Heeeeeeey Nurseeeeeee!

In honor of Nurses Week 2020 and what will be my sixth year of nursing, I wanted to make a post with the six observations I have about who I am as a nurse and pieces of wisdom I wanted to share.

1. I came into this profession shiny and new with clean, pressed edges and resounding hope. While I still believe in the goodness of people, my cotton is a bit wrinkled now from the disregard shown by humanity. It’s intact still, not threadbare and laid waste from years of abuse quite yet. You can see the change notably from six years ago. Sometimes something really good happens that irons out the wrinkles and makes the cotton look renewed though. Sometimes when a small tear happens, a kind soul will come along a patch it up. In our profession, we can’t expect our cloth to stay immaculate–we should expect it to become a bit dirty and a bit worn. But we need to allow ourselves to let it be repaired and refreshed. Our work is meaningful.
2. Protect your “helpers.” Value them. Now when I say “helpers” I don’t mean that these people are there to serve YOU (The Nurse)–you are all there for the common goal of bettering a patient. These individuals help in making your jobs easier though. So value them. Protect their interests. Are your respiratory therapists lobbying for better equipment? Join them. They know their specialty and there is probably a reason. Is another nurse abusing her patient care technician? Step up. Be a leader by advocating for that person. Is the department paramedic pushing for more privileges their license allows them to do? Speak up! These are our team mates. Rally to their sides.
3. Pass on what you learn. It is so easy to find information and hoard it but its better for a department when you disseminate it. In this pandemic, I early on volunteered to moderate a Facebook Group Covid-19 Healthcare Professionals (click for link) which at the time (early March?) had like 300 people. The idea was to have a place for professionals to share information and develop a community. It quickly grew to over 84,000 people (at time of writing). Ideas flew like crazy from how to prevent skin breakdown from face masks to setting up vents and pumps outside negative pressure rooms. But the idea was this: knowledge sharing. Teach what you know to others–precept new team mates and if more experienced or older staff ask for help with something, teach without judgement. Do all acts for the betterment of the whole.
4. Nursing will disappoint you. A lot. Frequently. Management will promise you the world only to give you scraps whether on purpose or not. Patients will burn you despite you breaking your back for them. The pay will never equal the work some days. Lunches won’t come some days and your bladder will harden to that comparable to those weird frogs that hibernate for years in Australia (I pulled out that metaphor from somewhere…don’t @ me).
5. You don’t always get what you want (to quote the Rolling Stones). In fact–get used to it. I had a lot of “no’s” told to me in six years. Career paths I thought I wanted that went to other people. It hurt, guys. Baaaaaaaad. But the funny thing about “no” is sometimes it’s just a primer for “because here’s this instead! TA-FRIIIIGGGGIINNN-DAAA!” And it really is better. I didn’t always trust that I was told no for a reason. I felt like that no was my own resounding failure when in reality it was just because I was a better fit elsewhere. That job I thought was perfect? It took a wiser nurse sitting me down and telling me I wouldn’t be happy doing it. I didn’t believe her for a while and I was bitter at her assumption–how could she possibly know what I wanted? But she was right. I should’ve listened instead of being angry. Because my dream job offer came half a year later. Even if you don’t get that dream offer like I did right away, keep at it. Something I always tell new nurses or nurses trying to strive for something is this: Never accept “no”–rephrase it as “not right now.” By accepting that no and letting the door slam in your face, you’re missing possibilities of three more doors opening just down the road to even better opportunities.
6. While nursing has given me the most painful memories and caused me some of the worst heartaches–it has given me so much more. It has given me purpose. Friendships. Meaning. It has saved my life when I felt it didn’t mean anything. Days I didn’t want to get out of bed–I knew I was needed by my coworkers and patients. Somedays that made the difference for me just knowing that the work I did with my two little hands caused change gives my career meaning. I’m proud of what I do and I couldn’t imagine doing anything else even on my worst days… find meaning in your work. This will help you power through the ugliest parts of our job.

So this week… this whole month… this whole year… hold your heads up high, Nurses.

We have faced insurmountable odds in some parts of the world and in those not necessarily being inundated by viral illness but rather facing unemployment from low-census or budget-cuts. The world sees us and while they may not necessarily empathize with our plights and administration may still gift us pizza parties (not you night shift–you get half eaten stale donuts because “tradition”) instead of safe staffing and all the things we really need…we’ll still keep showing up and providing top-notch care.

Happy Nurses Week!