As we near the end of Nurses Week, I can’t help but express my gratitude for our true health care heroes: nurses. Throughout my 20 years in medicine, I have worked with nurses on a daily basis. As an innocent, bumbling medical student, they would teach me how to place an IV or how to supplement potassium. In residency, they would teach the ins and outs of ICU care even better than some physician attendings, trying hard not to laugh at dumb mistakes. They would comfort dying patients’ families while simultaneously getting demands for a meal from another patient’s family.
As the years went on, as a gastroenterologist, they would offer insight into a patient’s perspective, talk to families about a devastating diagnosis, or catch a patient desaturating in endoscopy. Patients would often even come back to see me just because of the excellent nursing care! In so many ways, they are truly the backbone of medicine and have a calling to make their patients’ lives better. There are so many other fields where one can make a good living, but very few fields that change people’s lives. Nursing is one of them.
This profession does come with a price. I have seen them disrespected, harassed, patronized, and even assaulted. I have seen them being yelled at by a family for taking too long while another patient is decompensating.
If the above happens, they are trained to think “What could I have done better?” unlike other professions. They move on to the next patient, smile, and persist. They then develop quick rapport with the next person suffering at their most vulnerable moment. Meanwhile, they find mistakes doctors may make, keep doctors on time, place really tough IVs, wait on hold to argue with insurance companies to approve effective medications, get bodily fluids on their scrubs or hair, sacrifice their own health, yet still work an extra few hours to help their patients. They have tough conversations with patients’ families, get asked the same questions ten times, but still reply in a caring way. They do it because of their calling to help others and their empathy towards the sick.
Nurses were temporarily “heroes” during the initial COVID-19 crisis. Everyone would see posts of health care workers in masks. Behind those masks, however, lurked the front-line impacts of supply shortages, understaffing, or just how much suffering was infiltrating the hospital walls once the cameras were off. Or at 2 a.m. In addition, nurses had to worry about their own health. Makeshift masks or re-using them were the norm in the beginning.
As the months dragged on with new surges, the public became frustrated with care. A vicious cycle of nurses’ own health problems and burnout from eighty-hour work weeks created a deeper shortage. The resultant frustrations erupted. Threats to health care workers skyrocketed, mental health issues increased, and patients themselves understandably felt trapped with increased wait times and their own health declining. Ironically, even more care was needed due to delayed care from shutdowns in clinics. This all led to health care entitlement with its obvious repercussions.
Many nurses left the profession for various reasons, worsening the shortage. The job expectations only increased and patient satisfaction scores resumed. Despite this massive turn of events, from a doctor’s standpoint, they are greatly appreciated. We know how hard they work and what they put up with. We remember the tough times and the good times. We also hear the appreciation from patients and realize that we are pretty insignificant without nurses.
As Bo Schembechler said, “Those who stay will be champions.” They are recognized as champions in the eyes of many, so keep fighting the good fight.
Matthew Moeller is a gastroenterologist and the author of What It’s Like to Become a Doctor: The Year-by-Year Journey From Medical Student to Practicing Physician.
