Who is that person behind the mask?

by Kris Sabo & R.N. Contriburing Writer
| October 19, 2016 1:00 AM

On Nov. 6 through Nov. 12, we celebrate Perioperative Nurse Week. During this time, hospital operating rooms, surgical hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers all over the country take time to honor those professionals who have dedicated their careers to the care of our most vulnerable patients; our surgical patients.

Most people who have experienced a surgical procedure would admit that they felt some apprehension most likely because this experience, and this place, seemed foreign to them. Now think how you felt when that perioperative professional smiled and said, “I will take good care of you.”

For these and so many other reasons, we pay tribute to the unseen heroes of the operating room and say “thank you, perioperative nurse”:

Thank you for all the years that you studied to become a nurse and the additional years of professional development to continue as a nurse.

Thank you for your commitment to my care and well-being.

Thank you for making my safety your priority.

Thank you for speaking up in my best interest when I am unable to speak for myself.

Thank you for assisting my doctors and providing them with the multitude of instruments and supplies that they require in order to care for me.

Thank you for leaving your family and home in the middle of the night when I need you in an emergency.

Thank you for your warm touch and kind smile even though you got up at 5 a.m. to be to work at 6 a.m. to be ready for my 7 a.m. surgery.

Thank you for answering all my questions and for your patience when I ask you to explain it to me once more.

Thank you for explaining all the processes, every step in detail, in order to rest my fears.

Thank you for understanding with empathy, that I am still a little afraid even though you explained everything to me.

Thank you for holding my hand as I drifted off to sleep and for your cheerful smile when I awoke.

To all those unseen heroes behind their masks, celebrate this well deserved recognition. You deserve to be acknowledged.

Happy Perioperative Nurse Week.