Dear Patients:

I am your nurse. I am a professional.

I have been trained for years, logged hundreds of hours in the classroom as well as on the floor and in clinical hours, to be able to keep you safe. I have spent many hours critically thinking, soul searching, and personally reflecting to give you the most humane, decent, and respectful experience that you can have at your time of need. I have a vast body of knowledge that I draw from to help me evaluate, anticipate, and act to maintain the best possible outcomes for you.

I don't care what your body looks like. Generally speaking, you have all the same parts as anyone else, your blood is the same color, and you pull your pants on one leg at a time, just like everyone else. You, in the medical sense, are not unique to look at, for the most part. Don't  focus on being embarrassed because very few people have seen you naked except in a sexual sense. It's a difficult thing to get over, this impression that being naked to another person means you need to worry about their sexual attraction to you, but rest assured, it has never and will never cross my mind.

I don't care about your background. I don't care what your orientation is, what your race is, or what you did to land yourself in the hospital bed in my care. To me, you are a human in need of attention, and you have my undivided attention for 13 hours at a time. You have a unique experience as an individual, and while it's scary connecting with someone else who knows everything from your social history to your bowel movements, sometimes that's what you really need to heal and move on to the best outcome.

I am your biggest cheerleader. I will advocate to the doctor for you for pain control, for home health assistance, for entrance into a drug program, or for whatever you need to help you be the best you can be. You likely won't see any of that, but trust that I'm doing it, and trust that I can do it.

I can seem like your biggest obstacle and nuisance. I will make you stand after surgery when you feel like you just want to never move again. I will make you wait for certain foods or force you to go without eating before a procedure to keep you safe during and after that procedure. I will ask you what drugs you've taken, and I won't be fooled when you try to lie. I won't judge you for lying, but I won't let you believe that you are the victim you sometimes believe you are.

Sometimes you'll be frustrated with me. Sometimes I'll be frustrated with you. It's a frustrating experience, to try and be human and find meaningful connections in healing when the rest of society has told us that those connections can't and shouldn't happen unless they encompass other complicated things like sexuality, romance, and love. It's hard to sort out everything amongst fear, pain, and sickness that happens at the worst parts of our lives. It's always just kind of hard.

We're only human, we'll make mistakes. You may leave my care and end up coming back because you couldn't, for whatever reason, manage to take care of yourself. I may sometimes not always be able to get past my own feelings, and have moments where I do not always give you my absolute best. That is our right, as humans, to make those mistakes.

But at the end of the day, I am your nurse. Try to remember all the things about me that don't always get respect, and I will always do my best to remember all the things about you that don't always get respect. We're really just two people, trying to make the best of things, and at the end of the shift, that 13 hours will have made a difference to us both, no matter what happens.

Sincerely,
Your Nurse