"Being with" a patient who is dying

Doubting her ability to assume the new manager's role in a specialty unit, the author reflects upon her first day of hospital orientation. The monotony of the day is interrupted by the admission of a patient with a traumatic burn injury. The new manager finds herself perplexed about what to do. Feeling at a loss and somewhat confused about her role as a nurse and manager, she delves into her soul and realizes that her place on the burn team has nothing to do with the type of emergency situation before her. Suddenly, she identifies that her feelings of fear and uncertainty are also experienced by people in their new role as patients. She recognizes that her place stems from the very essence of being a nurse. She wants to care. Basing her actions on her feelings, the nurse is able to comfort a man who is dying. She does not want him to feel lonely and afraid regardless of his imminent death. Clinically, she knows the team's life-saving efforts will be unsuccessful, yet her efforts in caring based on her lived experience of being the "newcomer" enable her to accept the challenge of meeting the needs of her patient and at the same time regain her confidence.