Ask an emergency nurse about a patient they’ll never forget, and chances are they won’t need much time to think about it.

We all have them.

The child whose outcome we still think about. The family waiting for news. The patient who reminded us why we became nurses. The person we couldn’t save despite doing everything we knew how to do.

Sometimes it’s not even the most critical patient who stays with us.

It might be someone who held our hand, said thank you, or shared a few words that changed how we looked at life.

Throughout my career, I’ve cared for patients in hospitals, disaster settings, and communities experiencing unimaginable hardship. Some of those encounters eventually became stories in my book, Disaster Diaries.

Writing those stories reminded me that what stays with us isn’t always the clinical intervention. It’s the humanity.

We remember the faces, the conversations, the families, and sometimes the silence.

Nursing education teaches us how to assess, intervene, and evaluate. But there are lessons that only come from being present with another human being during a difficult moment.

Those lessons shape how we practice, how we lead, and how we treat the next patient who comes through the door.

As we recognize Emergency Nurses Week, I want to acknowledge the emotional weight nurses carry, including the stories they may never feel comfortable sharing.

Not every patient leaves the emergency department with us. But some never really leave our memories.

To my fellow emergency nurses, is there a patient or experience that changed how you practice nursing?

Adventures with Nurse Jamla® | Emergency Nurses Week 2026