A Call to Serve
Passion is a noun and describes any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, such as love or hate.
A call to serve and care for the sick and infirmed, as a nurse, is the response to help others unselfishly. Fulfilling the call to serve consistently and continually demonstrates the highest commitment in the interest of others. Many nurses have known that they had the desire to “take care of patients” years before they began their studies. The passionate feeling to share the bond of caring for another can place an impressionable mark on the psyche of the person seeking the academics necessary to fulfill the requirements of eligibility to sit for exams of the Nursing State Boards.
What Do You Remember About Your Journey Into Nursing?
Can you remember the anxiety when you prepared to sit for your nursing Board exam? Do you remember the anxiety when you received the notice that your nursing board results were in the mail or arrived in your mail box? For the “old school” nurse who had to take their exams over a two-day period, do you possibly remember the nauseating feeling as you filed into that large room with a few hundred other graduates and took a seat? For weeks you were on pins and needles as you waited for your envelope in the mail which carried that so important letter from your Nursing State Board. I remember discussions on the type of envelope we each hoped for. The thin envelope indicated a single sheet with word of congratulations for passing the Nursing State Boards. A thick envelope contained the notice stating, unfortunately, you did not pass the Nursing State Boards with instructions on how to reapply.
Whether today or 30 years ago, each graduate of a nursing program completed the requirements to be a member of an elite group of individuals. Each individual who passed their respective Nursing State Boards received the approval and invitation into the exclusive body of a professional group. Nursing as a profession, requires its own specific academic requirements. Its ideals and attributes yield to the notion that individuals who wish to help the sick and, vulnerable and who want opportunities to support their community, are deserving of the title Profession Nurse; whether titled Registered Nurse (RN) or Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN).
How One Nurse Carried Her Passion
I recall in my early years of nursing, I was exuberated in finally having the opportunity to care for my patients. I wanted to care for my patients as I would care for a loved one. I wanted to extend my caring attitude beyond my patients and into the halls that I walked every day. I believed that every patient was my patient regardless of my assignment and that I had a responsibility not to pass a call light. If a patient was in need, what harm would it cause me to see what the need was? I would answer a light, and if I could, I would help the patient. If what the patient required did not require too much time away from my own assignment, I would assist the patient. It doesn’t take a lot of time to adjust a pillow, offer water, or show a kind face. If the patient’s needs required more time than I had, I would notify his/her nurse that their patient needed their presence.
I have worked in many different work environments and I have carried my passion with me over the many years that I have worked as a nurse. Once, while working in a hospital a patient told me she had something to give me. I kindly told her that I could not accept gifts or any monetary offers. I cared for her as my patient, because I loved my job. As she quietly listened, she extended her hand, took my hand in hers, and placed a small white knitted heart into my hand. She said that the small heart expressed what she thought of me. I was passionate about nursing and demonstrated my compassion to her with a caring attitude.
Each nurse shares a common feeling. We have a passion for our work and the patients we care for. Passion is the expressed characteristic of individuals who so honorably work within the nursing profession.