A Reflection by Kaiser Permanente Nurses on Their Calling to Provide Compassionate Care

This is National Nurses Week and we want to recognize the women and men who make up the 49,000 nurses who come to Kaiser Permanente every day and provide compassionate care to all our members.  To understand why nursing is such a calling we asked a few nurses from Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco Medical Center to share their thoughts on what inspired them to follow their passion in nursing.

We asked three simple questions… What inspired you to be a nurse?  What are you most passionate about in nursing, what do you like best?  What advice would you give people wanting to go into nursing?

For Milanelle "Lani" R Guiao, RN, 4 South:

First, helping the sick and working with people inspired me to become a nurse.

Second, patient advocacy and promotion of healing through a holistic process are the principles I follow in my daily routine. That is, caring in all aspects (physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual and mental) in collaboration with the rest of the inter-disciplinary team.

And third, nursing for me is not just a job, it's a calling. For those people who would venture into Nursing, my only advice is to embrace it with your whole heart and mind, and be open for challenges and opportunities.

For Lourdes Tolentino, RN, Emergency Dept.:

It is a Rewarding and Humbling job.
As a nurse I am a patient advocate, what is best for the patient for the patient's best outcome. What I like best in the profession is when patients say thank you for helping me, thank you for making me feel better and they go home with a smile.
Nursing is a profession that comes from the heart and you must love it, to enjoy it.

For John Phillips, Nurse Practitioner, Bariatrics:

I have a natural inclination of caring; something I always wanted to do—never a question in my mind.

I worked in critical care and moved to Bariatric about 6 years ago.  Love what I do because I get to establish long term relationships with people who have their entire lives changed with bariatric surgery.  It's meaningful in every way to me.

I’d rather give advice to people already in the field to take advantage of the clinical ladder (an evaluation and advancement system with specific criteria, offering nurses clinical opportunities for clinical advancement, development of specific capabilities and continuing education.) 

For three reasons:

-incentive to get involved in continuous learning;

-it gives the added benefit of holistic perspective of how decisions are made including patient care,

-it provides nurses a clear pathway on how to move forward successfully. 

With this, everyone becomes a winner – the patients, the clinical staff, and the hospital as a whole.

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