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| Sudhamani, Deputy Superintendent of Nursing at Sri Chitra Medical Institute, Thiruvananthapuram |
After all, a 50-year-old nurse working in a Government institution may not be able to gain anything from her workplace by registering as a Ph.D student in Kerala University. But Sudhamani, Deputy Superintendent of Nursing at Sri Chitra Medical Institute, Thiruvananthapuram is driven to a quest for knowledge to be of more use to her patients and to excel in her profession. No wonder she says emphatically: “My first, second and last consideration is for patients.”
It was this same desire that had made her pursue M.Sc in nursing at the age of 45. Even with a graduation in nursing, offers were available aplenty from abroad. Many were the queries she had to answer, why she wasn’t migrating to greener pastures elsewhere. But her desire was to study more and be of better use to the patients.
An innate intuition, coupled with experience and a desire for the well being of the patients have made her ‘diagnose’ impending emergencies even when the same have been ruled out by doctors on duty.
Sudhamani’s mother died when she was in the 9th standard. With 4 daughters to look after using his unsteady income, her father was finding it difficult to make ends meet. He was pinning his hopes on Sudhamani completing nursing education and landing in a job. She did not disappoint him as she could easily get a job after graduation in 1977.
To someone who considers patients as members of her family, the professional satisfaction is a grateful smile from a healed person. No wonder her effort has won the recognition of the peer group. ‘Trained Nurses Association of India’ had chosen her the best nurse of Kerala last year.
It was a fitting tribute to someone who says with a sense of fulfillment that she would work as a nurse till the age of 60.
Courtesy:
C.Narayanan, Grihalakshmi, February 2007
Contributed by: Administrator
