Why Everyone Loves Nurses

By Jordie Papa

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Sine Valentine’ Day is fast approaching, I thought I’d take the time to show some appreciation for the guys and gals out there who dole out tender loving care for a living.  I’m talking about nurses of all stripes.  Whether they labor in the ER or the OR, or work in a hospital, doctor’s office, medical clinic or word private duty assignments, nurses have always given way more than they received.  So, today I am going to count ten of the many ways in which the public love the fact that nurses are there to help them deal with injuries and illnesses galore. 

      1.      Nurses are always there when you need them. – Unlike the old adage about there never being a cop around when you need one, nobody could ever say that about nurses.  Whether you walk in off the street or are brought to a hospital in an ambulance, odds are the first face you’ll see is that of a nurse.  One of the reasons you’re more likely to be seen by a nurse first is because there are nearly three million of them in the US, as opposed to 1.1 million doctors.

      2.      Nurses thrive on adversity. – Where most of us are programmed to shun adversity, nurses thrive on the stuff.  They have to, since their duties run the gamut from dressing wounds and dispensing medication, to assisting surgeons and doing it all day in and day out.  Did you know that many nurses routinely put in 10 to 12-hour shifts?  That means they not only have to deal with your calamity, they have to do so while fighting to stay awake and alert until the end of their shift.

      3.    Only a nurse can read a doctor’s handwriting. -  Another one of the tasks that nurses need to handle on a daily basis is deciphering patient charts.  These relics of the 19^th Century are still found in all too many hospitals today.  An article in Forbes Magazine reported that, “About six percent of U.S. hospitals have yet to convert even the most basic ancillary services of laboratory, pharmacy and radiology to electronic medical record systems despite billions of dollars in funds available to these facilities, health information executives said at the Association of Health Care Journalists annual meeting.”  The article goes onto point out that most of those that do fail to share electronic medical records.  This leaves the burden of deciphering paper charts squarely on the backs of nurses. 

      4.    When everyone else is gone, they’re still there. – Long after most doctors and therapists have clocked out for the day, nurses are still there to care for you.  While you may sometimes resent those late-night checks that sometimes wake you, most of us are just glad that someone’s there through the night when we’re at our worst.  Besides, it’s only fair since we sometimes disrupt their routines by hitting the bedside buzzer at all time of the day and night.

     

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5.    Who else knows how to adjust a hospital bed to make you comfortable? – Are you convinced that modern hospital beds are designed by the Marquis de Sade?  There seem to be more buttons, bells and whistles on most hospital beds than there are on an F-16.  That may be overstating my case a bit, but if you’ve ever spent the night in a hospital, you know that the more you try to adjust the bed, the more uncomfortable it becomes. 

      6.    They know how to make the hurt go away. – None of us likes to be poked and prodded, but that’s what happens an awful lot when we wind up in a hospital, ER or doctor’s office.  Whether it’s giving you an injection or drawing blood for testing, nurses know how to use a needle without driving patient’s crazy.  They’re also awfully good at dressing wounds, sprains and fractures.  That’s because they have so much practice at tending to the sick and injured.

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      7.    They turn technical jargon into plain English. – If you’ve ever had a discussion with a doctor about treatment protocols or prescription medication, it can leave your head spinning.  That’s because doctors spend a minimum of seven years learning how to become a doctor, and they want you to know it.  If you ever come out of an examination room after speaking with a doctor only to look like a deer in the headlights, do what I do…Ask the nurse.  Nurses can translate doc-speak better than anyone else.  That’s because they hear it all day long.

     

      8.    Nurses are the ultimate chill pill. – Not only are nurses expert at calming us down when we’ve injured ourselves, they are also experts at calming down family members who are often frantic when someone they know and love has been injured or takes ill.

      9.    When we’re at our worst, nurses are at their best. – If you’ve ever walked into a busy emergency room, then you know what orchestrated chaos is all about.  Accident victims cry out in pain, family members berate hospital staff trying to get someone to see to their loved one, administrators ask the sick and wounded for their medical insurance.  If it weren’t for the nursing staff, there would be no way to sort out the chaos to make sure that everyone who needs medical treatment gets it at the proper time and place.

      10. They’re the first to see you when you’re admitted to the hospital and the last to see you off when you’re well enough to go home. – Long after your doctors have signed off on your treatment, it’s always a nurse who helps you complete the paperwork and then wheels you out of the hospital before you head home.

Jordie Papa is owner of Uniform Destination with four locations in North Florida offers scrubs and medical accessories, including stethoscopes.