The Power of Gratitude

I work in the emergency room at a decent-sized community hospital. I've been a nurse for a little over two years, but I've been working in healthcare and this same department for around five. It can be said that nursing is thankless. And this is very common in any emergency department. We save people's lives but sometimes don't get to see their follow-up care and how they improve. More often than that, there are people who talk to us and treat us very badly. It can just be a very difficult place to work. Once, I took care of one gentleman who was my age and in very critical condition after a motorcycle accident. Unfortunately, his family wasn't from around here, and I had to contact them and update them. I didn't think much of it at the time -- it's just my job and their right to know about their kid. The next night when I got to work, there was a handwritten note from the patient's mother explaining how thankful she was for my care and my updates. It absolutely knocked me off my feet. Being in healthcare, especially the ER, I find that most people don't realize that just saying "thank you" or simply being nice will make a such difference to us. If you say that you appreciate an ER nurse and thank them for the care they give you, they will almost surely tell the other nurses and doctors about it. We're not often thanked for the job we do. So remember: You can make a huge difference in the lives of nurses by simply saying, "Thank you."