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1 in 5 men say that they'd prefer to be treated by a sexy nurse than by a competent doctor.

One of my co-workers posted this in the break room. It made me smile. I've only worked 3 days in the Emergency Department since finishing the classroom-based hospital and nursing orientations, but I can see why this might be true. Our ED is full of young, beautiful nurses. It's already been a lot of fun for me. I'm learning a lot about how our particular ED works and how to be a nurse. But let's be honest- I didn't sign up for the job so I can run around the ED looking pretty.

I've already had a lot of memorable patients in just 3 days, but one in particular definitely impacted me. This man had surgery a few weeks ago and his incision became infected, so he had come to the ED with his wife. That they were in love was obvious as I cared for him. At one point she had to leave so he was alone for the rest of his stay in the ED. When he came back from CT Scan, I went in to check on him. He began to share a bit of what was on his heart, explaining that it would be easy to be discouraged by his condition, especially in his older age. It would be easy to look at the past and wonder if there was anything he could do to prevent his health problems. He was concerned that his wife would be burdened by his condition as she is younger than he is. But then he said that he cannot dwell in the past- he must focus on the present and anticipate the future. As we talked about what that looks like, he shared that he has always made it his mission, since the day he met his wife, to make her life a little easier. I had never thought of that being a goal of a relationship with one's life partner. He shared how he bought her a car a few years ago- brand new- because she had never had a car with zero miles on it. He shared how she sometimes is a bit hot tempered and how he has always been patient with her, trying to balance her with his calm reserve. After a few minutes, I needed to go see one of my other patients. He thanked me for listening to him because he said that not many people do. I told him that it's good for me to listen, because I tend to be the one talking most of the time.

The whole conversation was so sweet that I was holding back tears. It was a reminder of the simple need to express oneself and to be heard. To look forward to what life holds and not live in regrets or what-ifs. It was a motivation to work hard at figuring out how to be a good nurse- to work effectively and efficiently- so I have time to stop a listen for a minute because for some of my patients, that need to be heard will be more important than whatever issue that brought them to the ED.