Recently, my lifelong nursing inspiration and mentor retired after 54 wonderful years of nursing. She didn't have a career filled with national presentations or research studies. She was always the first to give a hug or hold a hand just because. She was the nurse who patients always looked for on return visits. She was the one who made a difference in their lives with each encounter. She truly mastered the art of nursing.
My mentor graduated from the Jefferson School of Nursing in 1957. Nursing was very different during that time. Patients' temperatures were taken with mercury thermometers that were kept in cups filled with isopropyl alcohol. Injections were given using glass syringes with needles requiring sterilization before the next patient use. I.V. solutions came in glass containers. Penicillin was the antibiotic of choice. There was no triage nurse in the ED, and CPR and ICUs didn't exist. There were no cardiac monitors. Expectant fathers didn't go into the labor and delivery rooms. There were no cell phones or computers for researching lab values or documenting. And nurses wore starched white dresses with white caps and polished white shoes.
Throughout my mentor's career she saw significant changes in nursing as a profession, from primary nursing (because there was only one nurse), to team nursing, back to primary, to all types of hybrid delivery models. She's watched the implementation of computers in every aspect of healthcare, the evolution of thousands of pharmacologic agents, and incredible technological advancements in surgery. She's watched as our nursing education landscape has changed to include numerous opportunities for advanced practice.
But throughout all of the changes she, like many other nurses with her years of experience, has held fast to the fundamental belief in the art of nursing.
We often talk about the art and the science of nursing. Today there's a significant focus on the science of nursing, but I can't help but wonder if we're losing focus on the art of nursing. As many of our seasoned nurses begin to retire, we have to figure out a way to transfer that "art of nursing" knowledge to our younger generations. Maybe one way is if every nurse had a mentor like mine.
By the way, my nursing inspiration and lifelong mentor is my mother, Deanna Schweyer. Thank you, Mom, for the wonderful role modeling, endless words of encouragement, hours of handholding, and millions of hugs. Without you walking beside me every step of the way I wouldn't be nearly the nurse that I am today, nor would I have been able to accomplish half of the things that I have in my 25 years of nursing.
Until the next time: be healthy, be happy, and be great advocates for your patients!!
AnneMarie Palatnik, MSN, RN, APN-BC
Director of Clinical Learning Center for Learning Virtua Health Mount Laurel, N.J. [email protected]