By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN
This has been a very challenging week for nurses and nurse leaders at the epicenters of the pandemic. We have seen images of nurses expressing their fear about a lack of protective equipment and concern about just how virulent the virus can be. I have read many accounts from the families of hospitalized patients who talk about the bravery of the nursing staff in the face of a pandemic. They just keep coming to work said the husband of a critically ill patient. They tell me that they are praying for my wife and to keep the faith. They are my inspiration, he said in his interview. As I watch TV and listen to the emerging stories, I wonder what our future nurses are thinking about work that is both inspirational but also potentially terrifying.
This week, the first publicly reported death of a nurse leader was announced. Kious Kelly was an assistant nurse manager in the intensive care unit at Mount Sinai West hospital in New York City. He learned of his diagnosis on March 18th – texting his sister that he was on a ventilator but not to tell his parents because he did not want them to worry. Less than a week later, he was dead. He was only 48 years old and in excellent health before this happened. Yesterday, Willie Geist on NBC Sunday Morning chose Kious for his Life Well Lived Segment . It is an inspirational video but also a sober reminder of the risks that nurses are taking every day when they come to work during this pandemic that we know so little about.
We have so much to be proud of in nursing today. Nurses have complained for decades about the public image of nursing and lack of understanding about what nurses do. It may have taken this crisis but both the public and the press now understand the key role that nurses play. The word that we hear repeatedly is heroes because this is the story that we are seeing about nursing.
Read Rose Sherman’s new book – The Nurse Leader Coach: Become the Boss No One Wants to Leave
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