As this week is National Nurse Appreciation Week, and as I am at the halfway point of my nursing school education, I thought it would a good time to write a letter to the nurse I hope to become in just two short years.

To the nurse I want to be,

First off let me congratulate you for making it through nursing school and the NCLEX and finally becoming an RN. The thing that you have been wanting for so long and have been busting your ass for the last four years for has finally become a reality, so celebrate that, because you deserve to. Now, after you celebrate it, it's time to get back to reality, which is that you are now responsible for the patients. It's no longer under your instructor's license––its under yours. No matter where you end up and after everything, I hope you are still just as passionate about nursing as I am now and as I was when I began college two years ago.

You are the type of nurse who doesn't let the patients know when you are having a bad day or that maybe they are the reason you're having a bad day. You will keep your head high and an empathetic smile on your face because you know that someone is going through something much worse, possibly even something life-threatening, and it’s your job to treat your patients with the highest quality of care that you can possibly give to them at that time. You will put the patient first, because, after all, the job is always going to be patient-centered. You will understand that whatever you are doing, whether taking vitals, administering medications, documentation, cleaning up someone’s puke, or treating a kid with the common cold or a dementia patient, everything that you do is essential to someone’s life. Although most of the time the things you are doing are not as glamorous as what people see on medical shows, you are making someone else better, and at the end of the day, that’s all you can ask for.

You are the type of nurse that understands that the job is not just about the medical side of things. There will be moments when you will have to act as an educator, counselor, support system, advocate, etc. You will cooperate with others and contribute to what hopefully is a positive team environment, and if it is not positive, know that you can always switch floors, hospital, specialty, etc. because there is always another place for a nurse can go.

Hopefully by now you have learned to balance life and work, and know that although time is limited, you will make the best of what time you do have to do the things you love outside of nursing. You won’t be annoyed when they call you in because your employer would not be doing that unless your particular presence, knowledge and empathy were essential to help someone heal from whatever injury was sustained.

You will remain humble after what may seem like the longest day and content with what you gave, because at the end of the day you did what you could and some things are out of your control. You have to accept that. You love what you do, you chose to do this for the rest of your life, and you will not become one of those bitter nurses that prey on their youth because you will remember what it is like right now as a student nurse.

You didn't choose this profession for the money; you chose it because you know that nurses do the true healing. You were able to be with a patient at their worst and show them that they can be at their best again soon or you gave them comfort as they passed on from this world to the next. You are strong, resilient, kind, empathetic, and you are the nurse that I truly want to be.