Lori Lindsey-Clarkston
									June 11, 2011
Self Reflection Journal Module 2						
I chose a narrative from a nursing journal I subscribe to.  The narrative is spoken through the thoughts of a sixteen year old girl on a medical mission with her mother who is a nurse.  While the girl’s mother is attending to a patient with aides the girl is waiting in the van and watches a small child.  The child appears to be malnourished to the state of starvation.  He could have aides as the mission trip takes place in Africa where aides is prevalent. The child is playing in a mud puddle; he is oblivious to his plight of illness, poverty and hunger.  The child is described as enjoying himself and laughing.  
I chose this narrative because it touched me emotionally and made me think.  I see illness everyday on all levels.  I see patients that are so drowned in their illness they have no pleasure in their life and everyday are a struggle to get through.  There are patients who are ill but no one would ever know.  They are positive and get through the day with a smile and a purpose if only for the moment or for the day.  The narrative brings happiness to my heart in remembering that we should all take small moments of pleasure and revel in them, just as a child would.  We should “play in the mud, let it run through our fingers, enjoy the coolness.”  By taking time to just be and to do something that makes you relax, laugh, or “forget” a certain amount of restoration of the physical and emotional being is restored or renewed. 
As nurses I think we get caught up in the illness or procedure of the patient and forget the person.  In every patient there is that person who enjoys classical music, who has a college degree, who was a veteran, who reads romance novels, or builds model airplanes as a hobby.  In getting to know the person behind the illness or procedure we as healthcare providers can promote healing through stimulation or simple conversation, give the patient meaning, make them feel important.  A patient is the reason we “nurse” without them there would be no purpose for “us.”  If you know your patient as a person there is a trust built and a bond that enhances recovery or peace.