A Difficult Job
As with other professions, significant training is required to be a good nurse. It also requires courage and a genuine desire to help others. It is also important to stay in shape as you are exposed to infectious diseases. Above all, a good nurse will show solidarity with the sick and will devote herself to meeting their needs.
But it is much easier to talk than to do. Because a nurse can heal people who are suffering or even dying, day after day, week after week. This can make it difficult and indifferent to the patient's needs. But it does not have to happen. There are nurses who are deeply moved by the situation of their patients.
For example, I remember a young patient I had a few years ago at Carson Peck Memorial Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. She was a kind person, she was only about 36 years old. She had a cancerous breast removed three years ago and now had to have another operation for cancer. If you look at her, you can never know she's sick. But her body was full of cancer.
I really felt sorry for her because she really wanted to live. I do not think she ever accepted the fact that she was going to die. But she survived only about five weeks after her second operation. It is very hurtful and very painful to see a patient slowly die and see the deep pain from their loved ones.
It is especially sad when patients feel alive and plan something for the future, but you know that all the evidence shows that they will die. You try to hide your feelings, sometimes it is necessary. Every now and then I just need to get out of the room.
These cases are not only sad, but also frustrating. I remember a patient in the fifties at St. John's Episcopal Hospital in Brooklyn. Two weeks ago he had a serious heart attack. But now he came very well. He was such a good man; He never complained and was always cooperative. Everyone on the track loved him.
That morning I shaved him, bathed him and he sat on the bed to eat. It looked so good. The doctor came in, examined him and told him he was fine. But suddenly he called me. I immediately went and asked him, "What's wrong?" He could only whisper, "Miss B ———" "Then he became unconscious again.
Everything happened without warning. An emergency oxygen team was deployed to revive him in a matter of seconds. But it was not necessary; He was dead, he had worked so hard to heal it and he was sure he would be cured. I really felt the loss. And right after that, his wife came in and I had to try to comfort her.Nursing can be like that; Some things are not easy to accept.
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