This blog post also appears under the Editorial section of www.blackburnnews.com this week. My most recent experience with nurses and why I respect the heck out of them on this, Nurses Week.
The theme of Nurses’ Week this week is The Health of our Nation. And if you’ve ever had the misfortune of suffering a serious illness or undergoing surgery, or caring for a family member who has, you probably know the importance of the role they play in the health care system.
And yet it always seems that nurses are the first to feel the pressure during cutbacks. I wouldn’t say their job is thankless but I would say they don’t likely get their due.
Two years ago I was a few hours from an early expiration date and several doctors and nurses were hustling around, putting me through a battery of tests and trying to quickly discover what was wrong with me. There was an overcrowding issue so because my situation was rather precarious, they kept me in the ER for a few days where I essentially had my own nurse. She did have other patients to look after but I wanted for nothing and believe me, I was a needy case. Unfortunately I can’t remember her name, for obvious reasons, but that woman was a saint. In between bringing me ice chips and giving me several transfusions of blood products and shipping me off for MRIs, CT scans and a spinal tap, she was calm and smiling. Sudden fever spikes meant I had to have my bedding changed every couple of hours. I was a high maintenance patient! She never lost her cool or told me to wait. She was great.
Every nurse, male or female, who looked after me in UH was a professional. Nurses make or break the experience of being so vulnerable and in need of assistance, an uncomfortable and unfamiliar state for most of us. The awful job that a doctor won’t do, a nurse will do. Because UH is a teaching hospital, it was routine for a doctor to come in with a bunch of students, have them review the chart and ask them questions about my situation. (They always ask first and I always say yes!) I recall one time early in my stay when I had just (sorry to be graphic) peed in the bedpan. There it sat on the end of my bed, like a spotlight, while the students and doctor all gathered around and ignored it. Finally I said to the group I assumed were all doctors-in-training, “I know it’s not your jobs but could you maybe get someone to take that away?” All of the men looked around awkwardly and avoided my gaze. Finally one woman let out a huge sigh, grabbed the bedpan and took it over to a sink. “Guys!” I said, with no lack of admonishment in my tone. ”Seriously? You all pretend to act busy while the woman steps forward to do the dirty work?” ”That’s okay”, she said with resignation as she walked back into the group. ”It’s good training for when I become a nurse.”
You’re so right! Nurses do ALL the work and doctors make the big money. When I was in the hospital last year, the nurses were fantastic. My mobility was limited because of inflammation in one leg post-surgery. Nurses had to disconnect the compression equipment every time I had to pee, and that was frequent. They are great people!
Nurses, A big hi 5 and 2 thumbs up from me! As a child I spent considerable amounts of time at Sick Kids in Toronto as the doctors and nurses tried to figure out what was wrong. A young child, sick and in pain, alone and scared looking for reassurance and comfort that everything would be all right, and if not for the gentle, caring and empathy shown by the nurses, it would have been a far greater ordeal.
Looking back, its very likely that my exposure to all those nurses, gave me the sense of caring and empathy I have for others in trouble and a desire to help. They were also very likely my first true loves, all of them!
❤ Thank you, Lisa. This warmed my heart.