In coming years, let us devote ourselves as nurses who are passionate about what we do and passionate about the lives entrusted to us. With those lives, those patients we serve, we have experiences to share and stories to tell with our fellow nurses and future colleagues. That fact alone qualifies us and holds us responsible as mentors and preceptors to future nurses.
As a new nursing grad, I was assigned a preceptor during my orientation to hospital nursing. I relied on her to teach me everything she knew which of course was an impossibility during my short six week orientation. I watched her every move. I asked questions and during our breaks I would encourage her to tell me stories of her nursing career. I would ask, “Who was your most difficult patient?” and “How do you deal with family members when they are upset?” I watched, I listened and I learned. But it was not just my preceptor who taught me new skills.
Other nurses were invaluable to my education. I quickly learned that everyone had their own tried and true routines. Every nurse danced her own dance and sang her own song, yet all performed their duties with protocol in mind and professionalism as a nurse. I often watched their moves and techniques from afar and I respected each and every one of them for their dedication to the art of nursing.
Of course, some staff members were not as willing to fill in as additional teachers to me. I learned which nurses were open to mentoring and which ones I needed to avoid. Unfortunately, some of the nurses with the most experience and skills were the nurses who lacked the patience to share their wealth of knowledge with me.
Eventually, I gained respect from my health care team members. We came to know and understand one another. We became friends and true colleagues and yet I could not shake the memory of those who had helped me to become the nurse I was meant to be and those who had not.
I learned a great lesson from my early years in nursing. I learned that each and every nurse is a teacher in one way or another. I learned that new grads (or nurses who are new to our nursing units) need our passion to be instilled within them so they, too, can become the nurses they were meant to be. As a nurse and an educator, you are setting an example to your future nurses.
Let us remember to be dedicated enough to educate those who cross our paths and let us be responsible enough to care for those people who enter our profession. After all, nursing is about caring and mentoring, and we’re all pretty good at that