Nurse Blogs

Back in the day, I was a nervous young novice nurse trying to make a go at becoming a real nurse. In a hospital in the NYC area, there were some pretty tough old nurses who treated me like crap and basically wanted nothing to do with me.

Some of the nurses on the units were older nurses who had been educated at those old hospital-based schools that no longer exist. Many of them seemed to have a problem with how nursing education had become a college-level thing. There was some resentment, and maybe some class issues, as well. Most of them came from working-class families and saw nursing as a vocation not as a profession. Does that make sense?

Anyway, there was one nurse---let's call her Margaret---who took me under her wing and made a nurse out of me. Her father worked in the meat-packing plants in and around New York City and her mom cleaned office buildings. They were Irish immigrants and each generation worked hard to buy a house and educate their kids. She was one of twelve children, and the only girl who pursued nursing. Her sisters all became teachers, and her brothers pursued various other vocations. Her daughter was a nurse, and her aunts had also been nurses. It was a family thing, and she was proud to be one herself. 

Margaret was tough as nails, and she wouldn't let me get away with anything.  Our supervisor watched me like a hawk---I think she didn't like me from the beginning---and Margaret went out of her way to make sure I got the best training around just to spite that supervisor that everyone despised. Whenever Margaret wasn't there during my shift, the supervisor would come around and see if I had done anything wrong. When I did, she would really let me have it, to the point where I would run to the ladies' room to cry. 

Well, Margaret was not college educated and had no use for new-fangled nursing theory. She did her job and did it well, and her keen assessment skills would sometimes leave medical residents baffled as to how she could know such things just by looking at a patient. It was awesome to behold when a very famous doctor would actually ask Margaret for her opinion and everyone would stop to listen to what she had to say! Now that's personal power! 

Under Margaret's tutelage, I was empowered, sometimes ashamed of my lack of knowledge, and ultimately trained to be a prudent and thoughtful nurse. I owe so much to Margaret and her desire to make me into a nurse who could do anything. She helped me to grasp difficult skills, learn how to talk to patients, how to negotiate relationships with doctors and other colleagues, and how to write a kick-ass (sorry!) SOAP note.  To this day, I think of her often. 

Margaret and I eventually lost touch when I left that hospital, although we did actually manage to send Christmas cards for the first two years and we met for lunch once about eight months after I quit for another job. She was a nurse's nurse, a real old-school nurse with very salt-of-the-earth smarts and a wicked sense of humor. She was tough on me, believe me, and even made me cry a few times, but she empowered me to be the nurse I am and for that I will be forever grateful!