Dear Nurse,
I see you. I see how much you care.
You pursued this profession out of a heart to humbly serve others in their greatest need. In the most vulnerable, the most scary, the most traumatic, the most weak, the most sick times of need, you are there. No matter the gore, blood, or other bodily fluids, you are the source of calm, the source of compassion.
You are there in the night: silencing IV pumps and working stealthily to protect the sleep of a weary family.
You are there in the day: managing a frenzy of admissions, discharges, medications, and schedules for scans and procedures.
You are an expert communicator, bringing together various physicians and families to ensure the best of care.
Even when a child shrinks back for fear of another scrubbed stranger, you never shrink back.
You press on.
You press on towards comforting their tears, even if you have to be the one to poke them. You press on towards listening to that parent cry tears of helplessness. You provide education to help empower them in their role as master caregiver.
You press on despite all the factors that are out of your control—a delayed pharmacy, an irate family member, confusing hospital policies—you are on the front lines as the mediator and shock absorber.
You care for people despite never having that care be reciprocated. And that takes incredible strength.
I see the way you balance all of these responsibilities and more, and yet still make it a priority to provide gentle and supportive care. You pause to play with a child…that time you take to build trust with them will go such a long way! You ask “how are you?” with sincerity and empathy. You make each patient feel as if they are the only one you are caring for that day (when we all know that is entirely not the case!)
“Even when a child shrinks back for fear of another scrubbed stranger, you never shrink back.”
I am grateful for your partnership with child life. I am grateful when you ask, “what more could we do for this child?” You see the effects this hospitalization and these pokes have on this little one, and you want to seek to help the child be a child first. I am thankful when you want to give that prize to that brave little warrior to connect with him, to engage with her on her level, to celebrate a child’s courage.
Thank you for promoting only one voice at a time being heard in the room for that scared and overwhelmed patient—it takes restraint for me to do so, too! Thank you for talking to a child as a child and using that soft and non-threatening language. Thank you for taking a minute extra of your very precious time to let the child play with the equipment you will be using, to make sure they know what to expect. Thank you for choosing to look at a parent’s strengths rather than their weakness. Thank you for seeking teamwork and unity to involve all necessary roles of the interdisciplinary team to support holistic care for the patient and family.
Being a nurse requires great strength, humility, resilience, selflessness, kindness, and bravery. I see you. I appreciate you. I thank you.
Love,
Your Child Life Specialist