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be lots of time while you're waiting on Dr. Somewhere Else to show up. Right now
we've got to go, go, go. Hours later, when you finally have a moment, you'll have to
remember to explain that patient care is important, but OR time is the ruler.
If you care about patients …
…care about the new hires. A seasoned OR nurse can make or break a new
grad or new arrival. That shouldn't be a choice we'd ever consider. A lot of us
were subjected to intimidation, lies, withheld information and other forms of
occupational hazing when we were starting out. I'd like to say that was the past,
but the practice continues.
Under the bus is no place to learn. We're nurses, not mechanics. We should
be flattered that new and fresh minds want to learn surgical nursing and stand
beside us in patient care. So I refuse to put them through a trial by fire, and so
can you.
You can never have too many co-workers, especially when you're facing the
real enemy, long cases without breaks. But more importantly: young nurses
aren't a threat. They're the future. I want them to know everything I do, and
more. I want to know that the up-and-coming faces behind the masks will be
able to deliver the best care to every patient (one of whom may be me).
We are the light
In the days of Florence Nightingale, nurses carried oil lamps on their rounds
when tending to patients. The lamps were welcome and warm light that let
patients know they were not alone. I think we still carry that warm light. I think
we are that light. I can see it in the newest members of our teams. Surgical nurs-
es have to have a fire inside them to do what they do, and I see it as my respon-
sibility to keep that fire burning in my successors.
OSM
Ms. Watkins can be reached at pwatkins12@comcast.net.