Personal Narrative Essay: The Importance Of Nursing Skills

When I was eight years old my dad was stabbed eleven times in my backyard. It was 5:30 in the morning, and he had been trying to convince a teen who had a campfire in the park behind our house to come inside and call his mom so he could go home. The teen, however, was not interested, and things went south quickly. My dad almost bled out that morning as there were two people covering eleven stab wounds, one only millimeters away from his carotid artery and others puncturing his lung, lacerating his liver and sprinkling his body. He was flown to a hospital that was equipped to handle his condition and they started surgery almost immediately. He was conscious throughout his entire experience and came home a week later with stories of being on death’s door, not the first, nor the last of those. Mom heard EMS personnel say they were losing him just before the ambulance left our driveway, but Dad heard it again as they tried to wheel him from the operating room and his color took a sharp turn for the worst. He was being moved to an ICU room, but the trauma surgeon realized he wasn’t ready and stopped everything in its tracks and Dad was sent back for more. 

At eight, I was in awe. At eight, I was so impressed by this woman that I decided I would grow up to be just like her. My dad says she saved his life that morning, and I knew then that that’s what I wanted to do with my life. I want to be the nurse who calls that shot, who saves that life, who makes that difference. I want to help other people and give them their second shot in life, and since that age, I’ve been set on that goal. My mom has been a nurse for 28 years, and she has guided that wish- she loves her job and has risen through the ranks to her current position as a nurse practitioner. I found out during my time as a volunteer at the hospital that I share her love for helping people when they need it most. I loved being useful and sharing smiles to those who could “really use one right about now.” I loved going to “work” every day, and my time as a volunteer only strengthened my decision: I want to graduate with the ability to accomplish my dream as a trauma nurse, but now with the ability to function as a nurse practitioner, as well. This will give me the ability to respond to emergency and non-emergency situations effectively and overall make me a better caregiver, to my family and to my patients. If my mom hadn’t been a nurse, I wouldn’t have a dad. It’s just that simple. Those situations are rare, but the skill remains critical. Nursing is hard, but nothing worth having comes easy and nursing skills are very much worth having.