Every year from May 6th – 12th the American Nurses Association celebrates National Nurses Week.
The 2011 theme is “Nurses Trusted to Care”.

As we celebrate another year, I cannot help but reflect back on my nursing education...
an education that has provided me with a lifetime career and an experience like no other.

My first nursing textbook was entitled: "The Art and Science of Nursing".
It was not until years later that I truly learned the important teaching and message that this book held
and today, after 45 years of critical care nursing, those lessons mean more to me than ever.

I recently cared for an elderly woman with lung disease and a failing heart... but not a failing spirit!
And on this day, I was fortunate to be able to precept a new nurse soon to graduate and to enter the field of nursing.
I like precepting the new nurses, to share my knowledge and to support them as they learn at the bedside.

The report we received was distressing.
Difficulty breathing, anxiety, and a long night with little sleep in spite of sedatives.
This patient had made the decision early on to be a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate), and to be made comfortable.
With this in mind, we approached the bedside.

She was slouched in the bed and working very hard to breathe. Every breath was an effort and she was tiring.
Our first move was to pull her up in bed, sit her upright and support her arms on pillows, and to be sure her oxygen and oxygen saturation was adequate and then to listen to her lungs.
Her lungs were wet. She was anxious and could only speak with one and two word responses.

Our first line of defense... we gently reassure her that we were going to do everything we could to help her,
and to be sure she could reach her call bell while we went to get some medicine.

First some morphine to allay the apprehension and make the breathing a bit easier followed by a diuretic to get rid of fluid.
And then we waited and watched as her breathing became easier, and she started putting out fluid through her catheter.
The turn-around was dramatic. Yes this was the science of it all.
But there was more... and this is the best part...

As her shortness of breath was relieved, she became relaxed and actually became quite talkative, and this is what she asked...

"Why are you so nice to me?"

This question caught me off guard. I never expected such a question.
My response was... "Because I care about you, and I cannot imagine how frightening it must be to not be able to catch your breath. I am here to help you."

A little later she asked me this question..."Why are you so happy?"
And my response was... " I am happy because you are feeling so much better, that you can breathe now and that you are comfortable."
She smiled a big smile and said... "Seeing you happy makes me happy too!"

And to my mind... this is the art of nursing.
It takes more than medicine alone to deliver the care, to promote comfort and well being and to develop trust.

And this is what nurses do.
To my mind, this is the art and science of nursing.
I can only hope that the personal aspect of nursing is not forgotten
in our quest for new technology and in light of budgetary constraints.
As nurses we must speak out when necessary so that the art and science of nursing
does not become a thing of the past, so that nurses can always be "trusted to care".