Who I want to be

The Lord has told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God.- Micah 6:8 


I have had just a little over one months worth of working experience as a nurse rotating through Cone Health's emergency departments and have learned soooooo so very much! It has been very challenging and has pushed me to evaluate and re-evaluate myself, my ambitions and the kind of nurse I want to be. Having such a potentially chaotic schedule and realizing how much nursing school has NOT taught me I sometimes feel overwhelmed. My schedule seems daunting at times, and caring for people all day can be so exhausting that I just come home and want to hibernate or isolate myself from others. This is often the result of not spending time with God and living out my day the way I should- doing what is just, showing constant love and living in humble fellowship with him 24/7.

 I realize that each day I am presented with many  little choices that will effect the kind of nurse I am and will become. I have worked with some amazing people that have showed me aspects of the kind of nurse I want to be and some others who have shown me what not to do. So here is my kind of running list (what I've know so far) of how I want to care for my patients:

I want to be compassionate. I want to genuinely care about your well-being. I don’t want you to just think that I care,  or even worse think that I don’t care. I want to show you by being present with you every time I encounter you that how you are feeling is important to me.

I want to learn safely. I never want to pass an opportunity to learn because I’m to busy or self-absorbed. I believe this is my best chance to grow and further serve you and others. I want my learning to provide mutual growth and in situations where it cannot I want to the best of my ability for it to not cause further harm to anyone. If  I don’t know something I will look it up or ask someone because even if it is not important right now it may be some day.

I want to practice with integrity. If I say something I don’t want you to wonder if I will be true to my word or not. I forget a lot of things, so I will do it immediately, or write it down or ask you to remind me again. If I don’t know that answer I will tell you that I don’t know and then ask someone that does or consult my BFF epocrates. I will not lie in documentation. If I didn’t listen to it I won’t write down that I did. If I didn’t ask you I wont pretend that I did.

I want to be understanding. Whether I have gone through a similar situation or not I haven’t gone through your life, so I wont begin to assume that your pain and emotions are not real. I will treat you with the respect I would wish to have in that situation. I will not gossip about you at the nurses station.


I want to pray for you. It most likely won’t be out loud, and you will probably never know but for my peace of mind and your safety I will bring up your mental, physical and most importantly spiritual well-being to the God of the universe and ask him to give me the wisdom and compassion to care for you to the best of my ability and HIS. If I’m your nurse, you should probably pray for you too!