Nursitis- Inflammation of the Nurse

A frequent illness every nurse is diagnosed with at any time in he/she's career.  Nursitis can be defined like this: Every day each nurse if confronted with decisions and choices that we make on behalf of our patients.  We make these decisions based on our education, experience, and what would best help the patient.  Should I bring the feverish patient a warm blanket? No, that would make no sense.  Should I notify the doctor that the patient is having uncontrollable pain?  Yes, that would be a good reason to call.  Yet over and over nurses are racked with quilt leading to inflammation of the soul.  We are constantly asking ourselves this one awful question:

SHOULD I HAVE DONE MORE?

Well, could I have done more?  Many times we have done everything we can, and still do not get the outcomes we hope for.  We take the blame for it.  Well, maybe not all nurses, but this nurse does.  I come home thinking…maybe I should have tried this.  Or asked about this.  Or maybe when I did that I should have done this instead.  Was there anything more I could have done.  This is heightened to extreme levels when a patient is having a serious crisis, AKA: Acute Exacerbation of Nursitis.  These are the times when you come home, can’t sit still, want to call back in to work to see how your patient is doing, and sleep seems far off that night or day in my case.  The next day at work you see the patient, and they say, “Oh it was just heart burn, no chest pain here.” Then you laugh at yourself and curse last nights sleep.  Or you get to work the next day and the patient is in ICU or worse no longer here on earth, and you say to yourself, “I knew something was going on.”

In the end, it’s a severe illness, and coping mechanisms need to be identified or chronic nursitis will set in and there is no turning back from there. 

Have I educated you enough on Nursitis?  It’s a real thing, you know.