News Release

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May 4, 2005

Op-ed: Nursing Week:

Nursing: The Journey

By Connie Maus

My journey into nursing began as a child living in a two-room home. My mother’s family often came to visit, and she became the family nurturer. I noticed her gentle touch and encouragement as she cared for others when they were sick, and I began to see that people can help others get well. As I “doctored” my relatives, neighbors and animals with my toy nurse’s kit, they somehow always seemed to get well. During these young years, I heard my father talk of the “Angels of Mercy.” When I asked who those angels were, he said, “Nurses, of course.”
 

I remember being in the hospital for an appendectomy at the age of 10. I had to stay for 10-12 days — a long time for a youngster to be away from home. Those nurses my father admired were now caring for me and were making me feel good. I thought, “I want to be a nurse just like them.”
 

At age 15 I joined the Future Nurses of America club at school and began volunteering at hospitals. When I turned 16 I was hired as a nurse’s aide and earned 80 cents an hour helping care for very sick people.
 

After graduation in 1963, I became the first child and grandchild in my Hispanic family to pursue higher education. Unable to afford a university, I applied to the three-year school of nursing at Saint Alphonsus Hospital in Boise, which was close to home. The sisters, initially intimidating, became wonderful mentors and teachers. As students we learned about working long shifts and weekends and excelling in academics. Those years set the foundation for the rest of my professional career and code of conduct.

After passing nursing boards the real learning and bonding to the profession began as we immersed ourselves in the care of humanity. Health care was changing. I recognized it was time to head off to Boise State University to earn a bachelor’s degree. I wanted to expand my care of patients by mentoring and coaching others in their chosen profession, so I pursued a management path.
 

Nursing is a journey — it’s walking patients through health care battles, helping them strive for wellness, supporting and encouraging them, anticipating physical needs and changes, communicating a condition picturesquely and briefly to a practitioner. Nursing means educating ourselves as well as our patients, their families and significant others, the ability to set ourselves aside for a period of time and give unconditionally to another. It takes fortitude, endurance, commitment, knowledge and competency. And so, off to school I went once again to earn my master’s degree.
 

Nursing has changed dramatically over the past 30 years. Patients are now wired for sound and imagery. Nurses calculate, titrate and formulate plans of care based on nursing theory. We are responsible for assessing, coordinating, facilitating, planning and directing patient care. Our medicinal arsenals require intense clinical understanding and competence. We are challenged to respond to internal and external performance-based measures and meet best practice indicators. We practice in complex, multi-site organizations and help manage departmental budgets. We have professional role accountability, authority and autonomy to share in positive patient outcomes and safety. Our work environments can provide hi-tech equipment, electronic records, robotics and computerized monitoring and documentation. Nurses practice as educators, informatics nurses, hospital and office nurses, school nurses, military nurses, public health nurses, administrative nurses and more.
 

To be a nurse is to have a desire to reach beyond one’s self to others in need. I continue the journey of this remarkable profession. I am proud to call myself a nurse.
 

Connie Maus is the Patient Safety Manager at the Boise Veterans Administration Medical Center and is adjunct faculty at Boise State University, assisting with the La Buena Salud Program. May 6-12 is National Nurses Week.
 

Media Contact: Kathleen Craven, University Relations, (208) 426-3275, kcraven@boisestate.edu

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Last reviewed on Thursday, December 22, 2005