American Nurse

Registered nurses care for patients by treating and educating them about various medical conditions. The largest group of registered nurses work as staff nurses in hospitals. Although medical duties of RNs vary greatly depending upon the specialty or area in which they work, all RNs offer emotional support and advice to patients and their families. The documentary American Nurse focuses on five nurses that handle soldiers coming back from war, inmates, people in the poorest parts of the country, women giving birth, and people at the end of their lives. It was written, filmed, and produced by Carolyn Jones. She was asked to make a book in two thousand and twelve that celebrates nurses and made a documentary to go along with the book. She had

Throughout the documentary, the film gave a realistic feeling and understanding that nurses are humans like everyone else and they struggle, which means they are not perfect. The documentary also shows a real and factual sense that not everyone knows what career they will end up having at first or exactly what they will be doing. Sometimes personal experiences make you truly understand your calling. At eighteen, Jason, the home health nurse, had a bad motor accident, which was a head on collision, and he ended up being in wheel chair for long time. Jason found out what it was like to need care and to be helpless. His accident helps him be so passionate to people that are in bad shape or suffering because he was in their position. The nurses all have different experiences with figuring out that nursing was going to be their occupation. None of them knew from a young age that nursing was their definite calling. The labor and delivery nurse, Naomi, explained how the worst nightmare for a mother is coming into an ultra sound and the doctor not finding a heartbeat. Naomi had a miscarriage in her bed by herself. She had to deal with the guilt of taking the baby, wrapping him up in a blanket, and throwing him away. She explains how hard and long the process was to forgive herself for that. At the time of her miscarriage, she was not a nurse. When she was

This documentary is educational in the fact that it demonstrates and gives an idea of how much nurses go through for their job, but also informs us on how much nurses truly care for their patients. Many good things come from being a nurse, which the documentary clearly explains. One major perk of being a nurse is your patients become family to you. Many nurses acquire a bond with their patients. They are there to calm down their patients and make sure they are relaxed. Tonia works at Angola in hospice, where all her patients will end up dying, but she focuses on making them die happily and peacefully. She allows them to fulfill something they have dreamed about doing but have not done. One of her patient’s wish was seeing his daughter, who he has not seen in over twenty years. Now, they talk twice a week, write letters to each other, and stay connected with one another. He says, “Tonia has helped me tremendously especially with my relationship with my daughter, which is the most important thing to me now.” Nurses generally care about their job and their patients. Tonia says, “when I’m at their bedside I’m taking care of another human being. I don’t look at their rap sheet. I know they are in here for something, but at the time that does not matter.” At the nursing home, Sister Stephen, the nursing home director, and her staff came together to sing