Nurses are Amazing

 I know they are. I have been in the health care field for nearly 8 years now and I have personally worked among some absolutely amazing nurses. Not only have I worked with many, many nurses, I have dealt with a lot of nurses through personal experiences as well.

My last two pregnancies were tough. I guess tough could be an understatement. I've had a chronic kidney infection, kidney stones, and migraines, and most recently viral meningitis that have all left me in the hospital numerous times. 

While I was pregnant with Annabelle, I spent a lot of time in the hospital.... hospital stays are not fun in any event, but when you are pregnant and away from your family they seem worse. Toward the end of my longer stay I got depressed. I would cry a lot. One special midnight nurse was able to lift my spirits, and for her I cannot be more grateful. This nurse took time to fully listen to me, to understand what I was going through and what I needed. She always had a smile on her face and did whatever she could to help me. When other nurses had basically told me to suck it up she told me she understood and offered her help. THAT is an awesome nurse, one who goes beyond clinical duty to ensure that the patient truly is cared for.

Truly compassionate nurses can change a traumatic experience into a more manageable experience.

As many of my readers know, I have recently had quite the experience with long hospital stays. My son, Luke, was in the NICU for nearly two weeks and all along I relied on a team of nurses to care for and keep my son alive. Without these nurses, who knows where my son would be today.

Today, as the world population continues to grow and people continue to live longer and need more care, the healthcare field is experiencing a severe shortage of nurses; there is currently a nationwide vacancy of over 100,000 positions, and that number is expected to grow to 800,000 by the year 2020.

The upside to this shortage is that the career outlook is excellent for the nursing field. And nursing is a highly regarded profession: a 2011 Gallup Poll announced that the public voted nurses number one for “honesty and ethical standards of various professions” for the eighth consecutive year. Nurses offer patients comfort, care and skill that is desperately needed in patient care. The time is now to encourage and celebrate this important role in our healthcare system.

Johnson & Johnson's is asking you to nominate an amazing nurse who has inspired you with his/her comfort, care and skill. The winning Amazing Nurse and his/her guest will attend the 2012 CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute show in Los Angeles, courtesy of CNN. He or she will also be honored in a video profile which will be screened before the live audience at the show, and featured on the Nursing Notes by Johnson & Johnson Facebook page. (*Eligible Nominees for the Amazing Nurses contest must be a Registered Nurse (RN), Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) or Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) who currently administers direct patient care.)  Be sure to nominate before June 29th, as the contest ends then.

So, have you ever had a nurse who changed your life? I'd love to hear about your experience and I am sure they'd love to be nominated!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Johnson & Johnson and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.