Thread: I am packing up my stethoscope tonight to donate to @artayyeb for the memorial art project he is building to honor health care professionals who have died of COVID-19. It has me sentimental tonight. 
I was given this stethoscope by my friends when I was a young ED nurse. I was very poor in nsg school and could not afford a good one. They pitched in and bought me a Littman. I remember feeling better about myself when I put it around my neck like my worth increased that day.
I have worn this stethoscope for 25 years in EDs, trauma rooms, ambulances, ICUs, and helicopters. It has touched thousands of patients. It never failed me.
My favorite memory though is when someone else wore it. When I was still a nursing dean I had a student sent to my office for being “unsafe and unprofessional”. He was sent home from clinical because he showed up “unprepared” w/o a stethoscope for the second time.
His teacher said he was unprofessional and at risk of failing. They told him if it happened again he was done. This young man was in preceptorship with 3 weeks left in nsg school.
When he came in my office he was shaking and clearly afraid. I sat down with him and gently asked him why he kept coming to clinical w/o his stethoscope.
He began to cry and said someone had stolen his stethoscope and he was sharing with a friend. Now that they were in preceptorship he could only use it when his friend was off. He took some coins out of his pocket and said this is all the $ I have. I cannot buy a new one.
Now with tears in my eyes too, I reached in my drawer and handed him my stethoscope. I told him to take good care of it and bring it back to me at graduation. I hugged him and told him it would be okay.
A few weeks later that young father graduated. He showed up with my stethoscope in his hand. I traded it with him for a brand new Littman. I can afford one now. We both cried and he went on to become a nurse with a shot at a different life - much like I did.
As I reflected on this day tonight it reminded me of the article @UMassWalker wrote about dress code and professionalism is nursing.
Nurse educators are quick to judge students. I was thinking tonight - What if we viewed students as people we are privileged to serve and embraced their individual gifts and humanity?
What if we respected and valued nsg students without judgment? What if we valued differences? What if we taught empathy and compassion by demonstrating it? This young man was not unprofessional. He was a human being who was suffering. He was doing his best to be his best.
As we teach the core values of nursing, let’s strive to embody them. We don’t have to be gatekeepers. We can choose to be bridges instead.
I am grateful that this nurse and I shared my stethoscope. I am humbled and honored that he trusted me with his truth that day. I hope he and his family are thriving and safe. I hope he is being protected by his employer right now.
I will miss this worn stethoscope. And it is because it holds so many important memories that I chose to donate it. This is the least I can do for our colleagues who have lost their lives to COVID-19.
If you have a stethoscope to donate please consider donating it to honor the lives of the colleagues who have given their best for us. If you don’t have a stethoscope to donate you can contribute money below.
