Being a nurse isnt just passing pain medication, prong the first person to start chest compressions, hanging IV fluids, starting foleys and IVs, taking grandma to the bedside commode, calling a code blue, pushing heart medication on a patient with a blood pressure of 216/130, taking crackers and ginger ale to a sick patient, pulling drains and tubes, pulling stitches, dressing tunneling wounds, packing ulcers, bathing bed bound patients. None of these things truly make you a nurse. Its listening to a demented 90 year old woman talk about how much she loved her husband of 75 years and prayed every night she would die, just to see his face again. Its holding the hand of a drug addict who had lost their battle with heroine 5 times, and has nowhere to go. It is telling a daughter that the only father she knows will die shortly, but he can still hear her voice if she speaks to him. It is telling a cancer patient with no hair they are beautiful. It is listening to a patient talk to something that is not there, and having the courage to hold their hand, not judge them and tell them you wont leave them and youll make sure they get the help they need. Nursing is learned. It is a blessing.
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 02:31:37 +0000