- Tell people what's the funnest moment
that we've shared together,
working together, for four years.
What's the fun, or funniest moment, we had?
- When you graduated.
- Why was that funny?
(fun jam band music)
- Today's the kick off for National Nurses Week,
where we honor and celebrate all the many roles
that nurses play every single day.
They truly are the backbone and front line
of the healthcare industry.
Why was that funny?
- Because I had to give a speech.
- And what did you say?
- And Micheal did not get it.
I said "Right now I could use a nice, tall White Russian."
People who got the joke loved it,
but then, you know.
- Well, not everyone's an alcoholic like you, Ginny.
- (laughs) Especially my White Russians.
- As you can tell, I'm really close with the nurses
I've been working with for the past few years.
I truly appreciate the work that they do.
And that's why I get so mad
when I watch Grey's Anatomy, or the Good Doctor,
and I see that their work is minimized.
It shouldn't be that way
and I think nurses deserve more credit.
All right, Yvette.
It's late, but I have a question for you.
What would you think one of your duties
that would surprise other people,
that you do as a nurse?
- Where do you want me to start?
- I don't know.
Give me something.
- The nurse does the majority of the education
when it comes to medications,
wound care,
and with the vaccines that we administer to the children.
- Right.
When was that last time you seen a doctor give a vaccine?
- Only our residents, when they're making their numbers.
- Exactly.
- That's it.
- Unless you've been personally admitted into a hospital,
or maybe spent time with a loved one
who's been admitted to a hospital,
it's difficult to know the entire scope
of what a nurse does day to day.
And those duties are really remarkable.
They care for your physical health.
They care for your emotional health.
They evaluate how well your treatment's going.
And something maybe some doctors are reluctant to say,
but they really do alert us when we make mistakes.
In reality, doctors don't save lives, you save lives.
- Doctors save lives as well.
- Well, teamwork.
- It's absolutely teamwork.
- Yes. (smack)
- Absolutely.
- Yay!
What makes it a lot easier to get up in the morning
and come to a 16 hour shift, or a 12 hour shift,
is that I have fun with my nurses.
We have a good time.
Like, a genuinely good time.
We're laughing, we're talking,
we're sharing our experiences.
I think that ability to take
a very stressful situation, a very somber situation,
and turn it into something light-hearted,
and fun, and interesting,
is a great quality for a nurse to have.
Not only for patients,
but also for other members of the healthcare team,
like us doctors.
Now I know some of you may be in nursing,
or considering becoming a nurse,
and there's a couple points I want to make
about the career.
It's one of the most noble, rewarding careers out there.
It has amazing job security.
For the next few decades, the demand for nurses
is only going to go up and up and up.
On top of that, you have such a broad scope of practice.
Meaning you can work in a hospital,
in the nursing home, in administration.
The medical world is truly your oyster.
People are often quick to write off the nursing field
based on others' expectations of what the job is.
Or, they're quick to love the field
based on something that they have overheard,
or something that they've projected onto the field.
I think you really need to spend some time with a nurse.
Walk into a hospital, volunteer at a nursing home.
Spend some time with nurses to find out
what they're day to day is like.
If you're gonna make this your occupation,
and you're gonna practice this
for 20, 30, maybe even 40 years,
you need to know if you truly love this field or not.
And the way to find that out is by diving in
and stepping outside of your comfort zone.
So, if they're curious,
or think that they wanna become a nurse,
what's a good step for them to take, preliminary?
Should they just apply right away
or should they do some more research?
- I mean, definitely encourage you to try
to get, you know, experience on the bedside.
That develops your assessment skills,
your communication skills,
not only with the patient themselves, but family members.
- Now, even though I'm a doctor,
I do have some advice for aspiring nurses out there.
Before you take someone else's advice
of why you shouldn't go into nursing,
or why you should go into nursing,
you really need to figure out
if it's a career that's right for you.
Being a nurse is a demanding occupation.
At times you're working crazy, long shifts.
Spending that time standing on your feet.
Sometimes you have to give up your holidays
where you would be spending time with loved ones,
and instead are taking care of complete strangers.
And sometimes, worst of all,
you may not receive the gratitude you truly deserve,
both from patients and doctors.
I've heard this said once before,
I don't even remember the context,
but being, and becoming, a nurse is hard.
But it's the hard that makes it special.
To all the nurses out there,
happy Nurse's Week,
and from the bottom of my heart,
thank you.
- Thank you.
- Thanks everybody, for all you do.
(beep)
- Do you still party?
I know you party.
- Micheal.
(Micheal laughs)
Go away now.
- Okay.
(slow funk music)