I work as a nurse because there's really not a career that's more humbling, rewarding, or fulfilling. We have the honor of meeting our patients really in one of their most absolute vulnerable states and that kind of sense of vulnerability and fear really helps bind and make an instant connection with the human spirit and the person that they are.
I love being a pediatric nurse. Something I've always wanted to do since I was little. I love bedside care. It gratifies me to see sick kids improve from giving meds to struggling preschoolers to teaching parents, providing a hug sometimes to a scared parent.
I had a patient over in Wyler days, a little boy that had a chronic illness. And I think of him once in a while. He had a chronic illness and multiple hospitalizations. And he had really bad days that I spent hours at his bedside just doing nursing care, and mothering, and nurturing. And he would have good days where I would take him outside, bundle him up in blankets. I would bring him to the gift shop. We kind of could do those things back then, it was a little different. And I wonder now, he eventually succumbed to his illness. And I wonder now, how would he be? He would have had a different outcome with the innovations we have today.
I've been a nurse for over 30 years. Sometimes you forget the reasons why you became a nurse. And at the heart it's to be a caring individual. As nursing has evolved, taking different departments and bringing them together in a multi-disciplinary approach really has made a difference in nursing as a whole. When I began nursing, things were very segmented, very siloed. And as nursing has evolved into the true profession that it is, we have evolved to really collaborate with our colleagues on many levels, from physicians, to supply chain, to support services, and bringing and integrating everyone into the patient-centered care. In the ICU we work very closely with the physicians, we work with the social workers, the respiratory therapists, the physical therapists. We work very well with everybody. And we realize that it's not a one man job. Everybody has to be on the same page. We all have to have the patient's health care, and we have to have their best interests in mind. Interdisciplinary collaboration is probably the most important factor in the ICU. Nobody can do it alone.
So influenza has a big impact on the pediatric patient population. And now as a nurse, we can screen patients on our own, we can order influenza shots, and then we can administer the influenza shots all without physician intervention. And I feel like that has a really big impact on our population, our patients now able to have shorter lengths of stay and maybe less hospitalizations because of that nursing innovation.
The doctor-nurse relationship has improved greatly, too. I think doctors communicate better with nurses now, and nurses communicate better with doctors now. Whereas before it was a doctor's order, you follow the order, basically that was about it. But now they listen to you and we listen to them. I believe now we use our critical thinking skills. And then using critical thinking skills, we are able to take
care of patients better. We have better patient outcomes, and we're able to meet patients' needs.
I've been a nurse for 35 years. When my daughter was eight years old, she had a traumatic brain injury and was in the neuro ICU pediatrics for about two weeks, and she was on life support. And at that time in those days parents were not allowed at the bedside during rounds. So we had to leave during rounding time. And one day when I came back in after the rounds, my daughter was laying in the bed and had a card in her hand. So I took the card out and I began to read it, and it was her nurse pretending to be her. And what it said was, mom, dad, aunts, uncles, grandma too, brothers and sisters, I can hear everything that you say to me. I just want you to know that I'm going to get better. We're all going to be OK. Before you know it, I'll be outside playing basketball. Love, Kelly. So at that moment it was something that has always stuck with me. They can feel that love and dedication to this nurse had. And that was 30 years ago, and I'm happy to say my daughter is now 30. And she is-- she's a nurse in the emergency room. So she's paying it forward.
So I come from a very long line of nurses. However, having the opportunity to enter a field, and really have some impact, and help people and families, and most importantly other nurses was something that was very important to me. I want to remind all nurses that nothing is too small for their patients. And if they ever feel like I'm just not having a good day, I'm not really hitting the mark for a lot of things, remind themselves to see that their work is important even though it seems like small things.
Nursing truly has evolved into more than being just a caregiver. Now it is leading health care and leading patient-centered care to advancing nursing practice.
