Janet - I'm Happy I Decided to Continue Nursing

Janet -







My grandmother was a nurse in World War I and she told me her stories when I was young. I was in awe of the work she did. She graduated from nursing school in 1950 and immediately joined the Red Cross. She was sent to France where she nursed “her boys.” They didn’t have many nursing supplies to work with back then. I don’t even think they had penicillin; they used quinine and aspirin. Thank goodness for all the changes in science and technology – because in her day she used maggots to clean wounds!

She bequeathed her nursing pin and her bandage sheers to me and those precious items, along with a few black and white pictures of her and her boys, were my inspiration to become a nurse. Those gifts from my grandma are my most treasured, precious things I own. I’m a nurse because of Granny.

Now I have my own stories to tell, sans the maggots. One of my best nursing memories is of the time I helped a neighbor woman deliver a baby at home. Her husband ran over to my house yelling, “Come quick, she’s having the baby right now!” He had called 911, but the baby would not wait. I didn’t have to help much. I just held the baby’s head and turned the shoulders a little bit. Witnessing the birth of their baby and calming them down while they waited affirmed me as a caring nurse. I was proud to do my part.

The most emotionally difficult time I had providing care was to the mother of a patient who was dying of AIDS. He was there for a long time and she was with him every day. She stayed in the room and we talked while I was caring for him and I got to know both of them very well. One day it became clear to me that he was going to die on my shift. His mom was distraught and beside herself with grief. I comforted her as best I could and I encouraged her to get in bed with him and hold him. It seemed like the healing thing to do for both of them. After he died, she wrote me a beautiful letter. I still cry when I think of them.

I took some time off between 1999 and 2001. I was burned out, and diagnosed with cancer. During my recovery, I reflected on whether I wanted to return to nursing or try something else."I care for new nurses so they maintain their compassion to provide quality care to the patients." In the end, I decided to continue my nursing career. My calling is to help people. I’m very caring and nurturing and I’ve always known how important it is to me to choose a field where my longing to nurture would be used. Nursing is a natural fit for me. So, I decided to focus on outpatient recovery when I returned because the hours give me time to enjoy my life outside of work. I’m happy I decided to continue nursing.

While I was on leave, I realized the act of nursing is what makes me feel good as a person, and that’s why I do it. I help someone and they appreciate it. I like to do follow-up phone calls after patients have surgery and go home and I feel good when the patient remembers me. I even have patients write letters to my managers saying beautiful, lovely things about me and it’s very heartwarming.

While on leave I was finally able to stop long enough to ask myself why a nurturing person like me would feel so burned out. I inventoried what I didn’t like about my situation and I realized the reasons were the politics of the organization, not feeling professionally respected by the doctors and the administration, and because some co-workers would backstab and be mean to each other. I decided I want to work with people who believe we need to stand up for ourselves and each other. I returned to work with this new resolve and in my new job I found that the culture was different, and I now work with an encouraging and supportive team.

People shouldn’t go into nursing unless they are compassionate and want to support patients and their loved ones through tough times. I deal with life and death issues daily, and if I can’t provide encouragement and nurture the patient, then I shouldn’t be a nurse. I also like to take new nurses under my wing, because I had caring nurses who did that for me. I want to educate them and show them how to do things the right way, instead of making them struggle to figure things out for themselves. I care for new nurses so they maintain their compassion to provide quality care to the patients. If we can’t nurture our own, how can we expect them to be positive, feel good about their work and remain capable of caring for the patients?

Power Strategies: Clarity, Compassion, Excellence
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