ALT-4 Do Nurses Deserve a Raise
"Why be a Community Nurse?" I ask myself, not just today I ask this but everyday, usually more of a "Why oh why oh WHY?". Surely it wasn't the fabulous hours that attracted me, and definitely not the promise of untold wealth. Perhaps it was the glamor; no, getting covered in copious amounts of body fluids, radiating the kind of odor one wouldn't want to recreate by choice is not as glamorous as the TV would have us believe.
Many a day my shift starts with a sigh at the prospect of another day ahead.... too many patients to visit, not enough staff on rota and definitely not enough hours in the day to get everything done. Blustery winds, torrential rain, with a heater in my car that has long since past its sell by date. Or sweltering heat and not a whiff of an air-conditioning unit in sight either in my car, or in the clinic. All this together with homes to visit with angry dogs, scary cats, low flying birds, free roaming reptiles and squawking kids. Makes for the perfect working environment. Glamorous! "What do you think?".
"Then why do it?" I hear you ask. Well yes paying the mortgage and feeding and clothing the kids does usually do the trick at getting me out of my cozy, warm bed in the mornings. But the main reason is totally selfish. Just take today, same really as any other day, small dog chewing on my trousers while I try to delivery care, smelly wounds that don't seem to be getting any better and are pushing my skills to the limit, blocked catheters, injections to administer, anxious family members to reassure and on and on. But for every negative to this job, there are 10 positives, patients who really appreciate my visit and some who look forward to seeing me, wounds that heel, dying patients whose final days I can make more comfortable, the pleasure gained when able to unblock a catheter and seeing the relief on my patient's face, just to name a few.
Again today, no lunch because I got held up at the lady who cried with pain just as I put my coat on. I know she just wants to keep me there a little longer, to delay the loneliness to the next visit. So I make her a cup of tea and sit and chat and offer her reassurance and her pain eases as my tummy rumbles, but I know I made a difference. The pleasure of caring and bringing a little comfort to the lives of the patients I visit outweighs the bites received (by dogs and patients!), the abuse I get along with the rubbish hours, worse pay and not so glamorous conditions.
So everyday I go home, tired, hungry, bedraggled and weather beaten, feet aching, wishing I got pain a bit more, but everyday I go home thinking "yes, I did a good job today, and I might have just made a difference".
So you can keep your glamorous, high flying jobs, because there's nothing I'd rather do, not because I am a wonderful person, but I guess it's because I am just a bit selfish and like to go home everyday feeling good about myself.
