One patient at a time...

If you walk down the quiet corridors of any hospital in the early hours of the morning, you will likely pass someone moving with a clipboard in hand, eyes alert and heart wide open. They are not looking for recognition or waiting for applause, yet they are the heartbeat behind the scrubs.

Nurses are not only highly trained professionals; they are also deeply compassionate individuals. They provide care in hospitals, clinics, community health centres, schools, nursing homes, and even in patients' homes. Their responsibilities go far beyond administering medications or monitoring machines. Nurses assess patients’ health, develop care plans, collaborate with doctors and specialists, assist in surgeries, and help patients manage chronic conditions.

What often sets nurses apart is their unique ability to blend clinical expertise with empathy. They are the comforting presence during moments of fear, pain, and uncertainty. A nurse might hold a patient’s hand during a frightening diagnosis, explain complex medical instructions, or detect subtle signs others might overlook.

Nursing is not without challenges. Long shifts, high patient loads, emotional exhaustion, and constant exposure to illness are part of their everyday reality. The Covid-19 pandemic cast a spotlight on the immense pressures nurses face, highlighting the urgent need for better support, mental health resources, and fair compensation.

Nurses are both scientists and artists. With one hand, they adjust ventilators; with the other, they gently brush away a tear. They interpret lab results with the precision of a physician and catch the whispered “I’m scared” that others may not hear.

They are fluent in a language that transcends words spoken in the squeeze of a hand, the arch of an eyebrow, the calming stillness they bring to chaos. They read heart monitors like poetry and listen not just to lungs, but to the silence between words.

Nurses are there when a mother cries tears of joy at her newborn’s first cry and when she cries again for the child slipping away far too soon. Nurses walk the corridor between miracles and mourning, sometimes within the same hour, often within the same breath. They are not made of steel. They are not invincible. They carry grief home in invisible pockets and still, they return again and again. They take pain and turn it into peace.

As a patient, it is often the nurse who stays by your side before the doctor arrives and long after the lights dim. They are the first warm hand you feel after surgery, the calm voice explaining a diagnosis, the last person to whisper, “It’s okay,” when a life slips away. Nurses are not just professionals; they are witnesses to humanity at its most vulnerable and resilient.

Think of all the times you have felt helpless in a hospital. It was probably a nurse who grounded you. During the beeping of monitors and the disturb of movement, nurses are the translators of hope. Studies may show that nurse-to-patient relations impact survival rates, but numbers cannot quantify a nurse’s true impact. How do you measure the comfort of a warm blanket offered before it’s requested? Or the strength of someone holding your hand through pain?

When you see a nurse, you see a mind that notices what machines miss, a heart that breaks and beats for strangers, a soul stitched with resilience and empathy. Behind every dressing change and every calm voice saying, “You’re going to be okay,” is a nurse carrying a thousand stories and still writing more, one patient at a time.

Being a nurse means choosing compassion over convenience, science oversleep, people over paperwork. So next time you meet a nurse, look beyond the scrubs. See the courage, see the sleepless nights and see the empathy that doesn’t fit on a résumé. Say, thank you, not just because they deserve it, but because without them, the world would be a much colder place to heal.