Nursing is A Work Of Heart (ugh) Cutely Competent Nursing is a work of heart – ugh. I am not one for sickly sweet nursing adages, as my typically sarcastic personality usually appreciates the darker side of medical comedy. However terrible I feel that “nursing is a work of heart” is, it is true – nursing is both about empathy and evidence-based practice, making it an art form that is often hard to quantify its worth. Case in point, what a difference a good sense of smell can make in the medical field. I had always thought that death and the process of dying smelled like a mixture of medical gloves, disposable bed pads, oxygen tubing, sticky liquid medications administered orally in small, delicate syringes, wet wipes, and sweat. Sweat from families, visiting in a time of duress and unsure of what to say, sweat from medical staff, working to keep the individual clean and comfortable, and sweat from the individual, occasionally in pain or short of breath, exhausted and weak. No matter how often the room is aired, the linens changed, or how many bed baths occur, the odor will continue to permeate the room until after the individual […]