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Thread: The More You Give, Inspirational Poems, Touching Stories

  1. #51
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    Some time ago I was working with a 75 year old patient who had been sexually, physically and psychologically abused throughout her life. She had developed chronic agorophobia having not left the confines of her house/garden for 14 years (except two emergency admissions to hospital for physical care needs). I worked with her for a substantial amount of time using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. She responded well and in time I discharged her. Some time after discharge I recieved a telephone call from her stating she was in a Tesco store, some ten miles from her home, on her own doing her own shopping. She stated how wonderful life was and that lots of new opportunities had opened up for her. She said: "Thank you for making such a difference to my life." That's why I came into nursing some 34 years ago and I still get the biggest buzz ever.

  2. #52
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    When I started my nursing career as an HCA, the thing I learnt from day one is how important it is to effectively communicate with people you don’t know – striking up conversation and making them feel comfortable enough to let you talk about their lives. I really enjoy that aspect of nursing.

    Today, I think we really need to open up opportunities to do more work experience in nursing, if we are to inspire people to enter the profession. It’s important that young people know that nursing is a profession, and a very rewarding one at that, not only in the difference it makes to people’s lives but the opportunities it provides in terms of career progression and job satisfaction.

    The variety of roles across all specialisms is phenomenal, and that variety is something that really gets me up in the mornings. As a nurse consultant I’m involved in a breadth of work, whether its research, delivering care, or supporting staff.

    However, the real highlights of my day are always about knowing I’ve made a difference to patients. It goes a long way when I receive a card from a patient, or when I’ve heard from patients since winning the Nurse of the Year award, who are interested in my work on COPD.

    It’s these things that fuel my passion and enthusiasm for nursing – providing quality care and education to patients, as well as the excitement of knowing the potential difference that nursing can make to patients’ lives on a wider scale.

  3. #53
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    There are days in my job that I walk off the ward and I'm exhausted, emotionally more than I am physically. Working on a hectic surgical emergency ward can take its toll, but then a patient confides in you or is truly grateful for everything you have done, be it making them a couple of tea with two sugars or merely getting them another blanket. Sometimes, and it can be hard to remember when your rushed off you feet and desperate for the toilet - everyone is scared (whether they admit that or not). No one wants to be in hospital poorly and staring into the unknown. I take great pride in the fact that, as a nurse, we are the people who sooth those fears and make people feel more comfortable. It can only take a thank you from a patient to turn a crazy shift into a joyous one.

  4. #54
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    Some patients leave us in a very final way and we care for them and their families through their last days, meeting all their daily needs.

    We make sure they are never on their own when they need company and that they never have company when they need to be alone. We hold their hands and stroke their hair.

    We keep a brave face and make the difficult telephone calls, judging what to say and how to say it, so we convey urgency but not create panic which could cause a person to drive erratically as they make their way to the hospital to be with their loved one.

    We ease their suffering as they pass from this life. We do get attached to some patients, and occasionally we shed tears with a grieving family, but usually we will do our crying behind a closed door on our own or with a colleague.

    We do it because we care about our fellow human beings and they literally trust us with their lives.

  5. #55
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    There have been some deaths that have had an impact on me over the last few years. My mum, my uncle, his wife and their daughter, and my brother-in-law. And Sean.

    I first met Sean when I had been qualified for but a few years, in the early nineties, and was working as a staff nurse on a locked ward in a large hospital, where it felt like we played darts, table tennis and football for much of the day, and tried to keep control of the ward for the rest.

    I don't honestly remember where Sean was admitted from, and don't feel inclined to find out, because that's not the point. I have a few strong memories of him: he was young, wirey and fit, with a head of shaggy black hair. He could climb a drainpipe as if gravity hadn't been invented, and persuading him to come down from the roof of the Victorian institution was not an unheard of event. On one occasion he came down (in his own time, as was always the case) on the 'wrong side'; the side where the rest of society lived. Luckily for society I was there, waiting; recently trained in Control & Restraint (C&R - look it up in the history books), and ready to fulfil my responsibilities under the Mental Health Act (Section 138).

    The tussle began as might have been predicted, but quickly took an unexpected turn. Sean started to cry. They hadn't covered this on the C&R course. If Sean had put me in a neck lock, I was prepared. But crying? This was a new one.

    Being a conscientious mental health nurse removed many options, but a sense of humanity seemed to leave me with one solution. It was obvious. I hugged him. I hugged; he cried; support finally arrived, and we returned to the ward.

    A less clear memory of Sean occurred when he was found cutting his forearm in his bed space, and we intervened. The scenario unfolded safely enough, but, afterwards, a colleague informed me that I had been cut, pointing to the wounds on my arms. It quickly transpired that the sweat and the duration of the restraint had resulted in some of Sean's scabs transferring themselves from his arms to mine.

    Fast forward about 15 years. Our careers had separated. Sean has spent time in a high secure hospital, and I have been a charge nurse in a medium secure service for some years. Sean is making good progress and has an identified discharge pathway, it could be a couple of years, but things are looking good. I have been charged with managing our service's new Long Term Medium Secure Service, and Sean has agreed to advise on the admission process from a patient's point of view. His advice is succinct; "Tell 'em how it is straight; don't mess them about; as long as they know the score, they'll be okay." And so it proved to be. Sean the service use expert.

    A few more years and Sean had been discharged. A flat, a job, a girlfriend. An unexpected illness and a tragically early death. After all his hard work, Sean hadn't had the time to enjoy the fruits of his very hard labour.

    The patients, staff, family and friends who attended his funeral felt a deep and genuine sense of loss. That included me, and it also made me begin to wonder about the way in which being a forensic mental health nurse can affect us, and how (if, indeed, we do) we manage to remain personally balanced and undamaged by the work we undertake. Human.

    We feel the impact on us of the acts of others. I wonder if we understand that we, too, can leave an impact on them.

  6. #56
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    I started nursing in 1968 and yes, a lot has changed but I wouldn't want to do any other job, I am now a sister on a unit.

    I have worked on wards where there was only one staff nurse and one sister with a mix of student nurses, where everybody helped each other. We learnt a lot from each other. The very best times, we were busy but every patient was well looked after and cared for and we still had time for laughter.

  7. #57
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    I have been a nurse since 1984, and still am today, I have come across people from all walks of life and would like to think I've made a difference in a good way. Recently I had cause to be on the receiving end when my husband took ill very suddenly, he was in hospital and ITU for three weeks, but sadly died. The nurses that looked after him and me and my family were a lifeline, they cared for us physically and emotionally, when I was afraid and angry. They make me proud to be in this profession.

  8. #58
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    Six ICU nurses at Massachusetts General Hospital are running this year’s Boston Marathon in honor of their patients. Each nurse helped care for some of the victims of last year’s tragedy, and are running to celebrate and honor their patients’ courage and lives.

    The Boston Herald reports that nurse Chelsey McGinn admitted she was shaking when she decided to take one of the last spots on the running team. “This outlet was kind of presented to me, and I’m just so happy,” McGinn told the Herald. “It’s been really therapeutic. This is probably going to be the only marathon I run. To be able to do it with five of my co-workers who are going through the same things — I can’t imagine doing it any other way.”

    Of the six nurses running, only one, Meredith Salony, has experience with marathons. The others — McGinn, Katherine Pyrek, Emily Erhardt, Allyson Mendonza and Laura Lux — are first-time participants. “If I’m having a hard week or a bad run, I think back to last year and what we went through, and it really gives me the motivation to complete whatever we need to complete,” Pyrek said.

    The nurses hope that their own act of running inspires others and honors their patients. “We’ve seen people go through things people shouldn’t have to go through and come out on top and still live normal happy lives,” Erhardt said. “They’re doing it. If they can do it, then so can we, and we can do it for them. Hopefully they know how they impacted our lives.”

  9. #59
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    I decided at the age of about five that I was going to become a nurse. My uncle tried to persuade me to go into banking as I was good at maths but I never waivered from my dream. I did a pre-nursing course just in case I couldn't actually stand blood etc. I have now been nursing for 34 years and my passion is education and helping students and colleagues get the best out of their career. I am an RCN Learning Representative and hope that I can inspire/motivate RCN members in getting as much education and learning from their jobs to make a difference to them and their patients.

  10. #60
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    I'd always wanted to be a nurse but never thought I could actually deal with the emotional and physical strain, however that changed shortly after my sister was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2007 aged 19.

    Seeing the fantastic work those nurses did on a day to day basis made me want to make my dream a reality.

    Now I have been qualified two years and have a dream job nursing children receiving bone marrow transplants. Nursing is not only career but a vocation, I wouldn't change it for the world. I enjoy going to work every day, no day is the same, and no matter how busy it can be everyone pulls together and looks out for one another. Seeing our patients go home with a smile on their face and hearing those little words 'thank you' makes everything so worth while.

    I work in such an amazing, dedicated and inspirational team, who continuously put their patients' care and needs at the forefront of everything they do. I'm proud to be part of such fantastic team.

    And I have to thank those nurses that cared for my sister that made me fulfill my dream.

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