This week is National Nurses Week in the United States. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports there are approximately 3.9 million nurses in the U.S.
That sounds like a large workforce, but the nursing shortage has been a reality since I began working as an RN in the late 80’s. There are a lot of reasons for the shortage.
Nursing can be a tough profession. The pay doesn’t always justify the physical and emotional wear and tear that nurses deal with. Misconceptions about what we do run rampant (cue Senator Walsh). Healthcare culture inside our country has enabled some of our healthcare peers to be verbally abusive. Sometimes we don’t get it right and those are the stories the media tells.
What I want you to know is there are even more reasons to be a nurse. It’s a rewarding profession with a wide array of practice options. No matter where a nurse’s dedication lies, there’s a branch of nursing for him or her. Being a hospice nurse has been incredibly rewarding for me. Other nurses find fulfillment in obstetrics, research, long term care, pediatrics, oncology, rehabilitation, surgery, infusion, education. That’s just a few – the options are almost limitless.
Our nursing jobs only tell where we’re employed. The work we get to do is what keeps us coming back for more.
+ priceless connections with patients and their loved ones + being present for the most intense life and death experiences + opportunities to bring good to someone else’s life + the chance to make a difference + serving in a profession that we consider a mission and our calling
Photo by Helen Bauer, The Heart of Hospice
Nursing textbooks don’t include some of the more surreal parts of our nursing jobs. Nurses rock premature babies while grieving parents sleep. A nurse will breathe in pace with a patient as that human being breathes his last breath. We give bad news and offer comfort. We give good news and share joy. Nurses explain surgeries and procedures and do their best to calm fears.
So if you’re a nurse – thank you for what you do. You’re part of a dedicated workforce that supports the healthcare needs of this human world.
You are the Heart of Hospice.