if i have the money…
i will hire people to go to the hospital.
they will be with every patient who needs or wants somebody to just be there.
they will sit on the chair next to the patient’s bed, and hold the patient’s hand.
they will only leave when the patient asks them to.
they will be there.
someone who has time to truly care if they have pain, and not only want to know what their pain scale is.
someone who has time to rub their back, and not only say that the pain med is not due yet.
someone who has time to always pull the curtains if they are using the commode, and not reason out it is dark anyway.
someone who has time to suction their secretions everytime they request it, and not act irritated because they’ve been suctioning every hour.
someone who has time to calm them down when they are unfamiliar with things and people, and not only rush the enema to catch up with all the other meds.
someone who has time to take their fears seriously, and not only think they are just being demanding and difficult.
someone who has time. to listen. to empathize. to care.
because honestly, i am a nurse, and i have no time to do all that.
i am so busy doing other important stuff.
i have no time.
no time to listen, to understand, to care.
it is sad, but it is the truth.
It is the sad truth… but isn’t it a wonderful feeling when sometimes you manage to find a moment to do these things, or just say to yourself that you are going to spend those extra few minutes with that patient and the rest will have to wait a bit? The moments I do this make me feel so incredibly blessed to be a nurse, that others share their lives with me. And who knows which of these little moments our patients carry in their memories forever, even when they have long forgotten our name and face, that they remember a small kindness which touched them deeply at a moment of need and vulnerability.
Comment by mamalife — December 30, 2005 @ 5:51 pm
aww May you care..you’re such a passionate person…if you didn’t care..you wouldn’t have been a nurse..and a damn good one at that!
but it is frustrating i’m sure……
happy new year to you and your family!
Comment by kimmyk — December 30, 2005 @ 6:17 pm
wow!! thank you for posting this!! when i first started in the ER, I wondered where “this” time came into play……….now that i’m experienced I realize that it doesn’t hardly at all. I try soooo hard to make each patient feel as an individual and like I care, still I don’t get into the psychosocial aspect deep enough. thanks again
Comment by Jen — December 31, 2005 @ 10:38 pm
but when you do it is greatly apprechiated.
Comment by DayByDay4-2Day — January 2, 2006 @ 6:28 pm
I thought of this post while in the hospital for a few days last week. My nurses were fabulous!
Comment by TriMom217 — January 3, 2006 @ 7:02 pm
i use to love shifts on my old unit where i had a couple of open beds in my assignment and, therefore, the time to spend doting on my other patients… they were rare and far between, but when they came along, i savoured them… because, unfortunately, there’s not always the time to do the stuff that should come first in nursing…
Comment by ICU 101 — January 5, 2006 @ 1:03 am