Professional Nursing 

Fall 2016

October 6^th of this year has marked one full year that I have been a full time nurse practicing in a medical institution. It has been both extremely rough and enlightening, as most novice nurses would agree, trying to get over that hurdle of newness while adjusting to a profession where so much is expected of you. In my nursing school, we were taught Jean Watson’s philosophy/model of caring. This philosophy of caring is how most people think a nurse should be, and in turn also what I expected of myself to project to the world at all times. I have learned that the practice of caring is very central to nursing, and the act itself also promotes health when “administered” meticulously to those who need it. While I appreciate Jean Watson’s philosophy and agree that as a nurse we are the absolute embodiment of the ideal; I have realized that my own philosophy has been centered on patience.

In my very first job, I worked on a very busy and fast paced medical step-down unit. During my evaluation, my head nurse who had hired me told me that I was not cut out for that unit because I cared too much. As brutally honest and contradicting to the profession as this statement seemed, she meant more good than harm and I took it as a compliment. I had what I saw most people lacked on the unit, and that was patience. The patience I had with my patients manifested itself as being caring. I disliked the idea of pushing medications and moving on to the next person, functioning robotically with no feelings. Anyone who has practice nursing clinically knows what little time is available to spend with each and every patient. This can become frustrating at times because that time being “patient” with our patients, we see as interrupting “more important” things such as documenting. This has become a very sad reality for most nurses.

I remember in high school one of my teachers would constantly tell us “patience is a virtue”. As I grew older I found myself repeating this saying but never truly understanding what that virtue was. However, later on I remember reading a book and seeing a quote by Aristotle that stated, “ patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet”, this made a lot more sense to me and I agreed with it. Life requires us to be patient in all aspects of it, and it has become the philosophy that I have chosen to adopt in my nursing career. It is important to be patient because you never know the difference or impact you can have on someone’s life by taking that extra time.

I have come to realize that on my not so busy days, when life affords me the opportunity to spend the extra time with a patient by having more meaningful conversations or just overall being able to put my best foot forward, this is when I feel I am living up to my true potential as a nurse. I believe and value what I was taught in school, as well as the stereotypes and expectations that nurses try live up to, which is the theory of caring. However, I have also witnessed what stepping outside of oneself and giving that extra five minutes to someone who simply wants to be acknowledged can do. The capacity to tolerate this simple act is what being patient is all about. The best part about this is, most patients will recognize your efforts and commend you on them, letting you know the difference it might have made in their lives. This is what is important to me; and I hope to live as a nurse who has enough patience for her patients.