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The Mother of Nursing and The Mom Nurses of our Generation

The real story of Florence Nightingale, the mother of nursing, is not normally taught in nursing schools anymore. It’s very important that every nurse knows the foundation of this profession.

For the National Nurses’ Week, I would like to write and give tribute to the founder of modern nursing and also the mom nurses of our generation.

National Nurses Week begins each year on May 6th and ends on May 12th, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the mother of nursing. While the second Sunday of May, the day designated to be the national holiday to honor mothers.

Florence Nightingale is the founder of modern nursing. She opened the first nursing school in 1860 after Queen Victoria rewarded her noble work during the Crimean War. She was given an engraved brooch known as the “Nightingale Jewel” and  $250,000 from the British government. She then used the money to make a school to educate and train nurses.

During the Crimean War, Nightingale tirelessly took care of the wounded soldiers and spent her waking hours making rounds even in dark areas carrying a lamp, the reason why soldiers named her the Lady with the Lamp. She dramatically helped reduced mortality rates among soldiers by increasing ventilation, improving hygiene, establishing laundry routine so they can provide clean linens and served healthy foods to the patients.

Okay that story about her saintly works during the war isn’t entirely true and in addition to that, she was not actually a nurse but instead she was in charge of the nurses that she brought to the hospital. However, the fact still remains that Florence was passionate about nursing; she did what she could to help. Unfortunately, she and her team was not able to reduce the number of deaths among soldiers but instead they had the most number of deaths in their hospital compared to the deaths of soldiers in the battle field. After the war, she suffered from chronic brucellosis and fell into depression. She stayed in her bed for 5 years until she was able to bounce back and return to make use of her fame.

The legend about the lady with the lamp allowed Florence to campaign for changes in healthcare. She was able to raise money through donations given in her honor and this is what she used to build the Nightingale School for Nurses.

Florence Nightingale was the first nursing theorist and her contribution to health care is still recognize and useful in our times. The Environmental Theory that she developed was based on what she observed and learned from the Crimean War.

Nightingale’s theory states that the environment plays a major role in a patient’s recovery and healing. According to her theory, proper ventilation, cleanliness, exposure to sunlight, adequate room temperature, reducing noise for a restful sleep and proper nutrition contributes to the the recovery of a patient.

florence nightingale

It’s not easy to become a nurse. It requires a ginormous amount of patience to keep cool under stressful situations. It takes a special person and personality to do the job of a nurse. Nurses are like the human shield in the healthcare battle, they are always at the bedside of a highly contagious patient and most of the time they are the ones who get to deal with the dirty nasty stuff in the hospital, but what some patients don’t know is that nurses could also be the brain.

Nurses are expected to educate themselves about the medical condition of their patients as well as the medicine that they are taking. You have no idea how many times a nurse had saved a patient’s life after providing the necessary missing information to a doctor or a lab test was suggested to be ordered by a nurse after a careful assessment. They are not called nurses just because of their skills, they are also equipped with knowledge so that they can advocate well for their patients.

Just like the Lady with the lamp, nurses also do saintly things while working. Most of the time, they sacrifice their meals and bladder just so they can stay longer with a patient even after doing a procedure. Nurses also feel overwhelmed, discouraged, scared, defeated and tired especially nowadays with the unsafe nurse to patient ratio. However even though nurses are often spread thin at work they always try to have that loving smile when they go to a patient’s room aside from making sure that their patients get the right nursing care to help them recover.

One of my favorite quotes about nurses is from Virginia Henderson and she said, “The nurse is temporarily the consciousness of the unconscious, the love of life for the suicidal, the leg of the amputee, the eyes of the newly blind, a means of locomotion for the infant, the knowledge and confidence of the young mother, and a voice for those too weak to speak.” 

What a noble profession! Can you imagine what kind of responsibility a nurse carries in her job? Now imagine that and then add her role as a mother

Most nurses work a 12-hour shift 3-4 days a week and when you say 12, it doesn’t mean that a nurse gets to drop everything and leave her unit once her shift ends. Often times a nurse has to stay a bit longer to finish her documentation and do a proper endorsement to the next shift. Nurses are also required to work during holidays and usually they could only choose one major holiday as a day off.

What’s hard about being a mom nurse?

Missing special occasions because I’m scheduled to work. Working 12 hour shifts, I don’t get to see my baby in the morning before I leave and she’s already sleeping when I get back. – Dena Melamed MICU RN

The long hours of work is often what comes to mind when you ask a nurse about what’s hard about their job. Probably it’s because all they wanted is to be able to spend time with their family no matter what is required of them from their job.

nurses quoteI am a nurse but my husband and I decided that I should stay home to take care of our baby. Knowing what nurses have to endure and reflecting about it as mom, I could say that nurses who are moms are beyond amazing.

Mothers, by nature, are selfless and loving. They always put their child’s needs above their own and sometimes that means getting up no matter how tired they are just to cuddle their child, prepare their meals or even just to spend time with them. They don’t stop being moms just because they are exhausted.

I’ve seen and experienced that no matter what field you’re in or your background, having a baby in the hospital is never easy. You want what’s best for your child, and can find yourself feeling helpless when you can’t be the one to care for him or her. My work ethic is to take care of my patients the way I would want my own child to be treated. My patients are innocent and helpless, and it’s my responsibility to care and advocate for them.

I know as a mom nurse I’m ALWAYS needed. At work I have to care for my babies, then I come home to take care of my own. Although my shift is 12 hours, I am gone about 15 hours including traveling. I rush home after work to nap 3-4 hours so I can pick up Aidan from school and spend some time with him, even if I have work again the same day. No matter what happens at home I always return to work and take care of my babies to the best of my ability. Sometimes I don’t know how I even have the energy. It’s like magic…once I step foot into the unit I have a burst of energy and just keep going. It can be exhausting but it’s all worth it! The feeling of being able to pick up my child from school everyday, and seeing my patient born at gestational age of 23 weeks going home after 6 months are completely different but indescribable. These are some of my happinesses in life and I am blessed. – Alicia Sundar, NICU RN

I know when I was still working, I valued my quiet time after work. This is very helpful for nurses to regain composure after a long day at work. Nurses are not only physically tired but they get emotionally drained as well. Bedside nurses are often the recipient of displaced anger from patients, family members and sometimes doctors. Often times they are also the first to witness of a patient’s declining health.

However, mom nurse don’t really have the luxury to relax and recharge. Yes their families might let them sleep and eat at home but sometimes letting their bodies recuperate is not enough. Nurses need to take time for themselves without being interrupted and to take their time off for their mental and physical well-being.

Sometimes nurses never really stop being nurses outside their unit. If you are called to be a nurse, not only you are compassionate everywhere but sometimes some people also think that you have the answers to fix their problem.

As a nurse mom I have a hard time accepting when I can’t “fix” something with my Rhegan. At work we are always “fixing”, “saving” or “helping” someone which gives a sense of accomplishment. However with your kid, you often times get defeated because you can’t fix them or you can’t always figure out what exactly is wrong with them and for me that’s difficult.

Other moms should know about mom nurse is, we don’t have all the answers as much as we think we may, and we enjoy learning from non-nurse moms. I think sometimes people frown upon us because of our long hours away from our children but its a sacrifice we make to provide for them and to help sick people. – Tamarra Crandall, BSN, RN of Millennial Nurse Magazine

Nurses and mothers have a lot in common and both are often times undervalued. Probably it is not a coincident that Mother’s day is celebrated right after the Nurse’s week.  Juggling the responsibilities of being a nurse and mom sometimes may feel impossible but you are doing it and you are doing a great job. I hope that you know that you are appreciated not only this week.

I would want nurse mothers to know, to take time even a few minutes, no matter how tired you are and spend it with your children. Because we as nurses get caught up in work and advancing our careers and sometimes we don’t have much time for our kids. They grow up too fast. – Carmen Feliciano, Critical Care RN

 If you are a mommy in the healthcare field, hats off to you and all your efforts to become the best that you can be as a nurse and at the same time to give your all for your family.

(Being a nurse) you’ll miss out on a lot but you are caring for others who need you and may not have a family. You never have a day off, either nurse mode or mom mode; but it is so worth it because they are the roles you chose in life. – Taylor Akins RN

 

“I am of certain convinced that the greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world whirls as a maddening dreidel.” 
― Florence Nightingale

 

“Nursing is the opposite of despair; it offers the opportunity to do something about suffering. But you have to be strong to be a nurse. You need strong muscles and stamina for the long shifts and heavy lifting, intelligence and discipline to acquire knowledge and exercise critical thinking. As for emotional fortitude- well, I’m still working on that. Most of all, you need moral courage because nursing is about the pursuit of justice. It requires you stand up to bullies, to do things that are right but difficult, and to speak your mind even when you are afraid.” -Tilda Shalof

Happy Nurses’ Week and Happy Mothers’ Day!

Source :
The Lady Without the Lamp
Tom Geoghegan – http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8674265.stm

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