A Dream for Nurses

I had a dream last night and I want to share it with you medical students. It is about honor and respect.

Something that you aren't taught in a class.

To put some perspective on this subject. I was a leader in a home schooling group and the kids called me "Mr.
House".Their parents taught them that this was a way of showing respect. Years later as I watch their babies in the church nursery they still call me "Mr. House". I look and see these full grown adults and realize that they are continuing that respect for me because they have not been given permission to call me something different. I then say that they can call me "Jeff". They nervously accept and follow through. It sounds strange to both of us at first but then all is well. I had given permission to enter my familiarity.

Inner Dignity

I saw in my my dream an older man in a hospital. He was beaten down and did not want to be there. Not that he didn't want help, he was not receiving compassionate help. He was taken from test to test, transferred from bed to bed without regard for who he is as a person.
Old age masks the person and his accomplishments behind wrinkles, white hair and loss of muscle tone. This person had been on the national boards of missionary organisations and faithfully visited those in the hospital for decades. Nurses would welcome his arrival on the floor and ask him to visit with other patients that were not on his list simply because he brought healing and comfort in his very nature. He was treated with respect and he was addressed as Rev. House, not by his first name. They had not earned the right to breach the barrier of familiarity.
Now it was his turn to be the patient. The caregivers didn't know his past, his inner power, nor the joy he
brought to others. It was time for this old man to be in the hospital. He was now addressed as Floyd, not even
Mister. In this age we assume we can be familiar.
I saw a white haired man being led from room to room being tested. Nurses too busy to know him to find that
"hook" to connect with him. That "hook" came when he was being led down a corridor of beds. A volunteer came up and said that "so and so would like to see you". The nurse walked him down two beds and there was an old friend in another bed who had just wanted to say that he saw him. Well, my dad's expression totally changed. He had found that hook. I saw, in the dream, him actually levitate a foot off the ground as he was getting in the bed. His face glowed and he exclaimed that he "wanted to be there now". There was a reason for living a reason for life.
Caregivers need to find a hook to connect with the patient to be able to communicate to them. You need to give them respect and honor even if you don't think they deserve it because you don't know their past.

The Octogenarian

He was an honest man. He owned his own business. It wasn't the largest one of its kind but everyone knew that if you wanted an honest man, this was the place to go. Then....
He was 80 years and scared. His chest hurt, his blood pressure had dropped and his heart had stopped and been started. Now he was lying in a bed with several IVs flowing into his veins. EKG wires draped over his frail body to the monitor. As we all sat around a nurse came in to check on him. She smiled and addressed him as "Mister...". She did not presume to know him nor to be familiar with him. She addressed him with respect.

This is a lesson you are not taught in school. Learn this and connect with your patients.

It happened in my dream.

It can happen in real life.