When I was a young girl, I dreamed of one day being in the field of medicine. I loved the idea of taking care of and working with little babies. As I got older, I realized that the road would not be an easy one to travel, but one that would be well worth the trip.
As a nurse, I can wear many different hats on any given day. My job for me is more than just a job. I love doing what I do. My dad once told me that once I found a job that I loved, I would never work another day in my life. The job that I do is not an easy one, but if it was easy, everyone would be doing it, right? As you continue to live your life, try to apply the characteristics and roles of a nurse to your daily life and activities. I think if all of mankind could think and act as a nurse, this world could be a much better place.
Nurses Are Caregivers
As a nurse, it is important to me that during my shift, I take care of my patients as well as their families. My goal is to take care of them physically as well as emotionally and to meet most or all of their needs. I wish we could care about and be concerned for our fellow man, our fellow woman, and our fellow child. This includes caring about their feelings and their well-being, respecting others, showing compassion, and being sensitive to one another’s needs. If we could just nurture each other instead of trying to hurt one another, imagine what our lives could be.
Nurses Are Teachers
I teach about medicines, diagnoses, and procedures every day. I wish we could teach our young people today the effects of bullying. I wish we could teach our girls to respect and love themselves. I wish we could teach our boys to respect women. I wish we could teach our children the importance of a good education. I wish we could teach women that it is not OK to be pushed or hit by a man. I wish we could teach our men that hitting a woman is not OK. I wish we could teach people to not drink and drive. I wish we could teach couples to make their children a priority in a divorce. I wish we could all act like a nurse sometimes and teach a valuable lesson that could possibly change a person’s life or even save one.
Nurses Are Counselors
I cannot tell you how many times in my career I have had to take on the role of a counselor with my patients and their families. So many of them just want someone to talk to, or better yet, someone just to listen. What if in our daily lives we just took a few minutes to counsel and listen to our children? How many marriages could have been saved if they had just talked and listened to each other? In my opinion, communication is so important and should be a priority in order to have a healthy relationship. People have so many problems in their daily lives that all they really need sometimes is someone to talk to or someone to listen. Imagine how many lives you would change just by taking a few minutes out of your busy day and being someone’s counselor.
Nurses Are Both Empathetic and Sympathetic
We put ourselves in our patients’ and families’ shoes in order to give them the best care possible. In our daily lives, empathy would help us be kinder to our neighbors and respect others’ pain, happiness, or sadness. We would be a more understanding society if we would only take a moment to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.
Nurses Also Have a Sense of Humor
On those long, hard, busy days, I have found myself laughing to keep from crying. Life is so short and would be so much more worth living if we just laughed a little more. With laughter, not only could you add a little more joy to your life, but also possibly make someone a better wife, a better husband, or a better friend.
Being a nurse can have infinite rewards. I take many of my characteristics and roles as a nurse and often apply them to my daily life as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, or just as a human being. Imagine what a different world this would be if we all made a few adjustments in our daily lives and started acting and thinking like a nurse.