Nursing is My Passion

Going into this trip, I had a good idea that I wanted to be a nurse someday, but everything about my experience in Tanzania confirmed that nursing is my passion. One particular story that really showed me why nursing is the right career for me happened while I was working in Pediatrics. One of the mothers had her 3 month old baby in with tuberculosis (TB). This baby also had tested positive for HIV transmitted by the mother, which is why she was more susceptible to contracting TB. The first day the baby was there, my mentor nurse went to check-up on the baby who was crying hysterically and wouldn't stop. She checked the baby's temperature which turned out to be extremely high, which was assumed to be one of the reasons the baby was crying so much. They needed to get an IV in the baby to give her fluids and medication to bring the fever down, but it took 15+ attempts to get the IV in without the baby sweating it out. The mother was traumatized, the baby was going into shock and it was very sad to watch. The next day when I came in to do rounds on this same baby with the doctor, there was the doctor, the medical students, and the other people shadowing who didn't know anything about what had happened the previous day. This day the baby was calm, quiet, and her fever was down. The IV was staying in and the mother looked up at only me (there were 20+ people surrounding her) and gave me the biggest smile I had ever seen in my life because she knew I knew what she had wen through and how relieved and thankful she was today for her baby to be getting better. At that moment, I knew nurses play such an important role in the healing process. A nurse knows the patient as a person and not just a diagnosis. They're there for their patients through the good and bad and that is what I want to do! I am so thankful for this trip and experience and hope to someday be able to go again and give back to the amazing community of Iringa, Tanzania.