What has been the most profound moment in your nursing career?

Mine was as a student nurse on the ENT ward. A man was admitted who had been born Deaf, used Sign Language his whole life, then became blind later in life from a degenerative disease. His interpreter had been called urgently away from the hospital and as the only person on the ward who could sign, I was given the task of trying to communicate with him until she returned. When we first met, I fingerspelled my name into the palm of his hand, and he reached out and touched my face to create a mental map of the landmarks and contours (e.g. my glasses, the shape of my chin, my cheekbones). Then he fingerspelled my name back to me. The rest of the night, each time I went to his room I would tap his shoulder, he would reach out for my face and confirm it was me then sign my name. Whenever I explained our interventions or asked him a question, he would have his hands over mine so he could feel the shapes my hands made.

It was truly the most profound moment of human connection I've ever experienced, and something I think about a lot. I'm not gonna lie, at one point I just cried because it just felt like such an enormous privilege to be able to connect with another human being in such a vulnerable state. I was thinking about it today and it got me wondering what other experiences people may have had that have just made you stop and marvel at what is happening! Would love to hear yours :)

Edit: I am on night shift right now (3am here in New Zealand) and just sitting down for a break - I'm so happy to see so many lovely stories and I'm looking forward to reading them all thoroughly when I'm home! Thank you all for sharing. It's a nice reminder that amongst the absolute shitshow that nursing can be, there are moments where we realise that we really do make a difference ❤️