Retirement Letter Prompts Nurse to Reflect on 50-Year Career

• A nurse with a 50-year career reflects on her time in the industry as she turns in her retirement letter. 
• Sadness has been the strongest emotion as she looks back on her time in the emergency department. 
• But through it all, she looks back at her career with love and appreciation. 

After almost 50 years of bedside nursing, it is time to say goodbye to the profession that I love. It was a hard decision to make. Seriously, everyone I spoke to said they would have no problem saying goodbye to their career and moving on. Writing the retirement letter to give to my managers was not an easy task. But, as I told everyone, it’s time to move on. 

In remembering people that I had the honor of caring for, sadness has been the strongest emotion. The cases I worked in the emergency department (ED) did not always end up with a happy conclusion. There are those cases in the green zone where patients came in for simple therapeutic care, such as sutures or simple fractures, and were discharged the same day. There were cases that sometimes made me question why I became a nurse. I think we’ve all had those cases. They make you reach down into the core of your soul and — even though you know there will be no happy ending — you keep on because not only is it your job, it is your commitment to your profession and the oath you took the day you graduated and received your pin and cap. 

Retirement Letter Prompts Emotional Reflection

I remember the trauma cases most vividly. A 19-year-old working in a gas station, shot during a robbery. Watching his parents cry over his lifeless body was pure agony as a parent. A young boy whose mother forgot to turn on the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) monitor when he went to sleep that night. I’m sure you can probably tell how this case ended. 

There were numerous car accidents, gunshot victims, cardiac arrest with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in progress, to just name a few. 

You never knew what was going to come through the door at any given moment, and it was that excitement and the adrenaline pumping cases that made us move just a little faster to save a life. We have all been there. Such is the tale of the ED nurse. 

Happiness, Grief Surface with Retirement Letter

But there were times of sheer happiness and surprise as well. I was working a night shift, and five pregnant females came into our ED. Four made it upstairs to labor and delivery (L&D) but the fifth one did not. Her baby was coming in panel three! We got the stretcher ready, called for a respiratory tech and a nurse from L&D. We pulled the curtain and prepared for a delivery, my first in the ED! I was tasked with watching for the baby and catching it because it was coming fast! It was a healthy baby boy, and we all celebrated with the parents, as the baby was taken to the nursery. 

Here’s where happiness comes in. Fast forward three years later, when a female came into the ED having a mild asthma attack. The husband came out to my desk as I was in charge and asked if I remembered him. I apologized and explained that I see so many patients and that I was sorry, but I hope that we took great care of him.  

He then explained that I had helped deliver his baby! I was a little shocked at this explanation. However, at that moment, he brought a little boy over to me. It was the little boy I had helped deliver that night in the ED. The little boy came over to me and gave me a hug! Through my own tears, I gave him the biggest hug back and we both smiled. Even now, as I remember this story, I have tears in my eyes. That was the moment I realized I had chosen the right profession. 

There were other heart-breaking emotions that I went through. One of those was disbelief and numbness when my own family member came into the ED with CPR in progress and did not make it. I remember having to call family and friends to go to my home at 5:30 am to be with my husband as I delivered the grim news. I do not know how I was even thinking straight to have someone with him at that time so he wasn’t alone, as it was his mother who had passed. 

The Bottom Line

As I get myself ready for the next chapter of my life, reflecting on my retirement letter, I’m also looking back on my career with love and appreciation for all those that helped me get to where I am today. It’s been a long journey but one filled with pride, gratification, and honor for my profession.  

To think it all started with being a candy striper as a teenager! 

If you’re also about to pen your own retirement letter, think about the emotions you’re feeling regarding our esteemed profession. 

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