(a love story from the ICU)
We’ve been taught in the academe to empathize, to care, to promote health, to alleviate suffering, and provide a peaceful death. But the last one would be the hardest a nurse is ought to do.
As a health care provider, it’s really difficult to hide any form of emotional attachment to patients and their families. In the course of a patient’s confinement, especially those admitted long term, or dying patients in the Intensive Care Unit; we learn to see how different family dynamics of a patient’s family affect every decision and action made day by day. We have all learned to sympathize and empathize, be realistically oriented at all times, but we can never fully influence their decision to hold on and let go of their loved ones.
