Challenges
in the nursing profession
Throughout the Bible God has only given
about 100 people a direct calling to any type of work (Calling in the theology
of work, 2011). God commands his children to labor and says it is good for are
wellbeing (NIV, Genesis, 2:15, 19-20).Work will take place here and in heaven
(Revelations, 21:24-26).God wants us to use any work we do to glorify him and
expand his kingdom (Colossians, 3:11). God gives everyone a ministry through
work. Through are labors to build a better society, we not only serve God but
also help ourselves (Jeremiah, 29 5-7).
As I have grown in spiritual maturity, I
have learned there is no such thing as a perfect job. Obtaining the perfect
vocation, family, house, degree, does not bring happiness or salvation (Calling
in the theology of work, 2011). While of this earth, even the son of God had
many trials and tribulations. I have seen many changes in the profession of
nursing over the last twenty-five years. There were times in my profession when
I witnessed young men that had served their country-missing limbs or worse
dead. I worked during nurses shortages, where I was mandated to work
sixteen-hour shifts, with an unsafe patient load, and prayed nothing would
happen to my patients. I have prepared the body of a homeless man, whose only
friend was a petrified rat in his backpack. I have been with families as they
have said goodbye to their five-year-old child. Many times, I worked for bad
companies and bosses. I have also watched many miracles. I have handed mothers
their first child. I have watched families forgive in the last moments of life.
I have watched people literally rise from the dead.
My profession has allowed me to see the
best and the worst of this world. Through this, I have learned my circumstances
can be changed with my own attitude. When I am ready to throw in the towel over
one more budget meeting, the unfair nursing ratios, staffing shortage,
unrealistic customer expectations, I remember, I am doing this for God. Not a
day has passed, when I have not prayed, God would not help me care for my
patients. Through this, I know that God has my back; he is in control and makes
me brave (1 peter, 5:6-7). The sacrifice and labor has at times, seemed to be unbearable,
but through this, Jesus has molded a great life for me. One of my most proud
moments is my niece just begun nursing school, because she said I inspired her.
The challenges may have changed throughout the years, but my attitude has not.
I am here to care for God's creation.
My Calling as a nurse
As I grow older, God's word speaks to me much differently each
decade of my life. I am now in the middle of my life span and it is much easier
for me to see how God has a plan for all his children, prior to them ever being
born ( NIV, Jeremiah, 1:4-5). He takes people and uses their gifts and weakness
to glorify and serve his purpose (Isaiah, 30:15). I was an identical twin that
was born at six months gestation, at a time when severely premature infants
rarely lived (Isaiah, 30:15). Due to complications of my birth, my mother
became severely disabled and my sister died. This was my father's second family.
My father was a retired Army chaplain, a Barber and now a single father of
seven. I stayed in the hospital for the first eight months of my life. I was
sent home to die. The doctor told my father if I lived, I would never walk,
talk or speak. My great aunt, a missionary nurse, came to help with us
children. This elderly woman raised us children, along with my father until her
death. I was told; she read me the entire Bible and many medical books, before
I reached the age of two. When I went back to see the pediatrician, he could
not believe that I was the same baby because, I walked and talked at ten months
old, despite having arthrogyposis. When my father told the story of my birth,
he always said that my life was the result of God and good nursing care. Nurses
were the hands of God. Due to many medical problems, I spend many years with
Army medical personal to gain the excellent health I have today.
I remember my aunt taking
me with her as a young child, when she served the poor of the Appalachia
Mountains. As a child, I witnessed birth and death in people's homes. I was not
hidden from the complexities of life. I
sat next to her and the doctor and learned how to do many medical procedures. As
a child we were not spanked when we did something wrong, my father would have
us children sit and read out, medical books he had dug out of the garbage,
while he cut men's hair. He had my mother in the back of his barbershop, and as
a family, we cared for her. Her illness did not remove her from our lives.
When I was, five we did a school program the principle asked children
what they wanted to be when they grew up. Most of the girls had the same answer
a mommy or ballerina. When he came to me, I got up on the stool and stated I
was going to be a nurse in the Army. I remember everyone laughing. I suppose
now it seemed funny, a scrawny little girl, with braces on her legs would say
such a thing, but I just knew that was what I was supposed to be. I remember it
made the passion even stronger.
God intervened again when I was in the eighth grade. I attended a
catholic school because it was the only school in the area. The nuns started a
licensed vocational nursing program where you attended high school a half a day
and nursing school the other part of the day. In the eighth grade, a nun came
up to me and stated this is," God's calling for your life"! I was
exuberant when she told me about the program; God had fulfilled the desire of
my heart (Psalm 37:4). I had never told anyone in my new school about my
dreams.
Starting in the eighth
grade, I began going to the hospital with then nuns and every Saturday for
eight hours. I had to agree that for the next five years, I would not do many
things other girls my age were doing. I could not date, attend dances, proms,
or the senior class trip. I was dedicated to every Saturday to work at the
hospital for the next five years. You could only miss one clinical a year, due
to sickness, or you were out of the program. God provided the uniforms, books,
transportation, tuition and health in extraordinary ways over the next five
years. It would take an entire book to describe how God worked in my life. Almost thirty years later I am so grateful, I
was given this opportunity, I have never regretted missing those millstones.
Those nuns gave me something much greater: a purpose. The hard work that I did
made me stronger physically; I joined the United States Army at the age of
seventeen as a licensed vocational nurse. I do not believe that I had a calling. I
believe God created me for my role.
Servant
leadership in my daily practice
A servant leader demonstrates their values through actions in their
everyday behavior (Boone & Makhani, 2012). It is understood by a servant
leader that to live out your values is one of the most important tasks in life.
The Bible states, if a man walks honestly their path is protected (Proverbs,
10:9). A servant nurse leader makes an effort to support and assist other staff
members and patients. Another quality of a servant leader is the ability to
influence others through genuine relationships that truly support and
understand the other individuals (Boone & Makhani, 2012). Through serving
and understanding others, the servant leader is able to reach organizational
goals and build a better community and world. A servant leader takes others
opinions and ideas in consideration when making decisions (Boone & Makhani,
2012).
In the past three years, I have received special award during nursing
week. These awards have meant a great deal to me because; they have come from
my peers. I have received the Clara Barton award for the most helpful nurse the
Florence Nightingale award for the most caring nurse and the Daisy award for
providing care beyond the call of duty. I feel that caring, helping my colleges
and serving my patients is my job.
Last year when I received the Daisy award a young nurse that works at
our hospital told the staff that she became a nurse and worked at are hospital
because, I saved her life one night. She tells the story that I was walking
past her room to go home in sweat clothes, when I realized something was wrong.
I called a rapid response and had her sent to the ICU, for an immediate
surgical intervention. She said she had been telling nurses during the change
of shift, something was wrong and they kept turning off her light and saying
they would be in the room soon. Although I have no recollection of the event, I
am so glad that I put her ahead of myself, because she has, went on to save
many people, to include my own husband. Through service to another, God blessed me
with one of my greatest miracles my husband's healing. We who are strong have
the obligation to bear the failings of the weak and not please ourselves (
Romans 15:1).
References
Boone,
Larry W., and Sanya Makhani. "Five necessary attitudes of a servant
leader." Review of
Business Winter 2012: 83+. Academic
OneFile. Web. 3 May 2016.URL http://ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA326656948&sid=summon&v=2.1&u=vic_liberty&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=8859bf277cb6fd331d493a3efc519b66
Calling in the theology of work. (2011). Journal of Markets and
Morality, 14(1) Retrieved from
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