By Reluctantly Nice: We all have bad days, we all have the patient that you just don’t get along with, we all can’t be “on” 100% of the time… but aren’t we expected to be? Nurses are viewed as the nice, gentle caretakers who always put a smile on people’s faces (or at least that’s what I strive for). So even in our darkest hour, when stresses from home are dragging us down and we haven’t slept because our own kid was up half the night coughing, we throw back our hair, slap a smile on our face, grit through our teeth and say, “Good morning, Mrs. Johnson, I’m going to be your nurse today, is there anything you need?” Although some days reluctant, we always strive to be nice.
Real Nurturer: Sure, doctors may do the prescribing, and they may even do the surgeries. But RNs are the nurturing force at the bedside. In a pediatric hospital when the parents can’t stay the night, it’s the nurse that is holding and feeding the baby. When bad news that the cancer has spread blindsides the family, it’s the nurse that lends a listening ear and holds the patient’s hand during chemo. When the miraculous recovery leaves the patient walking out of the hospital on their own, it’s the nursing staff that has spent countless hours at the bedside lining up to hug the patient when they walk by. That’s a nurturer.
Next, Registered Nutcase?
