Being a registered nurse is a rewarding profession which I have personally known. I have been a registered nurse for over 12 years. For the majority of my professional career, I have taken care of the patients in the critical care unit, particularly elderly patients with terminal illness. The pain and suffering from all the treatments, mechanical tubes, and the illness itself are indescribable and surreal. I know that nobody chooses to come to the hospital, and worse, to be hospitalized. I do my job with the utmost values and empathy. It is hard to genuinely and deeply care for the patient without putting ourselves in their shoes. As a registered nurse, it is my duty to ensure that the patients are minimally suffering from the illness they face physically and mentally, as well as to include their family members into planning and caring for the patients, promoting holistic care. All of this is to encourage the patients to have as much happiness with the loved ones as possible in their final moments while maintaining their autonomy.
Throughout my career, there have been many occasions where I cared for terminally ill patients whose family members and relatives wanted nothing more than to take their loved ones home as their final wish. One experience particularly stood out where the family truly wanted the patient to be cared for at home instead of the hospital. I understood the family member's inexpressible feelings of pain and sadness at that moment. I did my best caring for the patient from morning until night and took the patient home helping the patient preparing for the final moment. The family members begged me to stay longer and to ensure that their loved one's final moment will truly be comfortable and peaceful. Without hesitation, I willingly agreed to help the family out even though I had been working for the past 16 hours straight without so much as resting. I stood by the side of the patient who could no longer breathe by oneself but dependently relied on a bag-mask constantly providing oxygen. Surrounding the patient were 12 family members who could no longer fight the urge to be strong and hide their sadness and grief. Some paced around the room, while the others were expressively crying. I could feel their pain, suffering, and sadness which only gradually increased over time. For every 5 minutes, someone would question if there was still a pulse, or if the patient was still alive. During this crisis, I acted as their consultant, providing all the information they needed to know until the very last moment when the patient peacefully passed away surrounded by the loving family at home as the patient had always wished for.
Provision of holistic care to the patient from the moment of first encounter, the length of treatment to the very last moment of the patient peacefully passing away while caring for the family members with an ever-growing worriedness and sadness and helping them preparing for religious and cultural practices to send the spirit to a better place are truly rewarding. I am genuinely proud of my nursing profession, which allows me to care for and to help the humanities as best as I can. I will never concede and show weakness no matter how exhausting it can be because I know that the patient endures much more pain than me. In the final moment of life, everyone deserves to be loved and to be cared for by someone with a loving and gentle heart. Registered nurses are definitely that someone.