8 Things I Hate About Being a Nurse

Wondering why I chose eight? Each entry represents the standard eight hours nurses like me spend in one shift. Standard, eh? I frankly used the number because I need one; otherwise if I add up all the extended hours, this list could go on forever.

So I hate being a nurse because…

EIGHT - Nurses wear all white and we have to wear our hair up in a bun. You know how inconvenient plus hard to maintain that is? Okay, I came to duty on a heavy rain and mud starts making its way up my white uniform and there it is, a stain to last my entire shift. Also, putting my hair up prevents my it from being gorgeous! Really. That means no straightening, rebonding nor perming because I have to pull my hair back every single day. Oh God, I always envy those girls in high fashion corporate wears and all-set hairstyles. Maybe nurses should be allowed to look the same. Umm, just maybe.

SEVEN - We don’t get a professional fee (PF).  We also have a license, and that makes us professionals too. But we don’t have a professional fee and we live on meager salary regardless of how many patients we’ve handled or cases we’ve assisted.

SIX - We do not have a holiday.  Everyone in the industry can relate to this, I wouldn’t dare watch out for holidays because I just feel hopeless. The entire country rests lazily on their couches while I pin high my dear cap.

FIVE - We can’t leave unfinished work. I mean office girls do that, do they? They can leave unfinished works and get to it the next morning. But nurses have to stay for as long as needed because we just can’t leave things undone. Life is at stake and life can’t wait.

FOUR - We are the complaints center, if there is such a thing. When patients have a complaint on just about anything, they complain to the nurse. Not to the housekeeping staff, guard, doctor, or anyone else. Directly to the nurse; blame that for being too available.

THREE - Refer this and that. Even if I know what drug to give, and I have it right here in my very hands; I can’t give it, I always need to refer and ask for a prescription. I say nurses carry immense responsibility but very little authority, now how more frustrating can that get?

TWO – We are not treated as professionals. Leaking faucet? Faulty telly? We are always asked to do things we are not supposed to do. I mean, we’ve studied four dreaded years and earn ourselves a license for what? Fixing your telly signal? Hell no. Nurses are professionals like engineers, accountants, lawyers, and your beloved doctors whom you do not dare raise one eyebrow while you mindlessly shout at your nurse like your entire hospital bill goes straight to her salary.

ONE – Nursing is more than a sacrifice, it’s suicide. From nursing school to nurse’s station, enough sleep, enough food, nor enough rest is next to impossible. Here’s one idea that I’ve thought of just now: nurses religiously monitor patients’ urine output but at the end of the shift we realize we haven’t once gone to the bathroom: and that makes ours zero. So,if there’s one profession that wholly uses up one’s existence: be it mentally, physically, and emotionally, you got it: it’s Nursing.

Gosh, making a hate list is tiring; but then of course, I also have a list of the things I love in this field…

8. There are always doctors and nurses who look handsome in white and you get to trifle with them; and suddenly, the world is a better place J

7. I love it when I get in regular clothes and everyone stares in shock; as if I’ve got no right to wear nothing but white.

6. More seriously, as a nurse, I get to see life in all its forms: from womb to tomb.

5. I get to work with all the goodness of my heart, no PF needed. I’m quite about sure you wouldn’t find nurses in hell.

4. I love being able to discharge patients in their improved condition. Nothing beats seeing them go home thanking you for their recovery. I guess that just transpires the very essence of this job.

3. My heart leaps when patients and/or relatives appreciate the work I have done; when they actually call me by name and boast that I am their nurse.

2. No other profession is as heroic as ours: giving up our own lives in order to save others.

1. Last of all, nurses may not be angels, but we’re the next best thing.

Oh you get it, I’m proud of this job: I just never admit it because it’s just too much fun to complain. Kudos nurses!

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Repost From: Airina April's Read My Lips

The Grand Dame of Philippine Pediatrics laid to rest

Dra. Fe del Mundo

(November 27, 1911 - August 6, 2011)

The Grand Dame of Philippine Pediatrics

Necrological Services in Honor of the National Scientist 

Speech of Pres. Noy Aquino

Rites and Awarding of the Golden Heart Award Rank of grand Collar (Maringal na Kwintas) 

Thank You Very Much Dra. Fe del Mundo

"Mankind Owes to Children the Best it has to Give"

Dra. Fe del Mundo

(November 27, 1911 - August 6, 2011)

"The Grand Dame of Philippine Pediatrics"

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Beautiful Life as doctor to Generations of Kids; 99
By: Leila Salaverria
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Dr. Fe del Mundo, esteemed doctor and healer and nurturer of generations of children, died on Saturday, three months shy of her 100th birthday.

She passed quietly, succumbing to cardiac arrest, in the simple room at the Dr. Fe Del Mundo Medical Center in Quezon City where she has been living for years.

As she was a National Scientist, among other outstanding achievements, Del Mundo will be buried with honors at Libingan ng mga Bayani on Thursday, according to her niece Elisa Bengzon.

Her wake will be held at her Quezon City hospital. She will be brought to the Sto. Domingo church on Wednesday.

Bengzon found it fitting that her aunt, a devout Catholic who religiously went to Mass everyday up to her last years, died on the Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ.

“She is transfigured into the most beautiful Dr. Fe del Mundo,” she said.

Del Mundo’s family has found comfort in the outpouring of love from those whose lives she had touched.

And they are many, given her tireless devotion to children.

Del Mundo’s legacy and her teachings have been immortalized in a coffee table book published in time for her 99th birthday last year. It was called “Dr. Fe Del Mundo: A Beautiful Life,” and chronicled the accomplishments and teachings of the petite doctor who stood head and shoulders above many colleagues.

She never lacked for recognition, even in her twilight years.

Magsaysay Award

Last year, the then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo conferred the Lakandula Award with rank of Bayani on the noted pediatrician.

She was also conferred the Ramon Magsaysay Award, which is Asia’s version of the Nobel Prize.

She has also been honored with the Elizabeth Blackwell Award for Outstanding Service to Mankind and was the first lay recipient of the Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Award, which is awarded to those who have dedicated their lives to serving the poor and who serve as an inspiration to the world.

Various other institutions, including medical ones, have also bestowed honors on her. So numerous were her awards that listing them took up eight pages of the coffee table book on her.

According to Del Mundo’s family, they have been informed that President Aquino had been planning on bestowing on Del Mundo the Grand Collar of the Order of the Golden Heart.

The Order of the Golden Heart “gives official recognition to Filipino or foreign citizens who have rendered distinguished services or given noteworthy monetary of other material aid, encouragement to the campaign for the amelioration and improvement of the moral, social and economic conditions of the Filipino masses, and for volunteerism in the service of the Filipino masses.” The Grand Collar is the highest rank under the order.

The same award was first given in 1955 to Hellen Keller, who dedicated her life to helping deaf-blind people in several countries including the Philippines. It was conferred on comedian Dolphy, or Rodolfo Quizon, last year in recognition of his contributions to the entertainment industry.

Postgrad at Harvard

The acclaimed pediatrician lived in the Quezon City hospital named after her, which has been serving as a haven for ailing children since it opened in 1957.

Del Mundo’s life was a stellar example of one who has devoted her heart and soul to helping and comforting the afflicted.

She decided to turn to pediatrics upon seeing that more children than adults were dying, given the lack of doctors specializing in children’s health.

For her, medicine was more of charity work, not a means to material enrichment.

She put up a medical institution in the Philippines after choosing to return home from her studies in the United States, where she was the first Filipino woman accepted for postgraduate training at the Harvard Medical School in 1936.

She also trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Billings Hospital in Chicago, Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston University.

Valedictorian, UP

She earned an associate in arts degree from the University of the Philippines at the age of 17, and graduated valedictorian from the UP College of Medicine.

Her dream of putting up a hospital began with “The Little Clinic,” which she put up in Mendiola, Manila. Since it was always overcrowded, she decided to put up a bigger hospital, selling her home to realize her dream.

She also made sure to help the poor by training teams of medical workers and sending them to remote provinces to treat sick children and provide health care, resulting in fewer children’s deaths. She also invented an open native incubator to be used by rural communities for premature, low-weight or jaundice-stricken babies.

She remained humble despite her many achievements, once joking that since she was the oldest living pediatrician, she was being given an award as the organizers didn’t know who else to give it to.

With so many activities on her plate, Del Mundo never married. But she was like a mother, a nurturing force, for all those children whose lives she touched, and to whom she gave her all.

And she felt rewarded in turn.

In her own words immortalized in her book, Del Mundo shared what her passion meant to her: “I am glad I have been very much involved in the care of children. They are the most outstanding feature in my life.”

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" Almighty Father, eternal God, hear our prayers for Your daughter Fe del Mundo, whom You have called from this life to Yourself. Grant her light, happiness, and peace. Let her pass in safety through the gates of death, and live forever with all Your saints in the light You promised to Abraham and to all his descendants in faith. Guard her from all harm and on that great day of resurrection and reward raise her up with all Your saints. Pardon her sins and give her eternal life in Your kingdom. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Eternal rest grant unto the soul of Dra. Fe del Mundo oh Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen "