Describing our Relationship

My topic for my community paper this week is:  What one word can describe your relationships with others that have created the nurse you are today?  You may be surprised at how many of you will have the same characteristics, yet there will be a few that stand out, please choose a handful of words and give insight as to what they mean.

Supportive.  Providing encouragement or emotional help.  Every one of us should provide encouragement to those around us.  We cannot function as a society unless we encourage others to meet their goals.  Life is all about success, but in order to reach success, we must fail and that is when encouragement is needed.  A nurse must be supportive of her patients, the doctors, and the staff.  We must support our patients and their decisions about their medical treatment, even if we do not believe they are making the right choice.  This is particularly hard in the oncology department, especially dealing with family members who have a loved one who is dying.  We must support our doctors and the orders they write, even though we may think they are completely wrong because they do not know the patient like we do.  We must support our staff and coworkers whether we like them or not.  Under one roof we must work together like we love each other and leave our drama at the door because a life is on the line. 

Eye-opening.  Causing one to understand what was not previously known.  We all open each other’s eyes.  No human is identical to another (twins can be identical but they have two different personalities).   This is what helps us shape one another.  We help others see what they cannot see about themselves and experiences.  A nurse must open their patients’ eyes and help to educate them on what is best in their health.  It may take a few nurses to do this to some patients who have a lifestyle they are used to but with persistence we can help to get through to our patients. 

Powerful.  Having great power or strength.  Impactful.  Having a major impact or effect.  We may not appear to be the strongest person, but let me tell you, this 105-pound girl can lift a patient pretty well.  Okay, that is not the only power you need as a nurse.  We must have the power to stand up for our patients and ourselves.  It is our job to make an impact on the health world.  It is powerful when a nurse questions a doctor, but it is even more powerful to question that doctor to help a patient.  It is a nasty world out there in nursing at times and we must have the power to stand up for ourselves because nurses eat their young.  We have the power to impact a life, and we must seize that opportunity.  Who knows if our power is one that stops an addiction or starts a change?

Hysterical.  Uncontrollable emotion.  You must be hysterical if you ever think you are going to be a nurse until you retire.  There are so many stressful moments that you must release it with humor.  Whether it be stuffing your cheeks with marshmallows and saying chubby bunny until you laugh so hard you spit them everywhere or talking about c-diff at the dinner table.  We have a different sense of personal space or boundaries when it comes to nursing humor.  We often forget that our family members do not want to hear about the blood tinged sputum we had to scoop up and send to the lab while eating fries and ketchup.  However, it makes us who we are and it helps us get through the rough times. 

Serendipitous.  Discovered by chance.  We have a family, but friends are discovered by chance.  We need those serendipitous relationships.  We need more than family.  A person cannot achieve their goals with family alone.  A professor, a study buddy, the admissions counselor, an instructor, a janitor, the builder, all help us achieve our goals even if they do not even come into contact with us.  A nurse has many serendipitous relationships.  Some patients we are thankful to meet by chance and others we would like to have never met.  The ones we would have liked to never meet are the ones who often impact us the most.  They teach us about patience, about impact, about a lifestyle we never want to head towards.  We change because of those who show us the least because we want to be the best we can be.

Organizational.  Relating to organization.  Organization is the key to my success.  There is no way I could become a nurse without my color-coded planner.  Thank you to a good friend named Patience (ironically you need patience to become organized), whose planner I happened to see one day highlighted different colors based on each of her classes, kids, and jobs, I am now OCD organized.  It helps me to build more experiences into my life than just being a nurse.  These additional experiences in turn help me to become a better nurse.  We must volunteer with other organizations so that we learn about the populations that need help.  When we encounter that population in the hospital, we are comfortable.  Therefore, we must be organized so that we can incorporate opportunity into our lives the four days a week that we are not at the hospital.   

Dedicated.  Devoted to a task or purpose.  We are all dedicated to something in our lives, whether it be our job, our family, or a hobby.  Dedication helps give meaning to our lives.  When we are devoted to a purpose we help others learn that purpose.  We spread the word.  Nurses are dedicated to helping patients and each other.  We devote 12 hours to complete strangers.  For 12 hours a day, 36 hours a week, we tolerate coworkers who may get on our every last nerve because we are devoted to one purpose, patients.  Our dedication may be to tasks, to preparing a patient for surgery or feeding the babies in the neonatal intensive care unit.  Our dedication may also be to our purpose, serve the patients who come in our doors for help when they are vulnerable.   

Honest.  Straightforwardness, fair, sincere.  Honesty is the key to success in the nursing field.  You must be honest when you make a mistake.  We are all human and it happens, but you better hope it doesn’t kill a patient.  Honesty is asking for help before you need serious help.  We all do not know the answers to everything, but when we are honest to each other about needing help, the safest patient care will be delivered.  We must also be honest to our patients.  If we do not know the answer, admit it and find it out.  There is always someone who knows the answer it may just take a little bit of time to find it out.  Sometimes you have to be honest with your patient because the doctor is beating around the bush.  The patients trust us, we are there with them for 12 straight hours.  They want to know the truth and when we are not honest with them, it will cause issues.