Nurse’s Week contains Mother’s Day. Coincidence?

Is it a coincidence that Mother’s Day falls during Nurses Week this year? Of course it is but it did made me stop and think about the connection.

A few things nurses have in common with mothers:

• charged with nurturing others
• extreme responsibility as they care for their patients and children
• hold emotional well-being in their hands
• fix boo-boos (different degrees of difficulty of course)
• may never really see the fruit of their labor (or at least go un-thanked for a long time).

Nurses also have an amazing ability to bring clarity and calm to a situation. As mother’s we are often unable to be objective when it comes to those we care for. Nurses, however, are incredibly skilled at assessing the situation, becoming involved while maintaining objectivity, and bringing much needed solutions. All without being ruffled. And yet incredibly, they are unwilling to be totally detached and therefore give a piece of themselves to every patient.

They have to be true diplomats between doctors and patients; they are often who the patient looks to for a full explanation of what’s really going on. And even if we do ask the doctor, we still look to the nurse for reassurance that we won’t be alone in the situation.

We know that when we go to the hospital, there will be doctors there that are trained to diagnose our problem, but maybe more importantly, there will be nurses there to walk with us through the solution.