Nurses Are Abused

I know I’m not the focus. The patient is. Then the surgeon, then maybe the anesthesia provider. Or we can pretend there isn’t a hierarchy, that medicine has moved past that.

I know you are focused, doctor. I try to help you with that focus by having all the supplies and instruments and medications prepared, even though I sometimes have little info to go on. I know you have stress that I can’t truly know myself. The opposite is true as well.

I know there are a lot of staff members at this medium sized hospital, and I don’t expect you to remember every nurse’s name. So I use the white erase board, as a reference for the tired surgeon. It’s also why I have a name tag.

I know you don’t know me well at all. But I’ve been working here for 3 years, and when you still don’t use my name, I start to feel devalued. When you call out at me “Hey, I need...”, I feel more like a ghost instead of a professional. A machine instead of a human.

I feel like I could have any face, or no face at all.