The influence of attitude

When we were in Virginia and Dwayne was in the hospital, during one of the blood transfusions, a nurse and a nurse-in-training stayed in the room with him during the first 30 minutes to make sure all went well. Dwayne was asking them about why they chose to go into nursing.

The nurse told us that she had been very ill as a child and had to spend time in the hospital. She saw the difference that the nurses made - that their attitude could turn the day around. She wanted to be able to make a positive difference in patient's lives and thus went into nursing.

We were thinking about this in the past few days - we've had nurses who bring our feelings up just by their walking into the room. We've also had nurses who are just a challenge to be around and drain our energy just by their presence. We cherish the nurses who are boosters and endure those who are drainers.

I was reading some materials that a friend sent us on being a patient advocate - one of the things that it says is that every 12 hours is like a "groundhog day" (referring to the movie from several years ago) - Shift change with new staff is at 7am and 7pm at the hospitals where Dwayne has been, and although there are lots of records about you in the system, the staff cannot internalize it all immediately (they probably could not internalize it all even within their 12 hour shift).
 

This set of pictures is on the bulletin board outside the waiting room for the ICU. "I am an ICU member. I save lives and provide comfort. I care. I give. Your well being is my reward. I am your advocate. When you are alone, I am there for you. When family is gone, I will be there when you are scared. When you are weak, I will carry you. I'll give you my best while you are in my care. Critical care is my skill, but caring is my profession."

If a person who is with us for 12 hours can either boost or drain us, how about our interactions with those that we are with every day? Do we boost them or drain their batteries?