by: Amber Knox
May 6th is the first day of National Nurses Week, which culminates on May 12th, Florence Nightingale’s birthday, who is credited with setting standards for the conditions of care for patients and arguably the most famous nurse in history. The symbol of the nurse, the oil lamp, was inspired by Nightingale’s use of the lamp to visit wounded soldiers, giving her the nickname “Lady of the Lamp”.
No longer needing to carry oil lamps to visit their patients, modern nurses still carry many responsibilities, and this week is a perfect time to tell a nurse you know how much their time and devotion are appreciated.
Roosevelt General Hospital employs approximately fifty nurses and are celebrating them with a different treat each day. Tuesday, they will serve root beer floats, Wednesday, there will be a “fancy” coffee and a meal from El Rancho, Thursday serves up ice cream sundaes, and Friday will feature lemonade and cookies and the DAISY awards.
DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System. When J. Patrick Barnes passed due to an auto-immune disease, the Barnes family created the DAISY award after witnessing the care, skills, and compassion the nurses exhibited while caring for Barnes. This is a national award thanking nurses everywhere.
Nurses are nominated for the award and the DAISY Award committee selects the nurse whom they believe exemplifies the characteristics of the P.E.T.A.L.S. “P” for passion and compassion, “E” for empathy in the situation, “T” for trust and teamwork of families, patient and peers, “A” for admirable attributes possessed, “L” for love for the patient and nursing profession, and “S” for selflessness.
WalletHub recently performed an analysis of nurses across all fifty states, considering twenty different metrics and found New Mexico to rank 1st for opportunity and competition, and with an overall rank of 6th, with a score of 58.10 (the highest score being WA state with 67.16, and the lowest was OK with a score of 38.8).
WalletHub Analyst Chip Lupo explains why they performed this research, “Nurses are among the most essential workers in the country, as we’ve seen all too well over the past few years. Since they work in such a demanding profession, nurses deserve to work in places that will compensate them appropriately and offer them reasonable working conditions. The best states for nurses have high salaries, mandatory overtime limits, high-quality health care facilities, and plenty of job opportunities.”
Kaye Green, the Chief Executive Officer of RGH, describes nursing as a profession that is huge and difficult enough between balancing technical competence and critical thinking with dedication, compassion, and kindness. But the nurses also wear so many other hats beyond that to fill whatever needs the patients have… including those of friend, comforter, confidant, housekeeper, teacher, babysitter, chaplain, and on and on at times. They spend more time with the patients than any other profession and truly make a positive impact and difference in their lives. They are the backbone of healthcare, and our hospital and clinics couldn’t do what we do without them.
During National Nurses Week, the mayor will sign an official declaration honoring nurses in Portales.
Looking to the future of healthcare, RGH hosted its first annual one-day MASH (Medical Academy of Science and Health) Camp for approximately 30 Portales Junior High students on April 20th.
The MASH CAMP offered students the opportunity to see hands-on demonstrations from medical staff and behind-the-scenes views in several departments, including emergency, the RGH clinic, physical therapy, laboratory, infection prevention, radiology, pharmacy, AeroCare, and more. Students were also taken on a tour of the air medical transport helicopter and visited with the flight crew and local emergency medical responders.
Not only did students learn about individual departments, but also how each of these works together as a team to provide the best care for the patients. This camp gave students a first-hand look at medical services and taught them how to prepare for these careers.
Let us thank and show our support for nurses, not just this week but always.
“She is a ‘ministering angel’ without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow’s face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When all the medical officers have retired for the night and silence and darkness have settled down upon those miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds.” — William Russell, Cited in Cook, E. T. (1913). The Life of Florence Nightingale. Vol. 1, p. 237.
