I write a Nationally recognized Nursing blog and it typically is received well by all my readers, but occasionally I get responses from strangers across the Country with comments like “suck it up” or “that’s what you get paid for.” And while I’ll agree I make a nice income, until you’ve had your hand inside someone’s rectum digging out their poop I really don’t think you can speculate on my salary. You won’t hear me complaining about relieving an impaction, though, because it is part of my job. And I do know how to suck it up. That’s why I’m still here. But appreciation is something any employee of any vocation enjoys. Especially nurses.
Here’s 5 specific reasons nurses deserve National Nurses Week.
1. We see people at their worst. When I say this I don’t just mean physically. While yes, we do typically see people in a horrible physical state, one most of the time worthy of hospitalization, we also see them at an emotional and mental low. Being sick sucks, so while the physical pain of having your chest cracked open for heart surgery is painful, the response to having people help you pee can be frustrating to even the gentlest giant. Factor in socioeconomic concerns like returning to work and the bread winner suddenly feels like a failure. Naturally his or her demeanor isn’t always perfect patience and kindness.
Nurses see you at your lowest low, and they deal with family on the brink of breakdown. They handle hastily hurled insults with a smile, apologize when none is even necessary, and treat you like a member of their own family, because really, when you’re in that hospital bed you become family. Even if only for a season.
2. Nurses’ jobs don’t stop. When Christmas morning arrives to your home with joy and anticipation somewhere someone is taking their last breath. When blizzards blow in unexpectedly emergency surgeries, heart attacks, and broken bones still occur. The great machine of healthcare chugs on despite birthdays, anniversaries, and graduations. When natural disaster strikes hospitals don’t close their doors. On the contrary they open them wide, and that is where the nurses will be.
The job of a nurse is never done. It stops for no man, and certainly not for unexpected circumstances or even celebration. People don’t stop getting sick or cease dying no matter what. The job isn’t over when a 12 hour shift ends; it just keeps going. And nurses keep it going. They keep the patient going.
3. Nurses are present during the most important moments of your life. From the moment you take your first breath till the moment you take your last, most likely a nurse will be there. In the happiest hour of jubilant celebration, but also in the most grief-stricken, rock you to the core, devastating times, a nurse is present. He or she laughs with you, and cries too. They hold your hand, listen, hug you, and help guide you through the difficult decisions that must be made.
Honestly, we’re privileged to be present through it all, but it is emotionally draining to your caregiver too, although we’ll probably never let you see that.
4. Nurses miss their family to care for yours. Twelve hour shifts, holidays, overtime; they all cumulate to keep nurses away from home. Nurses have a passion for the field, and this is oh so evident when they float through their shifts despite the passions of their home life they leave behind. You may never know as your nurse scurries busily about your room that they have a sick child at home, or an ailing spouse they’re worried about. Their top priority as they care for you or your family is you and your family, not their own. A full unit or critical patient doesn’t suddenly empty out or improve when a nurse’s kid gets the stomach flu. Sickness doesn’t stop for first steps or soccer games. It just doesn’t. A nurse often misses their child’s birthday to help birth your child, and celebrates Christmas at the bedside while kiddos wait patiently at home.
5. Nurses are your lifeline. There’s a warrior who stands at the bedside, a selfless advocate working to do the absolute best for the person in the bed, and the family at their side. When your health deteriorates, when the signs and symptoms point to imminent decline, and when the feces hit the fan, it’s your nurse that stands in the gap. It’s your nurse who is the lifeline between sickness and health, and in essence, life and death. It’s the nurse who bridges the communication between healthcare workers, the voice of reason, the one who picks up the phone at 3am to tell the doctor something’s not quite right. The nurse.
And if that’s not worth having a week of recognition then I don’t know what is.