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Dedicated Healthcare Workers Deserve Our Support

By Edie Dykeman

Like many women, when I was a young girl I dreamed about what I wanted to become when I grew up. Although most of the time I wanted to be a teacher like my mother, I also read a lot of novels about doctors and nurses and thought maybe that would be my chosen profession.

As the years passed, I set aside those thoughts and went to college planning on becoming a librarian with a teaching certificate as well. When life took a turn and I dropped out of school, I started working for a local doctor in our home town. After three years, I left his practice when I had my first child.

Years later I started working in a hospital and spent thirteen years there and nine years at another hospital. Now retired, I look back on those twenty-five years in health care and appreciate all that those years provided.

An inside view

Not only did I meet a great number of wonderful, hardworking professionals, I got to see from the inside just what being involved in health care was really about. My last eight years was in the Department of Anesthesia at a large hospital working with eleven anesthesiologists, twenty-five nurse anesthetists and two anesthesia tech’s who provided support where needed.

What impressed me the most was their dedication to the health of each patient, how they treated each patient and his or her family member as an individual, and the number of hours each one spent keeping their skills up-to-date. My main thought when I left that practice was that I was blessed to have met and worked with such a wonderful group of people.

The tradition continues

Now, after all these years, I am super-blessed that my oldest daughter is a registered nurse currently working as the department manager of nursing education in a large hospital. I see the hours she puts in (as I care for my young grandson), her dedication to her job, and the hours she spends traveling to various educational conferences so that she can stay up-to-date on her skills and knowledge as well.

For all the negativity that we sometimes hear about hospitals and their staff, we should also know that there are many hardworking doctors, nurses, and other workers who spend hours taking care of those who are ill as they also spend hours keeping their skills up to date.

Although I never became a nurse or doctor like those I was reading about as a young girl, I still ultimately fell into a career where I came into contact with many health care workers.

The next time you are in the hospital or visiting someone who is a patient, consider taking a few moments to thank those who are working so diligently to make sure their patient receives the best possible care. Although they may look very busy and rushed, they are still keeping the needs of the patient in the forefront of their mind.

I'm the webmaster at Elder Care Cafe, a Squidoo enthusiast, freelance writer, blogger, and affiliate marketer. As the live-in caregiver to my 88-year-old father and daily caregiver to my 3-year-old special needs grandson, my days are busy, but fulfilling. Building websites is a favorite hobby and I'm looking forward to my next step in the process - blog flipping. If you are visiting Qondio for the first time, feel free to check out their information on the left sidebar so that you can create your own pages Intel.

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Thank you for sharing this interesting intel,Edie.
When I was in High School, in the 1950's, many your girls were going into Nursing. At that time, a girl would become a nurse, then if she got married and started a family, she could work part-time or quit nursing for a few years and then go back to it. It was a make sense occupation.
There is no doubt in my mind, that the backbone of every Hospital is the nursing staff!!
Keep up the good work.
Best wishes.
Frederick

Times have certainly changed, haven't they? There are many women physicians now, an accomplishment that could not have taken place back in our younger days.

Smiling at your comment re the backbone of every hospital - I don't know very many nurses who don't think they are as qualified to care for a patient than the doctor. I've heard nurses for years agree or disagree with what a doctor decides to do and it's obvious they believe their training was as good if not better than the physicians. Maybe it's because they are in the trenches on a daily basis as far as hands-on care.

Thanks for leaving your comment.

Gail, wonderful intel. I've been hospitalized 4 times over 30 years and I've come across both the good and the not so good health care workers. I always made sure to thank them all but went out of my way to thank those that went that extra mile.

There are definitely different levels of care depending on which nurse, doctor, or aide that you have on any give day. But, for the most part I've received great care when hospitalized.

Unfortunately, many nurses are caring for more patients than they should and that definitely affects the care provided.

I'm sure they appreciated your thanks! They probably don't hear that often enough for all that they do.

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