Happy Nurse's Week!

I am honored to celebrate Nurse’s Week. I take nursing sincerely, both personally and professionally. My decision to become a nurse was quite likely the best decision I ever made. My nursing career has helped craft me in to the person I am and will help direct who I am yet to become. It has provided me with amazing experiences, exposed me to phenomenal people, and gifted me with a desire for lifelong learning.

I have been enriched by the patients, partners and peers that I have come across throughout the years. Exchanges that may have lasted seconds or minutes are those memories that I hold dear. Many simple moments that were shared impacted my spirit, my nursing care and my entire life. People will not always remember exactly what you did or said, but they will remember how you made them feel. I have been blessed just as much by caring as I could ever hope to bless those I have cared for.

It is not common knowledge what nurses do everyday. We hold general assumptions of nursing stereotypes that vary from the stern student-nurse-eating battle ax to the know-it-all doctor-hater; or simply from the naughty nurse to the sweet angelic nurse. Despite the common media portrayal, nurses are consistently rated as the most trusted profession (Jones, 2011). It is the translation of caring, compassion, and competence into feelings of comfort that place nursing at the top of the list.

The American Nurses Association(ANA) states, “Nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations” (ANA, 2012 ).  Each nurse has a different task list, a range of roles, and a jar of jobs to juggle. A nurse must learn to toggle thoughts, prioritize plans, and think critically about multiple patients at one time. Nurses must enter the most private of spaces, while hiding funny faces and wrinkled noses, all in the name of protecting dignity and pride. Nurses must remember the pieces and parts we treat are never separate from a body, mind and spirit.

I have seen things I never thought possible. I have worn fluids I never intended. I have sobbed with a sorrow I never knew. I have laughed without limits. I have been blessed beyond belief. I’ve nursed and will nurse, no matter what my role, for the rest of my life.

American Nurses Association. (2012). What is nursing?. Retrieved May 8, 2012from http://www.nursingworld.org/EspeciallyForYou/What-is-Nursing.

Jones, J. (2011). Record 64% rate honesty, ethics members of congress low. Retrieved May 8, 2012 from http://www.gallup.com/poll/151460/record-rate-honesty-ethics-members-congress-low.aspx.