All of us rely on doctors. We find something wrong with us, and the next action we take is to go the doctor’s office, clinic, or hospital. We should give all the praise to the intelligent doctors, right? They have the solution to most of our medical problems because they spent years in school studying their butts off.

They truly are amazing for what they do, but sometimes we forget about a group of hardworking professionals that bend over backward in the medical field.

Nurses sometimes aren’t respected fully or appreciated for their prestigious position.

I've heard people belittle nurses because they think it’s a simple job that anyone can do. That is completely false! Before one can even fathom about becoming a nurse, you have to be smart enough to even be accepted into a nursing program.

Once accepted, the hard work is just beginning.

Vigorous courses and studying all night is one thing, but you have to be confident and brave enough to partake in clinicals, which is where you gain real physical and verbal skills in the nursing field. Even after all that hard work, you still need to take the NCLEX-RN exam which requires a sharp mind to pass. This all may be in the course of two to four years.

If you don’t personally know a registered nurse, then you may not know exactly all the work one has to accomplish in a day’s work.

Depending on what specialization a nurse is working, they may be on their feet for 12 hours, barely getting to sit down for a meal. Various holidays like Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Fourth of July are just a few days of the year we like to spend time with friends and family, but as a nurse, it is likely you will have to work one or two of the big holidays to help hold down the fort at the hospital or clinic.

A list of a few things a nurse may do would be: administer medications, care for the patient and family, advocate for the patient, assess changes in vital signs, review medical history and allergies, teach and educate, listen and be a support system, provide resources, breathing treatments, put in and remove catheters, strep tests, prepare patients for surgery, and give immunizations.

Not only are the nurses doing physical labor that doctors don’t have to do, but they have to be competent communicators for their patients and the doctors, or there can be serious complications.

The life of a patient is truly in the hands of the nurse, especially if they are seriously ill. People don’t realize what it takes to be a nurse.

So, next time a nurse helps you out, remember to thank him/her. Just know, every nursing position is different, but there is a common theme, and that is to help others.