As many of you know, I still practice as an acute care/critical care nurse practitioner. Where I practice, we routinely have nursing students doing their clinical rotation on all our floors and in our critical care units. In my hospital, the critical care NPs respond to and lead all cardiac arrest, rapid response, and stroke codes that are called. We always give students the opportunity to participate in learning to come along to emergency calls. This past weekend was no different; we had several really sick patients in our ICU and some patients waiting for downgraded beds, and there were several of those “calls.”  

As a student witnessing and participating in those events is such a great learning experience and an opportunity to see the reality of how nurses and advanced practice nurses work together with our multidisciplinary colleagues. At the end of the day, several of the students came up to the nurses and nurse practitioners and said, “Thank you! We learned more in the two days of clinical experience than the whole time in school. You make us want to be nurses. Thanks for being such great role models. We can’t wait to be nurses like you one day.”

This story is not unique. We all know working with students or being a preceptor takes extra time and effort and can sometimes make your day more complex. It doesn’t matter if you are a nurse or nurse practitioner, our shared goal is to provide quality care to our patients and their families while ensuring our students have a good learning experience. Working together as a team demonstrates we truly have each other’s backs, and we keep patients at the center of our work. 

As we move into May, we celebrate National Nurses Week. The American Nurses Association has designated this year’s theme, “Nurses Make the Difference.”  Every day, nurses make a difference; a difference in patient’s and family’s lives, with our colleagues, and with new nurses and students.  Sometimes with all the challenges in healthcare today, it’s easy to forget the impact we make every day.

Today I thank you for your service to others, to your patients and their families, to our newer nurses, and to our nursing profession. The difference you make each day makes a ripple effect across humanity. Thank you for showing up, making a difference, and improving health care one patient at a time. Happy National Nurses Week!
 

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