Nursing is the most unique of professions. It is done not just by what one is taught in school, but, the tidbits learned through years of experience. There is an intuition that cannot be explained but is almost always spot on. We nurses are a different breed. We run towards situations as others run away. We can’t ever turn our nursing brains off, despite our best efforts to do so. We also form unparalleled relationships with our coworkers. CNAs, fellow RNs and NPs, we form this bond that allows us to ultimately elevate the level of our caring.

There are unsung heroes… the CNAs

I remember early on in my young nursing career, I was totally green and the fact that I had never worked in patient care prior left me almost up the creek without the proverbial paddle. But, as eager as I was, I always was fouling something up. The brief was put on wrong, the pad was too high and let’s not talk about the hospital gown – that thing with all of the snaps that require a map to pair. It’s was the care techs, the CNAs that taught me about all of those tricks that one will never find in a book or in a classroom. Need to sneak in and take vitals in the middle of the night? CNA can show you how. Need to learn how to change a bed that is totally soiled but has someone in it? CNA all over it.

The wealth of knowledge absorbed from my fellow coworkers can never be qualified.

I have been lucky enough to work with some of the most remarkable nurses. We have laughed together, we have cried together, we have vented together, we have done the “let me run this by you” together, we have comforted each other, we have gone to bat for each other, we have fought and made up and we have grown together. We are inappropriate and can be gross. We can laugh at all sorts of situations. Heck, my closest friend and I became that way on a night shift, holding up a rather large woman’s legs and trying to insert a Foley.

This is my love letter to my coworkers, both past and present.

Thank you for being patient with me

Thank you for helping me when you were also slammed with work

Thank you for laughing with me until we cried

Thank you for crying with me until we laughed

Thank you for not making me feel foolish when I didn’t know what to do

Thank you for helping me in code brown situations.

Thank you for meeting me far out of your way to get me supplies.

Thank you for teaching me, not just how to be a nurse, but how to be a better human.

It is a an unwritten fraternity. Bound by a goal, helping those unable to care for themselves.

When a group goes into war, they come out and are forever linked by their common experiences. That band of brothers.

I may never see many of you again and some I will be lucky enough to see often, but, we will always have that moment in time where we were by chance put together.

This beautiful group of people.

This glorious band of caregivers.