I recently learned of the death of one of my nursing instructors from Johns Hopkins Hospital School of Nursing. Her name was Mary Farr, "Miss Farr" to students.
Mary Farr was the prime example of what a Hopkins nurse
should be. She herself graduated from Hopkins in 1941 and went to war with the Hopkins nursing contingent. She taught nursing at Hopkins from 1951-1969. She was proper, professional, intelligent and always perfectly groomed. She expected the best of her students - no, demanded the best from us.
She left no stoned unturned in the care of patients;
her value system embraced excellence, integrity, compassion, thoroughness and
dogged determination to "get it right" on behalf of patients and
colleagues. She knew everything there was to know about medical nursing. She knew all the diseases, all the medications and their side effects. She would grill her students endlessly about the care of the patients that had been assigned to the students. She reduced me to tears on more than one occasion. The first time was after she had subjected me to a great many questions about my patient, his diagnoses, his medications, nursing care indicated. After she was done with me (and she kept up the questions until you got one wrong) and I had walked off, she followed me and said something to the effect that "I should remember that you are only 18 years old". At which point I burst into tears. I don't remember what triggered the other cry, but it came during a one- on -one session with her, maybe an evaluation. We learned from her, the doctors learned from her. She made an impact on everyone who knew her.
She could be formidable (something she didn't remember in
her later years ), but I certainly learned a great deal from
her.
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