Nursing was not my first career choice. I was adamant that I was going to become a veterinarian and take care of animals. It took going through some of the worst years of my life to see that nursing was a viable career choice for me. Both of my husband’s parents were diagnosed with cancer within a 3 month span. Soon after his father was in hospice care and I assumed most of his personal care. I took him to dialysis appointments and to his paracentesis twice weekly; he also had chemotherapy and radiation. In the end when he stayed at home on hospice I dispensed most of his medications and took care of many of his needs. During all of this I was very impressed with the caring and compassion we all received from the hospice nurses who came into our home throughout the weeks. After he passed away is when I first had thoughts of nursing but I soon went back to school and continued on my previous course of action. Soon after my mother-in-law’s cancer was diagnosed as terminal and she too was placed in hospice care. My husband and I then assumed care for her. It was then that I truly decided that I wanted to be a nurse. As I cared for her as she was dying and saw how I could bring comfort to her even in her last days I knew this was something I could do for others.
So why do I want to be a nurse? I want to be able to bring comfort to those who are in pain or discomfort. Those who are hospitalized are there because they are sick and need to be healed. The need someone to bring them comfort and compassion. I would like to be able to provide a sense of warmth and relief to my patients. However I’m not purely in it just to help people. I’ve always been fascinated by the science of medicine and the human body. I’ve always wanted to understand how things work and how to fix things that are broken and that includes sick human bodies. I also love interacting with people and as a nurse I will get to interact with a large variety of people every day.
I believe the qualities of a good nurse include the ability to think critically, great communication skills, and the ability to show compassion. Nurses must be critical thinkers in order to do their jobs well. Many situations can arise which will require a split second critical decision on the part of the nurse. A nurse must be able to critically think under hectic circumstances such as a patient coding and be confident enough to believe they made the right call. Nurses are left to make judgment calls at times such as in cases of medication administration and a nurse must be able to critically think in situations such as these. A nurse must also have good communication skills. A nurse must be able to effectively communicate with other physicians, coworkers, and most importantly patients. Patient and nurse communication is key to completing a good assessment and understanding your patient’s condition from the patient’s point of view. I believe it is vital to get to know your patient and understand their feelings while they are hospitalized or otherwise under your care. Finally a good nurse needs to be able to show compassion. When a patient is sick or hurting a nurse should acknowledge that pain and ask what they can do to help. I believe that without compassion you would only be treating the diagnosis, not the patient as a person. The essence of nursing is quality holistic care. Nursing is about treating the patient as a holistic person instead of treating just one system. Holistic nursing treats the mind, body, and spirit. As nurses we assess and treat a patient’s body, mind, spirit, emotions, and social/cultural health. This approach allows the patient to be completely understood and healed completely. The holistic approach to health and healing is exactly what nursing should be about.