When you’re in the line of duty it feels like a mission, it feels like the person to the left and right of you matter more than you do, and you’re in a flow that is unlike any other.
When you’re a nurse responding to a Code in a hospital, you’re on a mission, the patient you’re caring for matters more than you do, and you’re in a flow that is unlike any other.
This parallel becomes so transparent in Christie Watson’s Ted Talk “What nurses can teach us” which goes thoughtfully into the concept of compassion.
“We don't rise to the level of our expectations; we fall to the level of our training.” This quote is attributed to Archilochus who is believed to have served as a soldier in ancient Greece. It’s also a common theme in why we train and train again and repeat; so, when under stress doing a task comes out without thought and as close to perfection as we can get it.
When you break down service in law enforcement, the military, firefighting, and those who are in that community you find a personality that is caring and compassionate, but I don’t even think I realized or thought that my own service was compassionate. Medical professionals are not only compassionate, but also, all those things that we find in the line of duty. However, they often start their journey into medicine with the idea of compassion and caring. Military, police, fire, and those professions that protect us fall into the same category, but in my opinion unknowingly don’t have the daily realization of how caring they are to do what they do. Caring can manifest itself in different ways, and that manifestation, be it responding to a hospital code or a radio call, defaults to training and flow in tense situations.
Watson says, “Compassion cannot cure us, but compassion can save us regardless.” The word compassion comes from the word compassionem which means “to suffer with” and the word suffer means to feel keenly. I think of this as a very kind way of saying “Embrace the suck”. To feel keenly, is to fight for those you protect with our own well-being on the line. How does this save us? One person on the team can, with positivity and effort, help everyone embrace the suck; get through a hard shift, work for each other and those in our care. This is the personality of the Iron Medical nurse. There is no floor/work politics, you can focus on the patients; and in doing so with such compassion and training combined it can make an enormous difference.
When you look for a place to be a part of, a community to have your back, Iron Medical nurse staffing recognizes the value of this personality. To be trained and ready and compassionate.
Mentorship, support, and training are a phone call away. Iron Medical provides medical credential reimbursement, career flexibility to continue your nursing journey in different locations, and transparency in benefits, pay, and the process because we recognize we want to build a community of teammates, mentors, and camaraderie that is so necessary in today’s medical staffing industry.