In recent weeks, Australian nurses have been ranked the most highly regarded profession for the 23rd year in a row.
Nurses are ranked as the most ethical, honest, respected and trusted professionals everywhere in the world. Why? Because it takes a special kind of person to choose to spend their lives caring for others.
It is not glamorous. There are no fancy awards given day to day. There are no trophies for staying back to help your colleagues look after the sick.
You simply cannot measure how well a human being cares for another.
Nursing draws compassionate people who put others before themselves.
It is hard to love a nurse. We often get up early and we don’t have time to chat with a coffee and breakfast. We will come home late and not want to cook. We don’t want to char sometimes at the end of the day because we have talked all day. We stay late because there are people who need us and we find it hard to say no. We don’t get excited over own family illnesses – we have seen worse.
We may not move much we get home – we have moved all day.
We are mental, physically and emotionally drained. You might feel like we left all our caring at work and come home empty to you. What I don’t tell you is how I got yelled at by patients, families and doctors. How I worry about making mistakes. I worry about letting others down.
I do love my job and I am proud.
I do need your love. I need your understanding. Sometimes I want to be taken care of without asking. Listen to my rambling, don’t push me when I am silent.
Thank you to all those who love nurses – and let us continue to do our work
