Wondering if nurses appreciate gifts of food from grateful patients and family members? They do, Theresa Brown, RN, assures us in a guest column today on Well. Describing the typical offerings - "Godiva chocolates, Russell Stovers, chocolate-covered pretzels, homemade chocolate chip cookies, cookies from the Panera down the street, bakery cookies with big smiley faces made of icing" - Brown explains the gift-givers' motivation:
The thanks they feel is deep. They are of course thanking us for doing our jobs - doling out pills, conferring with doctors, drawing labs. But it’s the emotional work we do that really inspires people’s gratitude.
She also makes it clear that the gifts represent far more than a tasty treat to her. One former patient brought in an "amazing chocolate cake" and shared the recipe with Brown. But:
...I have deliberately never made the cake. Although I’m quite a good baker, I feel certain there’s no way I could ever make the cake taste as delicious as it did that day. Out of context it would simply be a chocolate cake. It would lack the inspiring story, the rare and priceless vision of a patient to whom we gave a brand-new life.
Photo by massdistraction
