You get sick, lose consciousness and wake up to an angel dressed in white taking care of you in a place with brightly coloured walls, and you ask yourself, am I in heaven or what? While your cognitive processing is still trying to figure out everything, you hear a voice saying, wake up and take your medicine; then you realise you are in a hospital. The person taking care of you is a nurse; he or she has probably saved your life and is playing a significant role in your recovery process. May being the month where we celebrated International Nurses' day, I got an opportunity to assimilate and comprehend the importance of what it means to be a nurse, so this article is to appreciate every nurse out there.
Firstly, let me say, like everybody else, I have also had a horrible experience with a nurse. The nurse who recently took my PCR covid test aggressively inserted that nasal swab in my nostrils as if my nose was responsible for the pandemic. The truth is that all of our unpleasant hospital and clinic experiences are crucial steps in diagnosing, prognosis, and treating our medical conditions. Some of us get sick even when we hear the word hospital, but some people work there every day treating a wide array of debilitating diseases and infections. Risking their lives, especially in critical times like these where the whole world is facing a deadly pandemic, nurses are at the war front together with other health workers saving lives every day.
Nurses perform one of the most crucial roles in the healthcare sector; the primary role is to deliver care and support to the patients through health and illness. However, nurses also undertake various healthcare duties, including noting down symptoms of patients, coming up with a care plan, and performing some tests on any suspicious illnesses. When it comes to care work, nurses play a significant role by monitoring a person's health to assist with the medication and diet alongside other health specialists. Moreover, besides the care they provide in this role, they also play a part in strengthening patients in the form of emotional support and assurance, which is psychologically healthy to any ailing human being. The patient is the nurse's priority; the nurse's role is to advocate for the patient's best interests and maintain the patient's dignity throughout treatment and care.
Furthermore, nurses help a lot in care facilities, taking care of the mentally ill and the old. If you have ever visited a learning disability facility or a mental health institution, you get to appreciate the great work that nurses do. They form the bridge between the health specialist and the patient. They are educated to understand different mental health issues and the proper approach to taking care of them. Many of these patients may not function normally as human beings, and nurses help maintain good living conditions.
In conclusion, we are grateful, we honour and respect the work and the roles nurses play in maintaining our health. Being a nurse is not just a profession; it's a call to change and save lives. God bless every nurse out there.