Connect With Us
From a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner/Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialist:
After all of these years, nearly 35 now, a nursing assistant, then learning to be a nurse, working as a nurse, in some capacity, a nurse. I have been an educator, a researcher, an administrator and now an Advanced Practice Nurse….and I believe that the one thing that always sticks out in my mind about caring is when it is random and unplanned. Nurses are forever talking about caring for this and that: writing care plans, implementing nursing care, evaluating patient care and promoting self care. But what about random acts of caring? Like random acts of kindness, there are moments when we as nurses can truly be in the moment and recognize that caring can transcend beyond planning or projecting or maintaining…..to something that is just “being” in the moment and recognizing that it is missing from that moment. Random acts of caring are so powerful and meaningful not only to those who we take care of, but for ourselves. Think about it and try it….randomly!
From a nurse manager:
I witnessed a nurse anesthetist colleague of mine do something that was truly wonderful. There was a man who was uncontrollably crying because his wife was being taken to the operating room to harvest her organs, as she was brain damaged from a bad accident. Acting in the moment, the nurse anesthetist stopped with the patient in the hall to give the husband some final moments with his wife. Unbelievably, a woman in the waiting room just started singing Amazing Grace, and soon everyone joined in. It was such a simple thing for the nurse anesthetist to just stop, but extremely important and caring. I can only imagine the difference that made in the husband’s grief experience.”
I’ve thought about caring for others and how broad it is. Isn’t that what nurses do is care for others as part of their job description everyday? Each of us can share a story from everyday we go to work or go through life. Here’s a favorite story of mine that I will always remember: I used to be a pediatric oncology nurse and loved it. The hospital facility where I worked practiced primary care nursing so that whenever a patient was readmitted, they would have the same nurse for continuity of care. This was about the third admission for a little 5-6 yo girl diagnosed with cancer. Since she was diagnosed, she hadn’t spoken for months to anyone, even her mother. One night I came to work in my glasses when I usually wore contacts. I went into this little girl’s room, did my assessment, made some small talk and of coarse didn’t get a reply. Then as I was about to leave the room, she says, “Are those new glasses?” I said, “Yes, they are, do you like them?” She says, “No, I think they are really ugly!” Her mother was so embarrassed that this was her first words in months and tried to tell her that it wasn’t nice to say that. I just thought she was telling it like it is! This is what I truly love about children; they will tell you exactly what they think. We all kept very straight faces and just kept right on talking- a little teary eyed. She talked from then on.
From Group member Kathy Heilig:
“Caring for others is what nurses are trained to do….its what the profession is all about. The traditional way of thinking about that type of ‘caring’ is in the treatments and procedures that we do to the patient or consumer. But nursing is more than that…The most loving type of caring for others we can do is to help people understand that nursing extends beyond the boundaries of the things we do to people — that it’s more comprehensive than that. The real skill in caring for others is to help redefine the image of nursing in the dimension of thinking, planning, and interpreting healthcare; to help people understand that nurses are change agents. Nursing’s real talent is in the ability to integrate healthcare needs of others into a plan that includes a patient centered focus AND the skill to interpret that into a language that’s universally understood by all. Nurses can help legislators understand the barriers to receiving good care to enact legislation. Nurses can help mothers to understand why babies need immunizations and how it impacts an entire community. Nurses can help spouses grieve and understand the loss of a life partner and help them to access the resources they need to face their future. Advocating for the profession of nursing is the highest level of Caring for Others.