It is not how much we do – it is how much love we put into the doing.”
– Mother Teresa.
In my personal life and my career, I have known many awesome nurses. My family is filled with nurses. And so was my church I grew up in as a child. (We’re Jamaican…it’s a thing!) Now, as a physician, I’ve interacted with so many loving, compassionate, and supportive nurses who all continuously inspire me. I don’t know what we would do without them.
My mom
I was raised by a nurse.
My parents immigrated from Jamaica with my 3 brothers and I when we were very young. They were both teachers in Jamaica, but moved to America for a fresh start. My mom worked at McDonald’s when I was a young kid, working her way through nursing school. I remember how hard she worked for both her Bachelor’s and Master’s in Nursing. I remember the studying, the papers – all while she was still working. She embodies the traits of dedication, hard work, compassion, and selflessness.
At home, she hardly ever said no when we asked for something, and she and my dad worked hard, long hours to make sure my brothers and I had everything we needed. But, she didn’t just show that dedication and compassion to us as kids. Her patients and co-workers saw it all as well. Whenever we visited her at work, her co-workers made it a point to let us all know how great our mom was – how hard she worked and how much extra effort she put into caring for her patients. Because they were elderly, her patients couldn’t always tell us how much they appreciated her. But, you could see it in their gifts at Christmastime, and random times of the year.
My mom’s officially “retired”, but we can’t get her to stop working. Her loving spirit won’t let her. She just can’t leave her patients! She feels bad abandoning the career that she has poured so much into. What would her facility do without her? What would her patients do? Hopefully, one day we’ll be able to convince her to truly rest. To sit back and reflect on the lives she’s poured into throughout her life’s work. She’s a perfect example of “doing what you love and never working a day in your life”.
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My residency
I survived my Pediatrics Residency in large part because of the nurses! Working 30 hour shifts in the hospital wasn’t easy at all – especially when I was pregnant. But, I had awesome nurses who had my back. From giving me pointers about patients and attending physicians that they knew better than I did, to taking such excellent care of my patients that I knew I could sneak away for a few minutes of sleep overnight while they did their thing. They also politely corrected me if I was on the verge of making a mistake. They knew their stuff and loved our patients, so I had no problem trusting them. I always knew my patients were in good hands.
It takes a special person to care for a pediatric patient in the ICU, or one with cancer. And these were probably the best nurses I came across during residency! Sure, we as physicians write the orders and make decisions for our patients, but the reality is that we NEED our nurses. When we aren’t there, we need our patients to be cared for in a high-quality way. Our patients need this compassionate attention at their most critical times, and nurses have always been there to provide it.
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My nurses
After having four vaginal deliveries, and one c-section, I’ve come to realize how much nurses really do! Nurses held my hand and encouraged me through labor. A nurse broke the news to me that Baby #5 wasn’t “head down” and a c-section was imminent. When I was cranky and tired after delivery, a nurse took my baby and just held him. When my newborn son had open-heart surgery, the nurses took care of him minute-by-minute. And kept me up-to-date on his progress when the doctors weren’t there. They helped in his recovery and reassured me that I wouldn’t break him when I took him home.
Nurses can really make or break a hospital experience, no matter how qualified the physician is!
As a physician now, I’m still blessed to work with some pretty awesome nurses. When I see babies in the newborn nursery, it’s rare that I ever have to question anything or search for an answer about a patient. The nurses I’ve worked with are so good at what they do that sometimes I feel like I’m just an accessory to their world! And in my office, I’ve worked alongside Nurse Practitioners that are just as awesome as the MDs I know!
I appreciate you!
Without the nurses in my life, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without you. Hospitals and clinics wouldn’t function without you. You deserve this annual National Nurses Week and so much more!
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived; that is to have succeeded.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
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