care needs). I worked with her for a substantial amount of time using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. She responded well and in time I discharged her. Some time after discharge I recieved a telephone call from her stating she was in a Tesco store, some ten miles from her home, on her own doing her own shopping. She stated how wonderful life was and that lots of new opportunities had opened up for her. She said: "Thank you for making such a difference to my life." That's why I came into nursing some 34 years ago and I still get the biggest buzz ever.
When I started my nursing career as an HCA, the thing I learnt from day one is how important it is to effectively communicate with people you don’t know – striking up conversation and making them feel comfortable enough to let you talk about their lives. I really enjoy that aspect of nursing.
Today, I think we really need to open up opportunities to do more work experience in nursing, if we are to inspire people to enter the profession. It’s important that young people know that nursing is a profession, and a very rewarding one at that, not only in the difference it makes to people’s lives but the opportunities it provides in terms of career progression and job satisfaction.
The variety of roles across all specialisms is phenomenal, and that variety is something that really gets me up in the mornings. As a nurse consultant I’m involved in a breadth of work, whether its research, delivering care, or supporting staff.
However, the real highlights of my day are always about knowing I’ve made a difference to patients. It goes a long way when I receive a card from a patient, or when I’ve heard from patients since winning the Nurse of the Year award, who are interested in my work on COPD.
It’s these things that fuel my passion and enthusiasm for nursing – providing quality care and education to patients, as well as the excitement of knowing the potential difference that nursing can make to patients’ lives on a wider scale.
There are days in my job that I walk off the ward and I'm exhausted, emotionally more than I am physically. Working on a hectic surgical emergency ward can take its toll, but then a patient confides in you or is truly grateful for everything you have done, be it making them a couple of tea with two sugars or merely getting them another blanket. Sometimes, and it can be hard to remember when your rushed off you feet and desperate for the toilet - everyone is scared (whether they admit that or not). No one wants to be in hospital poorly and staring into the unknown. I take great pride in the fact that, as a nurse, we are the people who sooth those fears and make people feel more comfortable. It can only take a thank you from a patient to turn a crazy shift into a joyous one.
Some patients leave us in a very final way and we care for them and their families through their last days, meeting all their daily needs.
We make sure they are never on their own when they need company and that they never have company when they need to be alone. We hold their hands and stroke their hair.
We keep a brave face and make the difficult telephone calls, judging what to say and how to say it, so we convey urgency but not create panic which could cause a person to drive erratically as they make their way to the hospital to be with their loved one.
We ease their suffering as they pass from this life. We do get attached to some patients, and occasionally we shed tears with a grieving family, but usually we will do our crying behind a closed door on our own or with a colleague.
We do it because we care about our fellow human beings and they literally trust us with their lives.
There have been some deaths that have had an impact on me over the last few years. My mum, my uncle, his wife and their daughter, and my brother-in-law. And Sean.
I first met Sean when I had been qualified for but a few years, in the early nineties, and was working as a staff nurse on a locked ward in a large hospital, where it felt like we played darts, table tennis and football for much of the day, and tried to keep control of the ward for the rest.
I don't honestly remember where Sean was admitted from, and don't feel inclined to find out, because that's not the point. I have a few strong memories of him: he was young, wirey and fit, with a head of shaggy black hair. He could climb a drainpipe as if gravity hadn't been invented, and persuading him to come down from the roof of the Victorian institution was not an unheard of event. On one occasion he came down (in his own time, as was always the case) on the 'wrong side'; the side where the rest of society lived. Luckily for society I was there, waiting; recently trained in Control & Restraint (C&R - look it up in the history books), and ready to fulfil my responsibilities under the Mental Health Act (Section 138).
The tussle began as might have been predicted, but quickly took an unexpected turn. Sean started to cry. They hadn't covered this on the C&R course. If Sean had put me in a neck lock, I was prepared. But crying? This was a new one.
Being a conscientious mental health nurse removed many options, but a sense of humanity seemed to leave me with one solution. It was obvious. I hugged him. I hugged; he cried; support finally arrived, and we returned to the ward.
A less clear memory of Sean occurred when he was found cutting his forearm in his bed space, and we intervened. The scenario unfolded safely enough, but, afterwards, a colleague informed me that I had been cut, pointing to the wounds on my arms. It quickly transpired that the sweat and the duration of the restraint had resulted in some of Sean's scabs transferring themselves from his arms to mine.
Fast forward about 15 years. Our careers had separated. Sean has spent time in a high secure hospital, and I have been a charge nurse in a medium secure service for some years. Sean is making good progress and has an identified discharge pathway, it could be a couple of years, but things are looking good. I have been charged with managing our service's new Long Term Medium Secure Service, and Sean has agreed to advise on the admission process from a patient's point of view. His advice is succinct; "Tell 'em how it is straight; don't mess them about; as long as they know the score, they'll be okay." And so it proved to be. Sean the service use expert.
A few more years and Sean had been discharged. A flat, a job, a girlfriend. An unexpected illness and a tragically early death. After all his hard work, Sean hadn't had the time to enjoy the fruits of his very hard labour.
The patients, staff, family and friends who attended his funeral felt a deep and genuine sense of loss. That included me, and it also made me begin to wonder about the way in which being a forensic mental health nurse can affect us, and how (if, indeed, we do) we manage to remain personally balanced and undamaged by the work we undertake. Human.
We feel the impact on us of the acts of others. I wonder if we understand that we, too, can leave an impact on them.
I started nursing in 1968 and yes, a lot has changed but I wouldn't want to do any other job, I am now a sister on a unit.
I have worked on wards where there was only one staff nurse and one sister with a mix of student nurses, where everybody helped each other. We learnt a lot from each other. The very best times, we were busy but every patient was well looked after and cared for and we still had time for laughter.
I have been a nurse since 1984, and still am today, I have come across people from all walks of life and would like to think I've made a difference in a good way. Recently I had cause to be on the receiving end when my husband took ill very suddenly, he was in hospital and ITU for three weeks, but sadly died. The nurses that looked after him and me and my family were a lifeline, they cared for us physically and emotionally, when I was afraid and angry. They make me proud to be in this profession.
Six ICU nurses at Massachusetts General Hospital are running this year’s Boston Marathon in honor of their patients. Each nurse helped care for some of the victims of last year’s tragedy, and are running to celebrate and honor their patients’ courage and lives.
The Boston Herald reports that nurse Chelsey McGinn admitted she was shaking when she decided to take one of the last spots on the running team. “This outlet was kind of presented to me, and I’m just so happy,” McGinn told the Herald. “It’s been really therapeutic. This is probably going to be the only marathon I run. To be able to do it with five of my co-workers who are going through the same things — I can’t imagine doing it any other way.”
Of the six nurses running, only one, Meredith Salony, has experience with marathons. The others — McGinn, Katherine Pyrek, Emily Erhardt, Allyson Mendonza and Laura Lux — are first-time participants. “If I’m having a hard week or a bad run, I think back to last year and what we went through, and it really gives me the motivation to complete whatever we need to complete,” Pyrek said.
The nurses hope that their own act of running inspires others and honors their patients. “We’ve seen people go through things people shouldn’t have to go through and come out on top and still live normal happy lives,” Erhardt said. “They’re doing it. If they can do it, then so can we, and we can do it for them. Hopefully they know how they impacted our lives.”
I decided at the age of about five that I was going to become a nurse. My uncle tried to persuade me to go into banking as I was good at maths but I never waivered from my dream. I did a pre-nursing course just in case I couldn't actually stand blood etc. I have now been nursing for 34 years and my passion is education and helping students and colleagues get the best out of their career. I am an RCN Learning Representative and hope that I can inspire/motivate RCN members in getting as much education and learning from their jobs to make a difference to them and their patients.
I'd always wanted to be a nurse but never thought I could actually deal with the emotional and physical strain, however that changed shortly after my sister was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2007 aged 19.
Seeing the fantastic work those nurses did on a day to day basis made me want to make my dream a reality.
Now I have been qualified two years and have a dream job nursing children receiving bone marrow transplants. Nursing is not only career but a vocation, I wouldn't change it for the world. I enjoy going to work every day, no day is the same, and no matter how busy it can be everyone pulls together and looks out for one another. Seeing our patients go home with a smile on their face and hearing those little words 'thank you' makes everything so worth while.
I work in such an amazing, dedicated and inspirational team, who continuously put their patients' care and needs at the forefront of everything they do. I'm proud to be part of such fantastic team.
And I have to thank those nurses that cared for my sister that made me fulfill my dream.
I went into the nursing profession, specialising in learning disability and then later mental health.
Prior to leaving school I used to volunteer at a local school and used to support a girl during swimming lessons. She was petrified of the water and felt that she would drown. she could not put her face in the water, and refused to take her feet off the ground. She discovered that by my holding her and lying on her back she could float. She progressed to swimming independently like a fish, but on her back. As a 16 year old that achievement in helping her over come her fears and giving her confidence had a profound effect on me. I knew from the off that i didnt want to be a adult nurse, due to negative memories as a child.
I had a vast and varied career, from training in an institutional environment, to supporting in the transition into living in the community. I completed aditional training and qualified as RMN to add to my RNMH. I worked in community forensic,and a also challenging behaviour. For the last six years i've worked in respite, which was an area i loved. Sadly staff were reconfigured last year, and had to apply for their jobs. The whole process was an awful stressful experience. After 34 years I left with my dignity intact and an orchid plant.
I now work when I wish as a relief support worker in a local learning disabiliity home. I am proud that i can help provide a good quality of care, and support the people I care for, and not get embroilled in any politics. The organisation actually cares about the staff who work for them, and everyone seems to take a pride in what they achieve.
Some time ago I was working with a 75 year old patient who had been sexually, physically and psychologically abused throughout her life. She had developed chronic agorophobia having not left the confines of her house/garden for 14 years (except two emergency admissions to hospital for physical care needs). I worked with her for a substantial amount of time using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. She responded well and in time I discharged her. Some time after discharge I recieved a telephone call from her stating she was in a Tesco store, some ten miles from her home, on her own doing her own shopping. She stated how wonderful life was and that lots of new opportunities had opened up for her. She said: "Thank you for making such a difference to my life." That's why I came into nursing some 34 years ago and I still get the biggest buzz ever.
Nursing is a huge part of my life. I had worked as a carer and enjoyed helping people so much and I could not imagine doing anything else. So I started uni to do my nursing degree and have never been happier! I now work as a practice nurse in a GP surgery so I do miss the more intimate care, but I have certainly built up good rapport with the patients I see now. The role of the nurse is ever evolving, but I feel the fundamentals remain the same - nurses care!
