What I hope I taught you...

To my CNA Students at Walkertown and North Forsyth High School Class of 2015
I will always carry you in my heart, I am so proud of each you!

This evening, it is an honor to sit amongst a group of people who are not only nurses, but also educators, a group of men and women who epitomize the values of nursing and education: Perseverance, generosity, humor, dedication...and here is the big one, compassion. And the list of qualities we share could go on and on. But I think, the energy of this class and the charisma is almost tangible as this evening we celebrate your completion of the nurse assistant program and the grand accumulation of a knowledge you never imagined just two years ago.

 
So let’s reflect for moment.

 Abby, You weren’t sure about me at first when I took over.  You probably and maybe still do hate me for being so tough but as you put it, “I don’t play,”  Remember, the first time you and I were doing peri-care on some one and you almost passed out on me?  I had to sit you down, fan you and get you water.  But you came back the next day, and you did it. You still gag a little but that doesn't stop you.   And today you are a  CNA.

 Cole, bedmaking was not your forte.  In fact, you were probably ready to kill me the day I made you make all the beds on the unit because the last bed you had made looked like a third grader had made it.  But, now you can make a bed to my high standards.  Mrs. LaTonya told me that you would come to her and ask for work because you were afraid if I saw you just standing around I would kill you.  Good thinking Cole, because I would have killed you. But today, you can make beds with the best of them. And today  you are a CNA

 

 Austin, I was worried about you and performing baths on females.  I suspect you were a little nervous too.  You looked so worried that first day in clinical. And you can be proud that the one patient who couldn’t speak or stand on her own, trusted you above all others.  You gently put her to bed every single day for her afternoon nap and your gentleness brought her much comfort in her last days on earth. Today you are a CNA.

 

Aaliyah, you always had confidence and you took to nursing like you have been doing this your whole life.  Remember the frail elderly lady who hurt every time you touched her, and how she fell in love with you and you were the only one who could help her to the bathroom?   Today you are a CNA

Natavia,  Remember your first day in clinical when you forgot your watch?  I really wanted to hug you and tell you it was ok, and it broke my heart to see your tears, but I had to let you fail because I knew you would learn a valuable lesson.  That we learn far more from our failures than we ever do from our successes.  Today you are a CNA.

 So, to my clinical group at Trinity Glen, you are remembered by the staff  as some of the best students to ever work at that facility.  They still remark on your bedmaking skills, your professionalism, and most of all your compassion.  Remember how we made all those patients smile with the spa bath. No one has yet to surpass your abilities as students and Mrs. Attaway still chastises me for being too hard on you all.  She would pull me aside and say, "Mrs. O'Brien, you are being too hard on those children." But today you are all CNAs.  

AhLexus, I don’t think you ever quite got used to me standing over your shoulder and goodness knows I made your hands shake, but today you can say with pride, I did it.  You were so determined to succeed.  And today you are a CNA.

 Breanna, you overcame a lot.  You came to lab every day at 8 am for three and half weeks just to make up the time you missed during your hospitalization.  I know you hated me and the way I demanded perfection from you when it came to vital signs in clinical, but today you are a CNA.

Brooke, I was worried about your tender stomach.  I didn’t think you would ever master peri-care and bedbaths due to the odors.  I really didn't think you could keep up physically with the demands of the job but you surprised me and today you are a CNA.

Diamond, it broke my heart when you failed BP check offs the first and second time, but I had to demand perfection and couldn’t be soft on you, because I knew what it would take to succeed in a very unforgiving profession where nothing less than your A game will do. You were one of the few who could handle giving a bath to that lovely patient whose only word was NO!!! And today you are CNA.

 Amia, I will never forget the day you came in and told me you were dropping the class because there was no way you were going to brush someone’s teeth.  You were dead serious too.  I told you that failure or quitting was not even an option on the table and that you could not quit.  You looked horrified the first day of clinical when I told you to clean dentures but you did it.  And today you are a CNA.

 And Amia, you kept me humble and reminded me of my own mortality.  It was you I overheard telling your clinical group that of course I made nursing look easy, I had been doing it for like half my life.  True to that.  I have. 

Lauren, you always looked like you were half asleep and never did I know if you heard anything that I said.  You told me I threw you to the wolves the first day of clinical.  I seem to recall that I only asked you make all the beds on the hall, feed two patients, and take maybe four sets of VS tops.  By the end of clinical you were managing an entire group of patients by yourself.   And today you are CNA.

To my Salemtowne clinical group, you are still remembered as the most prepared, the best bedmakers, the best bath givers.  They even remarked during my clinical rotation this semester, that they wished you were back. And today you are all CNAs.

It’s not easy to think of something original to say to a group of enthusiastic future health care professionals. After digging deep into my heart—hoping to channel Florence Nightingale—I decided to share my impressions of what patients thank us for when they say “Thank you, nurse.” Over the years, I’ve noticed that the predominant theme of those thank-you cards we get from patients is gratitude for the little things we do for them—answering the call light promptly, speaking compassionately, giving them something to drink, placing the phone by their ear when they’re unable to, holding their hand, bringing them a newspaper, and (my personal favorite) trimming their nails and washing their hands. (I did so much of that I could have been accused of illegally practicing podiatry or cosmetology!) I heard a patient say, “Thanks, nurse. That enema was really fabulous!” But many patients recall, even years later, the time you washed their hair.  You will never forget the patient you watch give birth, the first patient you watch die and probably if you are a lot like me, you never forget anyone you watch die.  I know I don’t.

Recently, when I reread Florence Nightingale’s Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not, I realized she was writing about similar little things. Referring to keeping the bedside spotless and other housekeeping issues, she admonished, “If a nurse declines to do these kinds of things ‘because it is not her business,’ I should say that nursing was not her calling.” These little, seemingly menial gestures may not get us nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. But as with peacemakers, what nurses and nursing assistants do moves and soothes the human heart and spirit. The enchanting (though not entirely mysterious) thing is that as we strive to bring about positive changes in our patients, we’re transformed ourselves. I’m certainly not the same “nurse-person” I was at my pinning ceremony 29 years ago.

Today, health care professionals walk a delicate line between tradition and technology, computer skills and compassionate service.

To my  new colleagues, I’d like to stress that whatever field of nursing you pursue, don’t forget to do the little things, share your knowledge with all, and invoke Florence Nightingale—the founder of modern nursing for our modern times.

Congratulations, graduates, and welcome to a healing profession. You are certified nursing assistants.  Whatever you may do from here, wherever you may go I hope that you never forget that this is what you help to do. This is your greatest power, your greatest gift. You will reach into the hearts and minds of the sick and their families and you will plant two very important seeds, hope and love, and the fruit of these is healing.

I think our job is a sacred one. I think that the art of healing is a privilege. It is one filled with love and with compassion. Treat your patients with this love and compassion. You can feel it right in your gut here. Let it guide every encounter with them. If you do this often enough your job will take on an entirely new meaning for you. Your words, your touch, your presence will heal. Welcome, again, to a healing profession.