I believe this about nursing…. I believe that nursing can be passed down from generation to generation. A nurse will learn a lot in school and even more in practice, but a nurse will never learn more than he or she will learn from past nurses. My grandmother was an operating room nurse many years ago (but once a nurse always a nurse, right?). When I first told her I’ve decided to make nursing my career she was so excited for me! We stayed up until 2 in the morning talking about nursing and what it meant to her. This is quite a feat for an 80 year old lady, which is how I knew she was excited for me.
She talked first about what it was like in the operating room 50 years ago. Which was a huge difference compared to the sterile fields we nurses now protect. She remembers one operating room being on the top floor of the hospital and if it got hot they would just crack open a window. No way would this be allowed nowadays! She then talked about how her care had changed lives even though she hadn’t a clue about it until several years afterwards. This rang true for me. Just like a seed of faith was planted in me by a friend several years before I came to know my faith, a seed of care can be planted into every one of our patients. This seed can blossom and change our patient’s lives and we may not know we made a difference until years later, if at all.
Although there are a lot of differences in nursing 50 years ago compared to now, I feel the core principle has remained unchanged; authentically caring for a patient. This is what nursing means to me. This is what is driving me on these late nights of studying. I have a need to learn as much as I can, whether from books, teachers, or my grandmother, about what it really means to care for a patient and how huge of a difference a nurse can make in the life of another human being.
