I Believe

I believe
in God, the Father Almighty, as
Lord and Healer of us all.
I Believe
that by caring for those in need I
am serving Him in a truly
meaningful way.
I Believe
I have a unique challenge to
protect the quality of life of those
who come into my care, to do all I
can to aid the spirit as well as the
body, and to treat each person with
respect, concern and compassion.
I Believe
that patience, kindness and good
humor are important elements of
quality care, and I promise to do
my best to practice them always.
I Believe
that it is my sacred duty to use
my training and talents for the
good of all those who need and
trust in my care...
and for the greater glory of God.
Amen

NURSE'S PRAYER

When I falter, give me courage.

When I tire, renew my strength.
When I weaken because I'm human,
Inspire me on to greater length.

If doctors and patients become demanding,

And days are too short for all my duty,
Help me remember I chose to serve,
To do so with grace, and spiritual beauty.

In humility, Lord, I labour long hours,

And though I sometimes may fret;
My mission is mercy.
Abide with me, that I may never forget.

Amen.

A Nurse's prayer

Dear Lord,
From whom all goodness flows,
Giver of all good things,
I come to you with an open heart,
Thanksgiving and prayers I bring.
This work is truly a gift from you.
Serving those in pain
In the daily giving of ourselves,
we are the ones who gain.
Whenever patients need our care
May we welcome them with grace.
Gentleness and compassion
May they see on every face
Help us do the best we can
Alert at every hour.
Round the clock, tireless be,
And from duties, never cower.
Be our strength and guidance,
Lord, Let us work as a team,
For all these Lord I pray to you
Make me steadfast as I envision
You say, "well done, Faithful servant"
You've fulfilled your life's mission

"Ten Reasons To Become a Nurse"

10. Pays better than McDonald´s (though the hours aren´t as good.)
9. Fashionable shoes and sexy nurses uniforms.
8. Needles: ´tis better to give than to receive.
7. Confidence in reassuring patients that all bleeding stops ... eventually.
6. Opportunity to expose yourself to rare, exotic, and exciting new diseases.
5. Interesting aromas.
4. Courteous and infallible doctors who always leave clear orders in perfectly clear handwriting.
2. Celebration of holidays with all your friends ... at work.
1. Comfort in the knowledge that most of your patients survive no matter what you do to them.

A Nurse's Prayer

Let me dedicate my life today

to the care of those
who come my way.

Let me touch each one

with healing hands
and the gentle art
for which I stand.

And when tonight

when the day is done.
Oh, let me rest in peace
if I have helped just one...

A Nurse's Prayer

Lord,
Give me the intelligence, intuition, and knowledge to Assess.
Give me the reason, rationality, and understanding so I may Plan.
Give me energy, agility, and tenderness during Implementation.
Give me the wisdom, perception, and fairness to Evaluate.
Most of all Lord, give me Patience, Compassion, and Kindness for all people.

A Nurse's Prayer

Give me strength and wisdom,

When others need my touch;

A soothing word to speak to them,

Their hearts yearn for so much.

Give me joy and laughter,

To lift a weary soul;

Pour in me compassion,

To make the broken whole.

Give me gentle, healing hands,

For those left in my care;

A blessing to those who need me,

This is a Nurse's prayer.

A Nurse's Prayer

Please, God, help me to use the power within me

to help those in need today.
Help me to stay focused on why I'm here
during this patient's stay.

The day is long, and demands have grown stronger.

My aching feet tell me the miles on my legs have grown longer.
I must remember to help and heal
the children of God
as part of his will.

If instead of praise I hear criticism

let me focus on Christ and all he has given.

Nurse's Prayer

Dear Lord, please give me strength,

To face the day ahead.

Dear Lord, please give me courage,

As I approach each hurting bed.

Dear Lord, please give me wisdom

With every word I speak.

Dear Lord, please give me patience,

As I comfort the sick and weak.

Dear Lord, Please give me assurance,

As the day slips into night.

That I have done the best I can,

That I have done what's right.

To Be A Nurse Is To Walk With God

To be a nurse is to walk with God,

Along the path that our Master trod;
To soothe the achings of human pain,
To faithfully serve for little gain,
To lovingly do the kindly deed,
A cup of water to one in need,
A tender hand on a fevered brow,
A word of cheer to those living now;
To reach the souls through its body's woe
Oh, this is the way that Jesus would go.
Oh, white-capped nurses with hearts so true,
Our Great Physician is working through you.

FOR A SPECIAL NURSE

Long before you entered nursing

The Lord had played His part,
Planting seeds of love and kindness
In the portals of your heart.
For it's clear that you've been gifted
With a sympathetic ear,
And blessed from the beginning
With a willingness to cheer.
And the people who you care for
Are better off by far,
When they're touched by your compassion,
By the person that you are.
For in times of woe and worry
When they're frightened or they're blue,
No one could be more consoling than the friend they'll find in you.

The Nurse's Prayer

Be my voice to the deaf.

Be my faith where there is doubt.
Be my hope where there is despair.
Be my light where there is darkness.
Be my joy where there is sadness.
Be me in the world.

Be my eyes to the blind.

Be my consolation to those who need to be consoled.
Be my understanding to those who need to be understood.
Be my healing to those who need to healed.
Be my love to those who need love.
Be my forgiveness to those who need to be forgiven.
Be my death to those who need me.
Be me in the world.

Nurse's Creed
 Lord, let me begin today with your blessing
To provide care for those who need me.
Give me the patience to listen,
Intuition to see beyond the visible,
Knowledge to practice the art of nursing,
And the attitude to deliver care with humility.
Help me to see every patient clearly
Unbiased, and with individual respect.
Help me to face fear and anxiety
With kind words and a gentle touch.
Help me to see the joy and wonder each new day brings
And let your healing light shine through my hands.

ABC's of Nursing
is for assessment. Nurses are great at
assessing everything, e.g. patients, nursing
care, each other, the work environment, and
physicians.
is for body, which becomes someone else's
when one is admitted to the hospital. Nurses
take care of the body, along with the mind
and soul.
is for charting, which is never
ending. Student nurses need to be warned
that when they are graduate nurses, they will
probably have to chart on 10 different pieces
of paper for every day - unless their hospitals
use the other "C" word - computers.

is for death, which nurses must face and

work with, but should never give in to.

is for endless, which is what nursing care

activities mostly seem to be.

is for finances, which is what keeps the

hospitals open and the nurses
employed. Most nurses know about hospital
finances, especially when it impacts on the
personal finances.
is for goals. These are usually identified for
the patient, but can be personal if the need
arises.
is for healthy, which nurses want to be
because they don't want to be admitted to a
hospital and have to be a patient.
is for infection, also known as cystitis, which
some researches claim nurses have more of
because they never have time to go to the
bathroom.
is for joy, which nurses experience when
their patients (both favorite and unfavorite)
recover enough to go home.
is for knowledge, which nurses have a lot of.
They know about nursing, doctoring, diets,
teaching, giving helping, caring facilitation,
consulting, and fixing. They use most of it, so
they try to keep getting it.
is for laboratory reports, which have a
tendency to show up on the wrong charts for
the wrong patients at the wrong time, which
nurses have to look out for constantly.
is for movement, which nurses oversee so
that patients either do or don't do, helping
patients understand what and how to do or
not do.
is for needles. Nurses are concerned today
because needles not only stick the patients;
they may also stick the nurse with something
that can be life threatening.
is for orientation, which tells the new nurse
that he or she is either going to fit or not fit
into the hospital's culture. It is not too late
to change your mind.
is for priorities, which nurses must be great
at setting whether it's patient care, preparing
the operating room for surgery, or generating
a budget.
is for questions, which nurses answer a
million of a day from patients, families, other
members of the healthcare team, nursing
colleagues, or administration.
is for risk taking. Nurses take risks daily to
attain the optimum care they think their
patients need.
is for surgery. While nurses don't do the
cutting, they do the preparing, planning,
assisting and teaching, which contributes to
the outcome.
is for teaching, which is an original major
function of nursing. Since today there is a
shortage of nurses and an abundance of
physicians, many physicians are identifying
teaching as a medical function, which nurses
should be aware of in order to not lose it.
is for uniform, which used to always be white
for nurses on the units and scrubs for nurses
in specialty areas. But today, nurses may
wear scrubs or street clothes on the units and
nurses in specialty areas are wearing jump
suit cover-ups, or space suits, which is why
name tags are required.
is for values, which nurses and
administrators often seem to have
differences in. This is okay as they can be
worked out in the decision-making process.
is for walking, which nurses must be sure the
ambulatory patients can do before they are
discharged. It also can be the miles that
nurses walk each day just doing their job.
(Some have guesstimated 20 miles a day on
 an average, busy unit.)
is for x-rays, which nurses must be sure they
don't get too much of, in order to ensure
there are enough new little nurses to carry on
the profession.
is for you, the most important person in
nursing. The heart of nursing is giving of
yourself, but be sure not to give it all away
and have to leave nursing.

is for zoo, which is where nurses often say

they work, but then, doesn't everybody?

When God Created Nurses

When the Lord made Nurses He was into his sixth day of overtime.
An angel appeared and said, "You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this
one."
And the Lord said, "Have you read the specs on this order?
A nurse has to be able to help an injured person, breathe life into a dying
person,
and give comfort to a family that has lost their only child and not wrinkle
their uniform.
They have to be able to lift 3 times their own weight,
work 12 to 16 hours straight without missing a detail,
console a grieving mother as they are doing CPR on a baby
they know will never breathe again.
They have to be in top mental condition at all times,
running on too-little sleep, black coffee and half-eaten meals.
And they have to have six pairs of hands.
The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands...no way!"
"It's not the hands that are causing me problems," said the Lord,
 "It's the two pairs of eyes a nurse has to have."
"That's on the standard model?" asked the angel.
The Lord nodded. "One pair that does quick glances while making
note of any physical changes, And another pair of eyes that can look
reassuringly at a bleeding patient and say,
"You'll be all right ma'am" when they know it isn't so."
"Lord," said the angel, touching his sleeve, "rest and work on this tomorrow."
"I can't," said the Lord, "I already have a model
that can talk to a 250 pound grieving family member whose child has been
hit by a drunk driver...who, by the way, is laying in the next room uninjured,
and feed a family of five on a nurse's paycheck."
The angel circled the model of the nurse very slowly,
"Can it think?" she asked.
"You bet," said the Lord. "It can tell you the symptoms of 100 illnesses;
recite drug calculations in it's sleep; intubate, defibrillate, medicate,
and continue CPR nonstop until help arrives...and still it keep it's sense of
humor.
This nurse also has phenomenal personal control. They can deal with a
multi-victim trauma, coax a frightened elderly person to unlock their
door,comfort a murder victim's family, and then read in the daily paper
how nurses are insensitive and uncaring and are only doing a job."
Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the nurse.
"There's a leak," she pronounced.
"I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model."
"That's not a leak," said the Lord, "It's a tear."
"What's the tear for?" asked the angel.
"It's for bottled-up emotions, for patients they've tried in vain to save,
for commitment to the hope that they will make a difference
in a person's chance to survive, for life."
"You're a genius," said the angel.
The Lord looked somber. "I didn't put it there," He said.