Ode to the Healers

Nurses are the healers of the hospitals and healing seems to be an art form that is most often noted and desired in absence. Healing is not fancy or sexy or some hot topic in medicine. In fact, I typically see that most nurses don’t even know they’re doing it, at least I never did.

We are healers at the molecular level. We love our patients and truly try to know them. We strive to give them one good day even if their future is grim. We sing to them, we bring them flowers, we smile when it seems like an impossible feat, we anticipate their needs, we give them joy – recognizing that joy is medicine.

When our patients beg to see their children who are too young to be in the hospital, we sneak the children in to brighten their spirits. We bathe them, we turn them when their own body weight is too much to support, we encourage them, we comfort them, we are brave for them, we touch them when others wouldn’t entertain the thought.

This is all healing. The effects of healing are hard to measure for scientific types who feel the need to prove its powers and even harder when the healers don’t recognize their talents. But perhaps that’s the nature of a healer. However, everyone is able to acknowledge when the healers are not healing. Because then there is no one to embrace the human condition in all of its damaged glory and no glue for the fragile pieces of patient care.

All poetics aside, healing can be perceived as “easy” or “insignificant” and can be grossly overlooked. But studies show when units are adequately staffed with nurses/techs, patient care is better. When nurses are able to care for themselves, they are able to heal others. Meaning, the presence of a nurse is imperative to healing and the best patient care… and that’s really something.

So, thank you healers for all that you do.