Be open...

As my second class of nursing students finishes up their 10 weeks in the classroom with me, we start discussing life, careers, and what it takes to really be a health care professional. It takes commitment, emotion, drive, desire, heart, all the things it takes to be good at any profession, but most of all it takes understanding. It takes understanding to know when people are happy, sad, scared, angry, desperate; to know when to push a patient during therapy or back away and let them enjoy their last few days with their families. You have to be less afraid and more positive then the patient even when you might be more concerned about the outcome.

I don't care how many family members or friends have passed away in your life, how many funerals or wakes you have attended, nothing will affect you more then the first patient who dies in front of your eyes. Was there something more you could have done? Probably not, but you understand exactly what happened and why the person died and that makes you feel responsible and to see the family broken down, hysterical with tears because they could not do more and will live without the person for the rest of their lives, will rip you apart. These are not the things teachers typically tell you. They tell you the war stories of people shooting themselves, coding on the table etc - the stories that make it seem like a thrilling job. They tell you the miracle stories that warm your heart and force you to remember you are doing something to help people - but no one tells you what to expect when someone doesn't make it, or when a doctor puts you down in front of the whole floor during rounds or some other demoralizing occurance.

Most people have an idea of exactly what patient population they would like to treat or which specialized trade they would like to be in. My advice to my students is always, "Figure out what you would love to do and figure out what you dislike so much it almost makes you nauseous. Your first job should be doing what makes you nauseous." This is a field where you can't just skim by doing the least amount of work because you don't like it, you still have to do your job and do it well every hour of every day. Being immersed in that situation day in and day out may or may not give you more of an appreciation for it, but it will for sure bring out the emotions and skills in you which were buried so deep you didn't even know they existed. If after 1 year you feel it is time to move on, by all means do it, but you will have far more skills at that point which would have never surfaced had you started your career in a 'safe' place. Be open, to yourself, to your career, to the world and let it open itself to you as well.