In honor of Nurses Week this year, we wanted to re-share a story that was submitted to our “What Makes Caregiving Rewarding?” contest. This story was written by Beverly K.:
I have been a nurse since 1979 and have spent the last 26 years at The Childrens Hospital. My caregiving has ranged from resuscitation nurse for deliveries, neonatal intensive care unit bedside nurse, Home Care nurse, and now a Case Manager in the NICU. Having an extensive pediatric background, I would have to say helping children has got to be the most rewarding. Not only do you feel the satisfaction from the patient, but you are so appreciated by the families.
As a Case Manager in the NICU, I plan an infant’s discharge on the day of their admission. I contact their insurance, help the parents to add the baby to their policies, or direct them to financial assistance. This comforts the families, knowing there is someone looking out for the cost that they are about to encounter. Every baby admitted to our nursery has been born somewhere else and has come to us because of having some type of problem. I assure the families that I will keep up with the insurance and be sure they are authorizing the babies stay in the hospital. I also plan for their needs when they go home, such as occupational therapy, physical therapies, nursing, supplies, dressings, feeding tubes or pumps, any home product they may need. Not only am I providing for the patient so they are safe and well cared for, but I provide assistance, teaching, and supplies for the parents. This allows the parents to feel confident and comfortable in caring for their child when they are at home.
Recently I discharged a baby home with his family with a tracheostomy, ventilator, oxygen, suction, gastrostomy tube, feeding pump, dressings, therapies and private duty nursing. This takes a lot of organization and planning with multiple companies. I felt so accomplished and proud that everything fit together, but the best reward of all was a smile from the baby that I had grown to love over the months he had been in the hospital. The rewards are so plentiful with parents hugs and thank yous, the grandparents hand shakes and smiles of appreciation, and siblings acknowledgment of involvement in their lives. Also knowing each company that I used to get this baby home had followed through.
I know bedside nursing is rewarding, caring for my grandmother is respected, and taking care of my family is appreciated. But the most rewarding for me is in my job as a Case Manager. Knowing I have had many successful discharges, even if the patient isn’t completely normal, and survives with a breathing machine. The happiness I see in the complete family, and the appreciation I feel is overwhelmingly rewarding. I have stopped to visit this family at their home since their discharge from the hospital, and they greet me as if I were their family and still thank me for everything I did.
You can find more caregiving stories on our Caregiver Story Contest page.
