31 Days of Living Art: Team
Today I created art by being a part of a team.
I love what I do. Transitioning into being a nurse and the stress and responsibility/liability that comes with it has been really hard, but the people I work with have made it less scary. They take care of me. We take care of each other.
I love being a nurse. I love being an ER nurse. But mostly I love my co-workers. This is going to be a post about my job and these incredible people I work with and the incredible things that we do...and maybe it will sound a little boastful, but I don't really care. I'm proud of what we do. I'm proud of the art we make. I think it's beautiful.
Today I was thinking about our teamwork and I just got really proud.
We are the busiest ER in the state. We aren't the biggest or nicest hospital. We're in a ghetto part of OKC, and we honestly wouldn't have it any other way. The Southside is never boring.
What I think is beautiful is the way we work as a team. We are a well-oiled machine, and we do our jobs with efficiency and precision. Doctors, nurses, techs, radiology techs, respiratory therapists, health unit coordinators, security, etc. We all work together and it's this beautiful dance that never stops. We never close. We get there in snow or ice or holidays or tornadoes or floods or Jesus himself coming back...We'll be there. You can be the biggest asshole that's ever existed or be Mother Theresa and we will take care of you both with the same standard of care.
We will cut your clothes off and get you trauma naked and put tubes in orifices you never want tubes in. We will make you breathe again when you stop breathing. We will make your heart beat again and do everything we can to keep you alive. Or we will make you comfortable and let you die with dignity and respect. We keep your secrets; we know things about you some of the people closest to you don't know. We clean you up when you soil yourself and can't clean yourself, and we do it with respect. We will do all of that and more, and we will do it well.
I think we do these things so much that we forget what we're actually doing and how fascinating it is. Once in a while, in the middle of all the trivial things we take care of, we really do save lives.
My co-workers--this team--are the only ones at the end of the day who know what I go through. They know what it's like to feel jaded. They know what it's like to see an infant die who was starved to death, and then have to go home to your family and when they ask how work was just say, "It was good. I'm tired." They know what it's like to be threatened and sometimes physically harmed by patients. They know how exhausting this job is. They know how rewarding it can be when you really, truly feel like you made a difference. When my friends joke about how I hardly work because I work 3 or 4 days a week, or give me a hard time about my job, or say I'm always tired when I get off work and they don't know why, I'm usually pretty good about shrugging it off. Because they can't understand it, but my coworkers do.
I'm so thankful for the people I work with and that I get to be a part of that team. They've never let me fail and I don't think they will.
Today I got to create art from 6:45am to 7pm with some really incredible people. I cleaned scrapes and bruises, wiped butts, gave medicines, calmed nerves, educated, and advocated.
This post isn't meant to make my job sound better or more important than yours. It's just to say I'm proud of what I do and the people I work with that do it too and the art we create.
I love what I do. Transitioning into being a nurse and the stress and responsibility/liability that comes with it has been really hard, but the people I work with have made it less scary. They take care of me. We take care of each other.
I love being a nurse. I love being an ER nurse. But mostly I love my co-workers. This is going to be a post about my job and these incredible people I work with and the incredible things that we do...and maybe it will sound a little boastful, but I don't really care. I'm proud of what we do. I'm proud of the art we make. I think it's beautiful.
Today I was thinking about our teamwork and I just got really proud.
We are the busiest ER in the state. We aren't the biggest or nicest hospital. We're in a ghetto part of OKC, and we honestly wouldn't have it any other way. The Southside is never boring.
What I think is beautiful is the way we work as a team. We are a well-oiled machine, and we do our jobs with efficiency and precision. Doctors, nurses, techs, radiology techs, respiratory therapists, health unit coordinators, security, etc. We all work together and it's this beautiful dance that never stops. We never close. We get there in snow or ice or holidays or tornadoes or floods or Jesus himself coming back...We'll be there. You can be the biggest asshole that's ever existed or be Mother Theresa and we will take care of you both with the same standard of care.
We will cut your clothes off and get you trauma naked and put tubes in orifices you never want tubes in. We will make you breathe again when you stop breathing. We will make your heart beat again and do everything we can to keep you alive. Or we will make you comfortable and let you die with dignity and respect. We keep your secrets; we know things about you some of the people closest to you don't know. We clean you up when you soil yourself and can't clean yourself, and we do it with respect. We will do all of that and more, and we will do it well.
I think we do these things so much that we forget what we're actually doing and how fascinating it is. Once in a while, in the middle of all the trivial things we take care of, we really do save lives.
My co-workers--this team--are the only ones at the end of the day who know what I go through. They know what it's like to feel jaded. They know what it's like to see an infant die who was starved to death, and then have to go home to your family and when they ask how work was just say, "It was good. I'm tired." They know what it's like to be threatened and sometimes physically harmed by patients. They know how exhausting this job is. They know how rewarding it can be when you really, truly feel like you made a difference. When my friends joke about how I hardly work because I work 3 or 4 days a week, or give me a hard time about my job, or say I'm always tired when I get off work and they don't know why, I'm usually pretty good about shrugging it off. Because they can't understand it, but my coworkers do.
I'm so thankful for the people I work with and that I get to be a part of that team. They've never let me fail and I don't think they will.
Today I got to create art from 6:45am to 7pm with some really incredible people. I cleaned scrapes and bruises, wiped butts, gave medicines, calmed nerves, educated, and advocated.
This post isn't meant to make my job sound better or more important than yours. It's just to say I'm proud of what I do and the people I work with that do it too and the art we create.
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