What Does a Nurse and Princess Diana Have in Common?

• It is no secret that nursing is difficult. Nurses are overworked, overwhelmed, and underpaid-especially trailing the impacts of a pandemic, and now Monkeypox. 
• Burnout and shortages can cause one to disassociate to protect their own wellbeing. 
• With the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death, perhaps nurses can learn from Lady Di and remember to exhibit empathy in nursing. 

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana’s tragic death. I am sure you have seen multiple magazines with her shining face on it already. And it will surely continue throughout the year.  

“This is a nursing blog,” you might say. “Why are you talking about Princess Diana?”  Or you may ask, “What does she have to do with nursing?” 

Well, I speak about her for a very good reason. Although she was nobility and not a nurse, by looking at her actions, we can learn a lot about empathy. Additionally, we can learn how to implement empathy in nursing.

What Happened to Empathy in Nursing?

With the pandemic, we have tried our best to take care of our patients, but we have been burnt out, and many traditional nursing values have gone out the window. (Temporarily, we hope.) I would go as far as to say that our empathy has gone out the window in order to protect ourselves from the horrors we have seen. 

While COVID is not going away, the deadliness of the pandemic is waning. It is time, our nursing practice returns to what it once was. To one that is trusted beyond all else. I believe the empathy and kindness that the late Diana, Princess of Wales so willingly displayed.

What Can We Learn From Lady Di?

Princess Diana is known as the People’s Princess. She attained this title by how she interacted with people. She was an entirely different type of royal. Like Diana, nurses are an entirely different breed of people. We see suffering, death, and sometimes hopelessness, like no other profession. 

Nurses are behind the scenes, but we care for the most vulnerable. Covid patients, the elderly, the psychiatrically unstable. We are ICU nurses, Med/surg nurses, psych nurses and more. We help bring life into the world, and watch it slowly fade away. 

Princess Diana had many causes that were close to her heart. She openly touched and hugged people with AIDS during a time when there was still so much misinformation about the spread of AIDS.  

Today, we know the truth about how HIV and AIDS spread, but it was another time then. She also led a personal mission to dispel the myth that leprosy could be spread by touch and would openly touch people affected by this disease. 

Today, we as nurses, embody that same kind of love and compassion that was shown by the Princess. This is something we need in these uncertain times. Especially, since there is now the development of Monkeypox. There is so much misinformation flying about and new fearmongering.  

And while not on the same scale as it was two short years ago, we are still seeing devastation from Covid. We need to continue to treat all our patients with dignity, respect, and kindness during these times. 

One thing that Princess Diana gave most, was her time. She spent time with the underprivileged, those suffering from extreme poverty, and those- as mentioned previously- who had diseases such as AIDS and leprosy.  

Her charitable work did not end there. We could talk about it for ages.  However, this is what we need to learn from her: we need to get back to spending time with our patients.

Implementing Empathy in Nursing

I understand this is hard to do, when many nurses are leaving the field, and we are torn in many different directions at once. I’m sure many are working in unsafe working conditions- loaded with too many patients. However, if we take the time to listen to our patients, we can do so much good.  

Not only can we quell fear in our vulnerable patients, get to know them, and increase satisfaction rates (always encouraged by our directors) we can see when there has been a change in our patient’s status. If we spend time with patients, we are more likely to see when our patients are deteriorating. This can help us save lives.  

So never view spending time with your patients as a burden. Take a lesson from Lady Di. The vulnerable are people deserving of our care and time.

The Bottom Line

As the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death approaches, we can take a moment to remember this wonderful woman and recognize what we as nurses can learn from a princess and a woman who was taken away from the world all too soon.  

What sort of magic would she have been able to perform if she had not come to an untimely end?

Carry on the good work. 

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