Nurses - the calm through chaos Save

Gloria was the charge nurse on 3 West when a “code” was called. Action, running, and commotion ensues as the crash cart, nurses, and respiratory therapist appear at the bedside. Two residents emerge as the patient is hooked up to the monitor.  While everyone assumes their position and role, Gloria ensures the protocol and steers the people, pumping, intubating, monitoring and medicating.  As the patient is transferred to the CCU, Gloria sees the residents congratulate each other on “another life saved”. She smiles and thinks “bless their hearts, someday they'll really know how to run a code.”

As a medical student, I had much to learn. In my first hospital rotation, on the island of St. Vincent, the nurse in charge was Sister Ballah. We were all warned about her and her wrath. Especially for medical students, who were “nothing but trouble, all dressed up”.  This was her ward and her patients.  Should I steer clear or learn from the iron lady?  I approached, asked for guidance, and what I could do. She instructed me to go home, or to quit medical school.  With persistence, I graduated from disdain to reprimand, before I could earn her trust, teachings, insights and smiles. In that hospital, I learned what my role was, how to be useful and who makes healthcare happen.

A year later, I arrived at my surgery rotation in a NYC hospital. I knew how to survive and excel: I first got to know the nurses. Thereafter, managing the deluge of patients, illnesses, tasks was easier.

Physicians often aggrandize their professors and mentors who taught them medicine. But we sometimes fail to recognize the nurses who evenly navigate the storm - hand on rudder and always first to know.

Nurses are a unique breed. When they appear, it’s always a blessing. But who goes into nursing? What kind of person choose nursing over doctoring?

• For many it's a nascent kernel or dream that begins and proudly emerges in school, college, or nursing school as they become what they were always supposed to be. A nurse who cares.
• For some it’s the logical career choice for a high aptitude, high intellect, can-do individual.
• What about a stay-at-home mother of three whose life is upended when her husband dies? How and when does her grief and uncertainty lead to a 30-year career in nursing?  Was she helping herself, or her family, or everyone around her?
• Some fulfill the dreams of others and go into nursing, only to find their own goals and dreams in the service of the sick.
• What about nurses who become super nurses? A Naval RN excels in medicine, surgery and critical care; but that's not enough, she needs to do more. So, she signs up for night school and after 3 grueling years, she graduates as a nurse practitioner specializing in the elderly. She continues to go further and do greater.

Obviously, I have high regard for nurses - exceptionally so when on any given day I (the licensed physician) save a life because of a nurse: 

• Linda N. pages me and says, “Mrs. Cole in 317 is vomiting and now has a blood pressure of 210/120, I think you should…”
• Stacy in the ICU knows I'm on call, knows it's been a disastrous night, but she calls to tell me, “Our patient, on the ventilator, is not doing well, things are bleak, and the family is here. YOU need to talk to them…”
• Martha, in the clinic, texts to let me know “the labs are back; the WBC is tanking and the liver enzymes are skyrocketing; it’s time to decide …”
• ER Mike has been there many years; he wisely steers the new resident right by letting me know “the guy in room 1 is probably going to need a chest tube because…”

Jessica is a great ICU nurse I’ve come to admire. She stands out in so many ways. I love that she declares, at work, she is “the calm through chaos”.  Years of life, education, skill and hard work have prepared her to be at her best for those who need her most. How fortunate is it when frightened patients and families, dealing with severe diseases and horrific complications, are met in the ICU by a Jessica. She knows what to do. She's been put there, by choice, to change the outcome.

Collaborative care begins and ends with nurses. Sometimes that's redirecting doctors, sometimes it means being the first to know – and act.  And sometimes it’s being present at the bedside or on the phone, in a way no one else is.

When you want to know what's going on with a patient - ask the nurse. She's been there, watching, reading the room and thinking three steps ahead.  When you arrive, she usually knows what’s next.

Nurses make doctors look better. But nurses don't need a doctor's mirror to shine. They have their own mission and skills. 

This is Nurses Week (May 6 – 12, 2026).  Society should honor and reward nurses. They are exemplary by their intent, dedication, education, and actions. Nurses are at the top of my list this week, nurse’s week and every week of the year.