1st Place (2005)

What I Tell Children Who Want to Know What it's Like to be a Nurse?
by
Susan Cline, RN

It was a tough room.  Forty fifth-graders of various shapes and sizes shuffled in and sat down.  The boys, in particular, did their best to seem uninterested.  After all, nursing is for girls and it is definitely not cool.  One young man stood out as a leader.  Jack stood a head taller than everyone else, and it seemed that he had just participated in putting the nearest second grader in a trashcan.  He sported a very large pair of basketball shoes, untied, and a very baggy pair of camouflage shorts that hung low around his hips.  A considerable amount of gel had been applied to his spiked red hair. I asked the group "What do nurses do?"  A petite blonde piped up, "They take care of sick people."  Another said, "They give you your medicine."  Predictably, Jack announced, "They do what the doctors say."  He looked bored.

I was apprehensive earlier that morning as I set up for my presentation.  It was Career Day at my son’s elementary school.  Promoting the profession of nursing has become exceedingly important, and I wanted to send just the right message.  I remembered that as early as fifth grade I knew that I wanted to become a nurse.  As I set out my baby dolls, with their peripheral I.V.’s and nasogastric tubes in place, I was excited about showing the students what is cool about being a nurse "Nurses do a lot more than what you imagine and what you see on television," I began.  I described the many different jobs that nurses do here at CHLA.  I showed the students posters picturing CHLA’s Transport Team and helicopter.  I explained that the team travels by ambulance, plane, and helicopter to pick up very sick children.  They were transfixed as they watched a video about premature and critically ill infants.  I showed them the tiny diapers, pacifiers and bottles.  The students held baby dolls the size of our tiny patients in their hands.  I talked about the importance of nurses in many different environments, including schools, movie sets, corporations, operating rooms, and battle fields.  "Even Disneyland needs nurses," I said.  The students thought that this was pretty exciting.  I described the ways that nurses help our community to be a healthier and safer place to live.

I invited the students to come on up and help me "feed the babies".  Jack jumped out of his seat and was first in line.  I encouraged him to put the tiny blood pressure cuff on the doll’s arm and check the baby’s breathing with the stethoscope.  I explained the procedure for inserting an intravenous catheter into a tiny vein, and we pretended to flush the baby doll’s heparin lock.  I showed him how to check the placement of the NG tube and administer a feeding.  Jack’s big, awkward hands were gentle as he cared for the baby.  He carefully injected air into the feeding tube and placed the stethoscope on the doll’s abdomen.  His eyes were big and his expression animated as he attached the syringe to the NG tube and poured the formula.  I cautioned him to keep the syringe low so that the formula would go very slowly into the baby’s stomach.  He nodded and lowered the syringe.  "So, I’m making the milk go straight to the baby’s stomach?"  "Yes, that’s right," I said.  "Otherwise, the baby could not eat anything?" Jack inquired.  "Yes," I replied.  He considered this for a moment, and seemed in awe of its importance. Watching Jack, I am reminded of a six-foot-four pediatric surgeon who wore cowboy boots with his scrubs.  He was bigger than life, with bear paws and a deep voice, but he handled our patients with such gentleness.  Sometimes, the most compassionate caregivers come in the most unexpected packages.

After the children had fed and diapered the babies, checked their vital signs and I.V. sites, I told them that our profession needs many different kinds of nurses.  Nurses use both their brains and their hearts to help patients.  When a patient gets better, that is the best feeling in the world.  And when they don’t, you feel very sad, but you know that you did your best to help them.  That is a good feeling, too.  I said,  "Each of you has a unique gift to bring to nursing.  If you study hard and bring your heart with you, you can be a very good nurse.  Now, who thinks that they would like to become a nurse?"  More than half of the children in the room raised their hands. Jack, the coolest kid in the school, had his hand raised the highest.