2nd Place (2005)

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

Several years ago, I was thrilled to be asked to speak at a Career Day question and answer session at a second grade class at my daughter’s elementary school.  The children had worked with their teacher to prepare questions and they were very thoughtful and important questions.

The easy questions were about the education and training it takes to become a nurse and of course, the fun questions about the tools used by nurses allowed me to do show and tell with stethoscopes, thermometers and blood pressure cuffs. Nurses have toys! The children loved listening to their hearts and learning that these tools give nurses a way to understand how the patient is feeling and how we can help the patient feel better.

Quite a few children had the same question, asking with awe and dread "Do you have to give shots?" The little audience erupted in groans and fearful faces! I explained that nurses sometimes have to give shots to help children fight off diseases that would hurt them longer and more painfully than the quick shot. I told them we try to find ways to make the shots less painful, such as creams to numb the skin. If the children are in the hospital, like where I work, I explained that we put in an IV so that we can give the medicine right into the vein and not poke the skin over and over. This gave me a chance to tell the children that nurses have a special role in treating pain and that we pay a lot of attention to the whole question of pain. Nurses do not like to see their patients in pain and patients have a right to be as pain free as possible. So we try to find ways for the children to tell us that they are in pain and how bad the pain is so we can give medicines or other care to help them feel better.

The other question that brought looks of fear onto their little faces, was that of blood! The questioner was so wide eyed, and almost whispered, "Do you see a lot of blood?" And the children giggled and sat up straight. I told them that sometimes we see blood coming from a wound or incision that the surgeons made to fix a problem. Then we act quickly to stop the blood by using clean gauze and putting pressure on the wound. I asked them if they had ever had a cut and bled and did they also put pressure on the wound. They all had gone through that experience at least once! I told them sometimes seeing blood is such a wonderful thing, a relief and a blessing. When a child loses too much blood, I explained to them, then nurses give them blood to help their bodies recover and be healthy again. I asked them if they had heard the words "blood transfusion." I told them when a I would see that blood dripping into the patient’s vein, there was a happy feeling inside; that blood was necessary for life and this blood was helping the patient recover. Another time seeing blood gave me a happy feeling is when it is necessary to take a blood sample and although the needle hurts, when blood comes right out, it means the patient doesn’t have to go through a second needle stick! I told them that makes me feel very good, to see the blood the first time. Then we can test the blood and see how we can help the patient even more.

My favorite questions though, were about the heart of nursing, "how do nurses help the community and help the patient?" I think they were surprised to hear that a big part of the nurse’s job is to teach. They looked at their teacher in surprise. "Nurses are teachers?" I explained that some nurses teach other nurses, in nursing school. Some nurses teach in the community and in clinics and they teach people how to stay healthy and prevent illnesses and some teach patients with illnesses how to take care of themselves and get better or at least not get any worse. Even nurses like me, in the hospital, teach patients every day. We teach them how to tell us they are in pain, how to breathe deeply after surgery, how to take care of their casts and dressings, how to walk and move so they don’t hurt themselves, even how to eat healthy to heal faster. We teach the parents how to take care of their children with casts, dressings and wounds and how to give medicines at home and help their children get better faster and stay safe.  Sometimes the teaching is very complicated and we give booklets to help the families learn. 

I must have gotten several variations on this question, which was nice. It gave me a chance to explain the many ways nurses help children and the community. I remember feeling so proud of the nursing profession and so humble in the face of all nurses do when talking to these children. Nurses do so much to help people and I could tell most of these children had had at least one encounter with a nurse and that many had good memories of their nurses. One child had been quite sick with cancer and she listened closely and nodded a lot even though she didn’t want to share much about her own experience. Several children offered proudly that they had a relative who is a nurse.

But the most profound question and my favorite was "how can you stand to see blood and kids in pain, doesn’t it hurt your feelings?" I remember thinking about this question, having taken care of many children with cancer, intractable pain and many who suffered so much in their short lives. As I thought about how to answer the question, I remembered every face of every one of my patients who lost their battles with cancer. I remembered how brave they were, how hard they fought, how much they touched my life. I told the children, it did hurt to see children in pain and it made me sad, but also I felt like a fighter for them. That I try to help fight off the pain and help the children get healthy again. Sometimes the patients have to go on a long journey through painful procedures and fearful and lonely times, but that my job was to go on that journey with them, to hold their hands, keep their families and them informed and together we fight for a recovery and health. I told them I had never done anything else in my life that made me feel so significant and so important. I told them it was a hard job, but it was important in life to do something meaningful and satisfying. I looked around at the faces, thinking I might be looking at a future nurse in the crowd. I wanted them to see nursing as a positive career, not always sad and hard. I told them there was a lot of joy and happiness in nursing too, seeing patients recover, maybe even saving someone’s life. I tried to be as enthusiastic as I could be, someday one of these children might be taking care of me! I told them that being a nurse is not like being a famous celebrity, but that helping people, and for me, helping children, is the most awesome job in the world!