I was sort of trying to figure out what CNN would use to figure out what a hero nurse was (they’re running a contest) and it brought to mind all those soldiers coming home without arms and legs or with PTSD. So I started to think about how CNN would judge nurses. I mean lots of the people I know in nursing have had really bad depressions and other symptoms of PTSD but most have kept their limbs, so I’d like your input…
Carol Gino
I have tried to explain to people that being a great nurse requires a level of caring and compassion that makes being a nurse difficult. It is really difficult to put a name on that special “something” that sets some nurses apart. I don’t know if I would describe them as heros, but I do not that it makes it difficult to separate your job from your life. It is great for patients, but hard for nurses.
Tracy, I completely agree that the relationship between a patient and a nurse can be an incredibly healing one. And I believe that interaction accomplishes more of the healing than we know. I also agree that you can’t leave a patient when you leave work…they do live in your head. It’s not like working at a department store. But I’ve found that if I do the best I can with the “intention of best outcome” for the patient, I have to leave the rest to God or Fate or the Mystery. I can only do my part and do it as well as possible. Compassion and kindness, and really listening is sometimes more than any human being experiences in a lifetime. Keeping a sick person from being invisible is a great gift. I think that the thing that sets some nurses apart is that some of us have a “calling” and its a vocation rather than a career. Thank you….