I have been a nurse for 15 years, people often ask me why I wanted to be a Nurse and they ask me what I do at work.
As my previous post stated I have always wanted to nurse, the reason is simple, it's to make a difference. This can be done in a lot of different ways but most often it's the small unnoticed actions that give the most reward to both Nurse and patient.
Let me explain, many people think that nursing is about taking temperatures, giving out medications and rushing to respond to a cardiac arrest, they think it's all blood and guts and beeping machines.
There is an element of this, in my current job, I do have emergencies and do give out medications , but this is not what gives me the most reward. Why do I do it then you may well ask, well I will tell you, I do it because I get the chance to spend time with people at their most vulnerable and they share some of their most intimate and deepest thoughts and fears, they trust me to do the right thing and they truly believe that I can help make them feel better.
All I have done is listen, given compassion and time, sometimes this can heal more than any drug.
I found this to be true very recently , I spent five days in Lourdes , volunteering as a nurse travelling with my diocese, I won't say too much here because I plan an article for the diocese news letter, but I will say this. I didn't deal with any emergencies, I gave out no medications and I didn't even take a temperature, but I probably did more Nursing in that week than I have done in a long time, I spent time with people in some of their most vulnerable times, I gave my time and my compassion and I listened. I was even rewarded by receiving some of their time and compassion in return.
So in answer to the question what does it mean to be a nurse, it is about being a human being and to remember that the most important part of being a nurse is to be prepared to give your time.....
A true reflection of the life, times and trials of a Nurse working in today's NHS in criminal justice , and maybe just a hint of anything else I may feel is relevant.
Monday 6 July 2015
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When God Created Nurses
When the Lord made Nurses He was into his sixth day of overtime.
An angel appeared and said, "You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one." And the Lord said, "Have you read the specs on this order? A nurse has to be able to help an injured person, breathe life into a dying person, and give comfort to a family that has lost their only child and not wrinkle their uniform. They have to be able to lift 3 times their own weight, work 12 to 16 hours straight without missing a detail, console a grieving mother as they are doing CPR on a baby they know will never breathe again. They have to be in top mental condition at all times, running on too-little sleep, black coffee and half-eaten meals. And they have to have six pairs of hands.
The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands...no way!" "It's not the hands that are causing me problems," said the Lord, "It's the two pairs of eyes a nurse has to have." "That's on the standard model?" asked the angel. The Lord nodded.
"One pair that does quick glances while making note of any physical changes, And another pair of eyes that can look reassuringly at a bleeding patient and say, "You'll be all right ma'am" when they know it isn't so."
"Lord," said the angel, touching his sleeve, "rest and work on this tomorrow." "I can't," said the Lord, "I already have a model that can talk to a 250 pound grieving family member whose child has been hit by a drunk driver...who, by the way, is laying in the next room uninjured, and feed a family of five on a nurse's paycheck."
The angel circled the model of the nurse very slowly, "Can it think?" she asked. "You bet," said the Lord. "It can tell you the symptoms of 100 illnesses; recite drug calculations in its sleep; intubate, defibrillate, medicate, and continue CPR nonstop until help arrives...and still it keeps its sense of humor. This nurse also has phenomenal personal control. They can deal with a multi-victim trauma, coax a frightened elderly person to unlock their door, comfort a murder victim's family, and then read in the daily paper how nurses are insensitive and uncaring and are only doing a job." Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the nurse.
"There's a leak," she pronounced. "I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model." "That's not a leak," said the Lord, "It's a tear." "What's the tear for?" asked the angel. "It's for bottled-up emotions, for patients they've tried in vain to save, for commitment to the hope that they will make a difference in a person's chance to survive, for life." "You're a genius," said the angel.
The Lord looked somber. "I didn't put it there," He said.