Wisdom and A Longing for Home

I just took part in a research study on wisdom in nursing practice, and I'm feeling overwhelmed. After the week I've had I needed today. I needed to realize as I talked to the researcher that I AM good at what I do. That there is truly a lot of actual wisdom that goes in to what I do every day. I am not a trained monkey who fetches pills. Being good at what I do takes so much more than education and training. It takes a solid base of knowledge and education that is put into a continual loop of experience in stressful situations, debriefing, and adding what you learn from each situation where you make a difference to your base of knowledge, and the cycle repeats. As I spoke with the researcher about stressful situations where I feel like I made a difference I was homesick for my Seattle Family. In each scenario we discussed I was bursting with pride for the team I was a part of, I was proud to tell her the way that we made a difference, and in the way that we practiced excellence every day. There was such a thirst for knowledge in my Valley Family. The desire to know more, to be the best, and to continually learn was truly truly remarkable. And I miss it. It was one of the forests I didn't see for the trees when I was there. The raw intelligence coupled with the desire to learn and grow and do and be the best at all times is not commonplace. It should be, but that environment, those people, were truly unique. I have been fortunate to work with many great great healthcare professionals. And each place I've worked has had a handful of greats. Valley just has a lot more than a handful. The network of people there are nothing short of amazing. The team, the family. There's not another place like it in the world. The doctors, the nurses, the techs, every piece was the embodiment of what healthcare should be.