Authentic Nursing
There is a lot wrong with health care, most of it in fact, from my very jaded perspective. But there is one component that is still very good and decent. Some of the truly finest people I’ve met since entering medicine have been the nurses. As a class of professionals, they hold themselves, and the rest of the show together in ways that the general public thinks they know, but definitely don’t.
This story and photo seemed worth the time to share. I tend to lose my temper lately when I hear some self-centered ignoramus bitch about how the nurses spend too much time at their desks, and don’t come a’ runnin’ when the call light blinks on for a stool softener. I take pains to explain that no, the nurse is back there documenting meaningless piles of data for YOUR insurance company, YOUR government agency, and YOUR lawyer, and if she or he doesn’t, then he or she will get fired. So, you’re welcome.
The linked story is not all that unusual, and I’m not trying to pluck gratuitous emotional strings. The nurses do things most of us would never consider, and somehow the great majority of them still generally care about those so often willing to complain about them. Physicians are the necessary leaders, but things would crash very quickly without a competent, compassionate nursing corps to do the actual work.
As we spill a lot of electronic ink here over some folks trying to be what they are definitely NOT, it seems proper to salute Authentic Nursing as well
Amen. retired crna
Whenever anyone asks me how to improve nursing morale, usually some unknown from the Corporate Ward, I answer “Tens and twenties, baby!” And they chuckle. And they say, but seriously, what – a pin? An award? A poster?
Nursing has been murdered over the last fifty years. There is no other term for it.
I’ve been checking the Old Testament, and I haven’t seen the part that says “And then the cruel host set upon the people unexpectedly, and slaughtered many and burned their homes to the ground and took their livestock and led them into slavery, and they were sore aggrieved. Then the King of the enemy Host gave everyone a Good Achievement Pin, and they were all happy and shit.”
I’m pretty sure that’s not water in her glass…
I’m in Kentucky, and can think of only one beverage served in Mason jars!