This thread is long over due, but better late than never.
I want to take the time to mention how much respect and admiration I have for nurses and their profession. Last summer I was in for some major surgery. I was in the ICU for 3 weeks and the staff was fantastic. They have an amazingly hectic life and yet they were always kind, caring and upbeat with me.
Last December my father died. While he was in the hospital the nurses were fantastic! The last time I saw him awake and able to talk he was in a lot of distress. One nurse spent a lot of time doing her very best to make him comfortable. She and I talked for a while and she told me of the nights she wept on the way home as she thought of the patients she couldn’t help. She was so sweet, so kind and sincere I was damn-near in love.
It is hard job. I have seen some bad nurses. But I have seen so very good ones. I applaud you and what you do.
Nurses rock my world. At least my work world. They run it too. And I listen to them if I know what’s good for me. I may not do what they want me to, but I make sure to listen first. And have a damn good reason if I don’t do what they want me to.
Did you hear the one about the nurse with the inferiority complex? She thought she was as important to patient care as a doctor.
(for those of you upset by that joke, go thru it again, but slower)
Last year I collapsed. Just fell over unconscious. I woke up soon after falling, and dragged myself to an emergency room. I am a bit of a hypochondriac, and so, was rather nervous. A nurse took 5 minutes to talk to me and tell me I was all right. I was able to ask her all the illogical hypochondriac-type questions I wanted, and she answered them patiently, and with out laughing. I really appreciated her taking the time to attend to my mental health. It meant a lot to me.
I was in a pretty stressful situation at the time, and hadn’t been eating right for quite a long time. Combine the two, and you get a fainting fat man.
BOOYEAH!!! I am DOWN with this thread! I am full-on in love with a nurse. She is always talking (shit) that she isn’t worth this and not worth that. And then she tells me about how she helped this person or that one today. She cares more about her patients than she cares about herself. At the risk of waxing religious… Maureen is salt of the earth. Nurses are salt of the earth.
My primary care doctor used to be a nurse. So I’ve got a doctor who KNOWS what she wants when she puts me in a hospital. She says that being a doctor is easier than being a nurse!?!
I’ve had a couple of bad nurses, but most of them were really great. A nurse can make a big difference in how I feel, just by taking the time to explain a thing or two, or just commiserating with me. I think that hospitals which try to cut costs by cutting their nursing staffs are penny wise and pound foolish.
I thank you for myself and all the others who do this dirty, (sometimes) thankless, exciting, high stress, wonderful job.
I’ve wept with families. I’ve had weapons pointed at me. I’ve been yelled at countless times. I’ve been hugged until I couldn’t breathe. I’ve stayed hours past my shift to be with a dying child until the end.
I’ve threatened to quit thousands of times. I finally did, but not because I wanted to leave. I had to. After 30 something years I just couldn’t keep up the pace. I’m old now, so I no longer work, but you may take the nurse out of the ICU, but you’ll never get the ICU out of the nurse.
Now my firefighter/ 'medic husband has the sole benefit of my vast knowledge.
What a nice thread to open up after a long day. My 10th day in a row of work, BTW. During the week I work with students who want to become dialysis technicians, and on the weekend I work as a Home Health RN. Today was a great day - granted, I had to drive about 80 miles to do my 6 visits and all of them were complicated wound cares. But I made some people laugh, and I did some patient teaching. And I finished my paper work (a huge burden and part of the reason I don’t work Home Health full-time) in time to watch the brand new episode of Alias! And tomorrow, I’ll be in the classroom again bright and early to teach those kids the basics of fluid and electrolyte balance.
A really tough job, but I can’t imagine doing anything else.
As I stated on another thread, a good nurse is worth 10 times her (or his!) weight in gold.
Thanks to all the nurses who’ve made my hospital stays bearable, who came day and night to bring my meds, who cleaned up many a mess (childbirth is a messy thing!), and who came just to encourage me when I was in pain and feeling pretty down–and who did all this without complaint and without making me feel like a nuisance. Ladies (and gentlemen!*), you ROCK!!
*I once had a male nurse after gallbladder surgery. Male nurses are absolutely fantastic! It’s really great when there’s someone big and strong to help you out of the hospital bed–especially for a heavier person like me!
Most of my night nurses were male. They were great. They would usually come in after their initial rounds to chat and bust my stones, and they were always there when I needed them.
I just came off of a really tough 12 hour shift, exhausted and frustrated, and then I see this thread. Thanks, ya’ll. This is just what I needed to hear tonight.
Heh. I had a Home Health nurse for a while, giving me IV meds through my PICC. While my medicine was slowly dripping in me, she used that time to do a lot of paperwork, and looked forward to getting some of it done. Unfortunately, one of my cats fell in love with her. I thought this was hilarious, because this kitty doesn’t like ANY human who isn’t part of his family. But he loved that home health nurse. Fortunately, he showed his affection by sitting in front of her and gazing at her adoringly. I’m afraid that the other cat wasn’t nearly so well-behaved. She would stalk and kill my IV post and IV line. I didn’t appreciate this one bit.
I’ve done some wound care myself, and I wouldn’t care to do it as a job. You have my respect.
Maureen is salt of the earth. Nurses are salt of the earth.