Becoming Nursey Quotes

“There is something about a good nurse. Having a nursing license and job doesn’t make you a good nurse. Working for 30 years doesn’t make you a good nurse. It’s not about being good at starting IV’s or being best friends with all of the physicians. It’s not about having a commanding presence or knowing all of the answers to the 900 questions you get asked each shift. While all of these things are important, it’s not all there is. Being a good nurse is so much less defined and measurable than that. It isn’t measured in letters after your name, certifications, professional affiliations, or by climbing the clinical ladder. It’s something you feel when you see a good nurse care for their patients. It’s that security you see in their patient’s eyes when they walk in the room to provide care. It’s that sense of safety and security felt by the patient’s family that is so reassuring, they can finally head home for a shower and some sleep, knowing their loved one is being well cared for. Good nurses breathe instinct. They breathe discernment. Good nurses can pick out seemingly insignificant things about a patient, interpret an intricate clinical picture, somehow predict a poor outcome, and bring it to the provider’s attention, literally saving someone’s life. Did you read that? Save someone’s life. I have seen the lives of patients spared because of something that their nurse, their good nurse, first noticed. And then there’s that heart knowledge good nurses have that blows me away even more. They are those nurses who always know the right thing to say. They know how to calm an apprehensive and scared mother enough to let them take care of her son. They know how to re-explain the worst news a husband is ever going to hear because it didn’t quite make sense when the doctor said it 15 minutes ago. And they know how to comfort him when they see it click in his mind that his wife is forever gone.”
― Kati Kleber, Becoming Nursey: From Code Blues to Code Browns, How to Care for Your Patients and Yourself

“You know how people say nothing can prepare you for children? Well, nothing can prepare you for your first experience changing a bedbound 300-lb patient who cannot move, and is covered in feces and urine in a small, non-ventilated nursing home room. Nothing.”
― Kati Kleber, Becoming Nursey: From Code Blues to Code Browns, How to Care for Your Patients and Yourself

“My prayer for you is that you become one of these nurses. These nurses not only save lives, but also profoundly affect each patient they touch with their blessed hands. My prayer for you is that you believe in yourself enough to do both the mental and emotional work to get there.”
― Kati Kleber, Becoming Nursey: From Code Blues to Code Browns, How to Care for Your Patients and Yourself

“Being a grey nurse is not automatic. It takes going through some rough situations and learning from them. It means gracefully accepting constructive criticism and allowing it to make you a better nurse. It means checking your ego at the door. It means caring about the big picture. It means knowing and acknowledging the fact that while this may be just another day at work for us, it is a profound time in our patients’ lives, and our needs are not the priority.”
― Kati Kleber, Becoming Nursey: From Code Blues to Code Browns, How to Care for Your Patients and Yourself

“To avoid the feeling of inconveniencing a friend when delegating, I recommend delegating in a matter-of-fact, all-business sort of way with a professional tone, rather than a “can you do me a favor” type of tone. When you present a task as a favor, you present it as something in which they have the option not to complete.”
― Kati Kleber, Becoming Nursey: From Code Blues to Code Browns, How to Care for Your Patients and Yourself

“the ones who can take on a heavy patient load, be in charge, and are somehow on time with everything. They’re the ones who know when they need to drop everything and be there for a patient during a really rough moment. They’re the ones who patients request by name. They’re the ones who you go to first when you have a bad feeling about one of your patients. They’re the ones with whom you, and your patients, feel safe.”
― Kati Kleber BSN RN, Becoming Nursey: From Code Blues to Code Browns, How to Care for Your Patients and Yourself