Nursing fundamentals: A lesson in persistence

Do you have a professor or instructor who left an indelible footprint that shaped the trajectory of your nursing journey? As you ponder, let me tell you about my fundamentals of nursing instructor who introduced me to the proper method for making a bed. I will call her Mary. She was a business-like instructor who operated with precision in the lab.

For you nurses, remember how we had to learn to change both an occupied and unoccupied bed? As I write this, I recall my trepidation, because I both feared and admired Mary. Besides my mom, she was the first woman to reinforce for me the seriousness of bed-making. However, she went further. She stipulated, “Do it in less than five minutes!” and she strictly adhered to that time frame.

Mary told me I would struggle in nursing if I did not master the art of making a bed in less than five minutes. Well, I was determined to master this skill, and Mary, who took a liking to me, kept me in the lab until I had perfected it, and I did. I must admit, I struggled to understand her obsession with quickly making a bed. However, as I grew older, I had an epiphany. Yes, the bed-making was important but, more importantly, Mary taught me the art of elegant persistence in every aspect of nursing practice. Who would have thought a remedial lesson on bed-making would later serve a larger purpose, to remind me it is persistence that exemplifies the elegance of nursing practice?

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.