The Nurse Mentality

Sometimes, a day where I work will consist of talking to a patient about boys, and that's ok. Another day may consist of playing cards with a patient. One instance may involve (attempting) to crush up a peppermint for a patient's hot chocolate, and as a result almost breaking the pill crusher. Sometimes when a unanimous plea for "can we please watch the basketball game?" overcrowds any unit schedule. And then in the very rare but in my opinion treasured instances, you have one patient that wants to talk about church, Heaven and Hell and our belief in God. That was the instance just the other night, and I walked away from that conversation to be honest feeling a little bit convicted. Not for myself, but for Christians in general. This conversation was basically how this patient, who believes in God, was turned away from the church because they wanted to do just that. There's more to the conversation than that, but for confidentiality's sake we'll just leave it at that. To be honest the circumstances of this patient's removal from the church were downright...wrong. Just plain wrong.

I sincerely wish that church congregations, politicians, and sometimes even family members had the mindset of a nurse. Taking away their grievances, their stigmas, labels and past hindrances and focusing on the now and getting them back to the road to health, and back to their lives. I've had so many people tell me "I could not do what you do." Even my own sister has said she could not do what I do. Yes, what I do is far from easy, but it is rewarding. I've had patients come back multiple times, and they've told me about their families and their friends. We've gotten ones that come back and are in a new relationship or a newlywed. Like I've said before, when it comes to this population, strip away the mental illness and remember that these are people too, just like you and me. What ever happened to simply just looking out for each other? Helping a fellow brother or sister in need? Why does it matter if you're black, white, polka dotted, gay or straight? I've seen this picture below floating around the world wide web, and it helps me remember what I do. Why I do it, and why I love it. If only we could all think like nurses, just for one day. What would that be like? Look like? How would it look in your own life if instead it said "but the nurse said" and fill in what you do. Think about it.