When I think of a world without nurses,

I think of a young child who has spent *years* in our unit, parents not yet able to bring them home because of such complex medical needs, who wouldn’t have the everyday care and companionship they get from the around-the-clock nurses who know them now so well.

I think of a patient’s mom I got close to last year, who received devastating news and was inconsolable and mute in the aftermath. Physicians eventually quietly left the room, but reassured her, “The nurse will stay here with you.” I cannot imagine her left in that awful wake, alone.

I think of the times hospitals cannot accept all the patients they want to take in, because there are not enough nurses available. Nurse availability = saved lives.

I think of the flurry of nursing activity, the many hands and feet, minds and hearts that scramble sometimes for the sake of just ONE very, very sick patient.

I think of the buffer of reassurance I feel when I send my children to school, and I know the school has a dedicated, attuned, compassionate school nursing staff, ready to be first responders to any emergency.

I think of the extra special touches – the braids in a patient’s hair, the painted nails, the fun cowboy hat, the creation of a favorite playlist – that my nurse colleagues bring to humanize and uplift their downcast patients.

A world without nurses is a world that I don’t want to be in.

Grateful for my nurse colleagues. Grateful to do this hard, beautiful, heartbreaking, heart-lifting, formative, invaluable work.

Happy Nurses’ Week to all my fellow nurses!