Thank a Nurse
The foundation in the care and treatment of those in need of medical care is the compassion and tenderness of those women and men we call nurses. Without this bridge of caring people, medicine as we know it today would not exist.
Happy National Nurses Day! Today, we celebrate those who have dedicated their lives to the care of others in a time when the practice of their trade lacks the accolades that it deserves. Nurses work long hours in understaffed environments (hospitals, health clinics, long term care facilities, etc.) knowing that they will have to face patients and/or families who are angry, frightened, full of despair, or in shock due to circumstances that are well beyond their control. Nurses have to detach themselves from their own needs in order to serve the needs of their patients’ day in and day out in order to give the best of themselves in a physically and emotionally draining job. It’s no wonder that there is a huge shortage of nursing here in the United States now and in the foreseeable future. According the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, despite the huge growth of the number of nurses expected over the next several years, those numbers are still well short of the numbers actually needed to fill the expected need of the United States for the next 10 years (and beyond).
Nurses provide an immense array of responsibilities surrounding their job, and it seems that number of responsibilities continues to increase as the acute shortage of doctors continue to plague our nation as well. (There is a shortage across the board in the United States of all people trained in the medical field…doctors and nurses alike). To gain a better understanding of how nursing as evolved into the critical field it is today, one must understand the history of nursing in order to set aside preconceived notions and stereotypes. Nursing as a profession (as compared to administering to family needs) burst onto the scene in the 1850’s with Florence Nightingale (who was from a well to do family in England) advocated for the practice of nursing as a respected trade for educated women. Nightingale is credited with bringing certain practice to hospitals that improved the survival rates of sick and injured. Her fame and notoriety took off as she set off to the British military hospitals at a time when the British Army was engaged in the Crimean War (with other allies) against Russia. Within weeks of Florence reaching the army, the death toll of injured and sick soldiers dropped dramatically, and the public perception of nursing was changed forever. Nightingale’s methods were adopted worldwide and here in America, pioneers in nursing like Clara Barton, (founder of the American Red Cross) took up her example and advanced the need for professionalism and development in the field of nursing.
The perception of nursing has changed a great deal over the years but there are those who still cling to the stagnant stereotypes that nurses are all women who wear overly tight uniforms for the sole entertainment of the male doctors they work with. This archaic view of nursing from the 1950’s is being washed away with the hard work and portrayal of nurses going above and beyond to care for their patients in a manner that is in keeping with the highest standards envisioned by Nightingale and those who have followed. Nurses are the foundation of modern healthcare as they are typically the first and last to see a patient in most situations. It is the nurse who comes in at 3:00 in the morning to check on patients in the hospital, who provides an extra blanket if the patient or family member is cold, gathers important data on patients, and is often the backbone of any plan of care. Nurses are an indispensable part of the care we receive in any environment, be it the hospital or the home.
As you are out and about today, if you see a tired looking person in scrubs at the store after a twelve shift or someone in scrubs getting a coffee to go for an all-night shift at the hospital…say, “thank you”. All this week we will be celebrating nurses and the work they do to help us all maintain our health, our families health, and even that of our community. Take care of yourselves and each other, remember, we’re all in this together.
Wm Reid
Best Home Care Services
325 N Eastern Ave
Connersville, IN 47331
765-827-9833
wmreid@bhcshealth.com