(I seen this and had to share,
I have been an ED nurse for almost 26 years, it has been an amazing career, It is not easy but more than worth it! Just remember we were ALL BABY NURSES AT ONE TIME!!!
A LETTER TO THE BABY NURSE
Right now, there is a baby nurse who is searching online and deep inside for an answer. There is a brand new member of the profession who is questioning her calling. There is a newly-minted graduate who wonders how school seemed to teach her everything and nothing all at the same time. There is a greener-than-grass new hire who is praying that she doesnât kill somebody at work tomorrow, and wonders if she already did yesterday.
Dearest baby nurse, donât let this scary new world drag you down. Youâre going to have moments when you are sitting on a toilet seat for far too long, probably for the first time in your entire shift, and question why you even decided to become a nurse in the first place. Thatâs okay.
Youâre going to have days â many of them â when you plop down in your car after leaving work two hours later than anticipated; and youâre going to turn off the radio; and youâre going to roll down the windows; and youâre going to cry the most painful and ugly cry. Thatâs okay.
Youâre going to have shifts where your head is spinning and your hands are shaking and your brain is thinking faster than your fingers can type. Thatâs okay.
Youâre going to have moments when you clean more bodily fluids in one 12-hour day than an average person might in a lifetime. Youâre going to feel that â sometimes â youâre the only person on the entire unit, because everyone around you is just as busy as you are. Thatâs okay.
Youâre going to have times when patients yell at you for something you didnât know (that perhaps you should have). They will complain about you to anyone that might listen. They may even become so frustrated with their care that they threaten to leave. And this is going to bother the hell out of you. Thatâs okay.
Youâre gonna listen for 20 minutes and still not hear a damn murmur. Thatâs okay.
Youâre going to have moments when you feel like something âjust isnât rightâ with the patient in your care. You wonât have enough experience as a frame of reference for what may be happening, or why. Youâre probably going to feel helpless in these moments â itâs a âtip of the tongueâ phenomenon to the highest degree. Thatâs okay.
Youâre going to feel devastated the first time a veteran nurse yells at you â even more so when their reaction is for something nit-picky and non-essential. Youâre going to mumble something unsavory about them under your breath. Thatâs okay.
Youâre going to call a doctor to clarify an order, and sheâs going to complain. Sheâs going to want answers, details, vital signs, and a picture of what is happening with your patient, and youâre going to word-vomit something that probably makes very little sense to an angry cardiologist at 3 a.m. Thatâs okay.
Youâre going to walk into a room expecting to pass your morning medications and come to find your patient unresponsive. Maybe sheâs stopped breathing. Perhaps sheâs lost a pulse. Either way, youâre going to bring forward everything you learned in every class, clinical, and scenario â and forget how to do any of it. Youâre going to scream for help. Youâre going to look like a deer in headlights. And youâre going to wonder, âWhen the hell am I ever going to be able to be as good as they are?â Thatâs okay.
Youâre going to lose that patient, on an unexpected shift, and in an unexpected way. Youâre going to think it was your fault. Youâre going to be riddled with guilt and feel ashamed of how you reacted. Youâre going to replay that scenario in your head over and over again, and every time wonder why you didnât see it coming. You canât always see it coming. You canât always be the hero. And thatâs okay.
Because someday you will be.
Someday youâll understand the subtleties and nuances that no one can teach you except for time Herself.
Someday youâll be able to balance the full-fledged mountain emergencies with the miniature mole-hill ones.
Someday youâre going to address a patient or family member who is frustrated with a sense of firm yet compassionate care, and will know how to redirect their emotions.
Someday you will call a doctor, and she will thank you for keeping such a close eye on whatever concern youâve already handled.
Someday youâre going to finally take a lunch break, and it will actually be during lunchtime.
Someday youâre going to do chest compressions or inject medications or ventilate a patient, and your paralyzing fear will be replaced by sheer adrenaline.
Someday, somebody is going to die on your watch â but whether itâs through blood, sweat, and heroics or a quiet and accepted end â you will have made a difference in the journey of that patient and his or her loved ones.
And while some days you may still feel like a hamster on a wheel, going through the motions just to stay afloat â someday you will realize that you are not the one sinking and needing to be saved. Rather, youâve grown into a life raft for another baby nurse, insecure and unaware of all of her untapped potential.
Someday you will understand that the nursing profession is perhaps the hardest of them all, but in so many different ways, the most rewarding.
And someday you will stand up for yourself; stand up for your patients; and stand up to the barriers that impact your highest capacity to care â this day will remind you why you trudged through every tear, scream, and exasperated sigh.
So do not give up, baby nurse: new to the world in which nurses beget nurses; still questioning why nothing ever ends up like the texts books might have said. No matter how bad it feels â no matter how hard it seems â always turn to the nurses who can teach you that one can have a brilliant mind and a beautiful soul; one can be funny when things feel too serious; one can be tough as nails and still be softened by the circumstances; one can make mistakes and still maintain integrity. Stand your ground, baby nurse; ask questions; study hard; prioritize what matters; own up when you donât know; and donât let anyone beat you down â especially that little voice in your own head. If you allow yourself to do it, youâll be amazed by how quickly a baby nurse can grow.
Lovingly cheering you on,
#ERNURSE #ERNURSES #TRAUMANURSE #TRAUMAJUNKY
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