Personal Narrative: My Love Of Nursing

Martha Amanda Boyd
Kathleen Schexnayder
ENGL 101

Nursing: Is It Really Worth It? I have always had an undying love for nursing. Ever since I was in elementary school I had wanted to be a nurse. The day I received my nursing license in the mail was one of the biggest days for me, and the day I vowed to do my job as a nurse with pride and to the best of my ability, while loving every minute of it. However, this day almost changed my view and my love of nursing forever. It was a typical Saturday evening for me, saying hello to my co-workers and patients as I hurried past them towards the time clock. I entered my code and scanned my hand. It was 6:00 p.m., time to start my shift. I got report from my co-worker: everything as fine, just
As I was coming down the hall, I was stopped by a younger lady. “Excuse me ma’am,” she began. “Maybe you can help me. My mother, Mrs. Williams, called me saying that her stomach was hurting extremely bad, the nurse told her that she would call the doctor and never did. Now it’s been hours since her nurse or anyone else had checked on her, so I came up here to find out exactly what is going on.” I was dumbfounded. How could she say no one had checked on her for hours when I was running to her room at her every beckon and I was just in the room no less than forty-five minutes ago? How could she say no one ever called her doctor when in fact I was the one who called? Then I realized…this lady standing in front of me has no idea that I’m her mother’s nurse. “Wow, I put in all this effort to keep my patients happy and comfortable, and for what? To get lied on and thought of as a horrible, neglectful nurse?” I thought to myself. I informed her that I was her mother’s nurse, and I did call her doctor. I explained the process of calling the answering service, the service pages the doctor, and then the doctor calls us back. She didn’t care. She showed no remorse for what she had said. Instead she began badgering me with questions. She wanted to know why the doctor never called back if I had really called her. I told her I would call the answering service back to put in another page for her to
Was I really that horrible of a nurse? Did I even deserve to be a nurse? I pushed those thoughts out of my head and told myself, “Amanda, you are a great nurse.” Of course I was. Not only did I graduate top of my nursing class, I had an ER doctor who took me under his wing and showed me everything I needed to know and more. I knew more than what some RN’s knew. I’ve never had any of my patients die on me, so I must be at least a half decent nurse. I went in the nurses’ station and called the answering service once again. After getting off the phone, I began to walk out the nurses’ station to go tell Mrs. Williams’ daughter I called the doctor back and was preparing myself for another round of badgering questions when the phone