Who ’s Your Inspiration? Talking with David Benton about Some Memorable Nurses

May 12, 2010David Benton is CEO of theInternational Council of Nurses, a federation of more than 130 national nurses ’ associations representing millions of nurses worldwide. While he was here to speak at IntraHealth’s30th anniversary celebration, I had the chance to ask him a few questions. On International Nurses ’ Day, I’d like to share his examples of a few nurses who particularly inspired him.Why he decided to become a nurse“My first degree is in engineering […] but I knew that wasn’t what I wanted to do. My father had multiple sclerosis and was hospitalized; having completed my degree but not really knowing what I wanted to do, I went back home and spent a great deal of time actually visiting him in hospital.“It’s not just one nurse but it was a whole range of nurses that were involved in his care that really inspired me to come into the profession—and it was the way that they met his needs in a very respectful way and also met my needs and my family’s needs as part of that process. And it reall y made me think, this is something I really want to do because it just touches so many people when you do it well.”Combining study with practice“Margaret Alexander, one of the first doctorally prepared nurses in Scotland […] demonstrated the added value of study in terms of being able to act as a role model, to demonstrate clearly decision-making in practice, and to explain and communicate with her students (of whom I was one) and the p atients and fa...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Source Type: news