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Unsung Hero - Interview with a Nurse
For their dedication to their work and making this a better place to live.
They are a part of the unsung heroes of the world.
My own personal hero in my life was a nurse, and lucky for me, she was my mother.
Profile Questions
How long have you been a Nurse?
7 years
What is your educational background?
I have my BS in Psychology and my BS in Nursing. I recently completed a one year program to become a certified forensic nurse.
What is your job title?
Registered Nurse, BSN
At what age did you decide to become a nurse and why?
26. I worked all through college. Started out in the kitchen of a nursing home and then worked in the dietary office. Then I went up on the floors and filled out menus with the patients. A lot of the patients would ask me for help and I couldn’t help them, so I went to classes to become a nurse’s aide. Then I decided to go on to be a nurse so I could help people more.
What was the defining moment you knew you wanted to become a nurse?
Some of the nurses I worked with at the nursing home were really great. There were a few really lazy ones though. I remember thinking I would never be like that and I would become a nurse to try and make a difference.
What characteristic about your parent’s influenced you to become the person you are now?
I have amazing parents. They are both so kind and giving. They raised me to be a good person. They have always supported every decision I have made. They are both very smart and hard working. I strive to make them proud.
What characteristic about your sibling/siblings influenced you to become the person you are now?
My brother is Special Forces in the military. He runs marathons and competes in triathlons. Everything he sets his mind to he finishes. He inspires me to push myself harder. Whenever I think I can’t do something, I think about all the things he does. He is a great inspiration to me.
How did your childhood influence you to become the person/nurse you are now?
Growing up I was overweight. I got teased a lot. I remember many times coming home and crying alone in my room. As awful as it was back then I wouldn’t change anything because it made me who I am today. I have a great understanding of what it is like to be different and I think that helps me as a nurse and as a person in general. It taught me to be more empathetic and also not to judge people based on appearance.
Did your family have any influence on you in become a nurse?
My grandmother was a nurse. She was an incredible woman in everyway. When I was 6 years old my grandfather had a stroke. She had a hospital bed in the home and she took care of him. She bathed, cleaned, dressed and fed him. I was only 6 but I remember how much she loved and cared for him. She also would tell me stories of when she was a nurse. They didn’t have all the technology and equipment we have now, she had some crazy stories. Even when she was older and lived in a senior citizen home she would always be looking out for her friends that lived there. And when she remarried and my step-grandfather was diagnosed with a brain tumor, she took care of him too. If I am anything at all like my grandmother, even just a little, I would be proud.
What special characteristic do you have for being a nurse?
I think compassion makes me the best nurse I can be. I always take care of my patients as if they were my family. I think how I would want my family treated and that is how I treat them. They are someone’s mother/father, sister or brother.
What do you consider your most significant strengths?
Compassion and ambition
What do you consider your most significant weaknesses?
I tend to be a perfectionist. Sometimes I am hard on myself at work if I don’t get everything done exactly how I think it should be done.
What characteristic were you weak on and had to improve on to become a better nurse?
I was always kind of quiet and shy. I became a traveling nurse and it forced me to be more outgoing and outspoken. That has in turn helped me as a nurse because often times you need to advocate your patient. You have to be able to speak up to doctors, case managers, and family etc to help your patient get what they need. Often times the patient is unable to speak for themselves.
What do you consider your most significant accomplishments?
Probably my traveling. I moved to NYC by myself and didn’t know anyone to work as a nurse. Then I drove across the country by myself and worked in San Francisco and then Las Vegas. It was a great experience for me both as a nurse and as a person. I met a lot of great people, learned about different cultures and met great friends.
How have you grown or changed over the past few years?
Probably the biggest change is just being more confident in myself as a person and as a nurse.
Describe your typical day.
I currently work on an orthopedic/neurosurgical acute care unit in a 500 bed hospital. On average I care for 6-8 patients, most are post-operative out of surgery. I am responsible for all of their vital signs, total care, medications, IVs, blood transfusions, documentation. I take orders from the doctors, transcribe them and follow them through. I also work as the Charge Nurse at times, which means I am ultimately responsible for the care of 36 patients. I have to delegate to the nurses, assign new admissions from the ER, fill out the paperwork for our stroke, telemetry and CHF patients, go through all the charts and make sure all the orders are taken off and double check all the medication sheets, report off to my nurse manager and round with the Doctors. These are just some of the things I do on a typical day.
What are the pressures of your job?
Everyday as a nurse is different. You never know what you are going to walk into. You have to be ready for anything. These people’s lives are in my hands. That is a lot of pressure.
How do you handle pressure?
Fortunately, I do well under pressure. Then after work I go to the gym and burn off all the stress from the day.
Describe a pressure packed day and how you reacted.
One night I was in charge. The night was going along smooth until 5 am. When two different nurses came to me at the same time with two different problems, one nurse had a patient who was complaining of chest pain. The other nurse had a patient who had anterior neck surgery, wearing a neck brace complaining of some shortness of breath. I went in to see both patients and assess how they were doing. We did vital signs on the patients, and then I called the doctors for each patient and explained what was going on. The man with chest pain needed and EKG labs nitro, which I ordered and completed, the other man with shortness of breath, his doctor was not in the hospital and had me call another MD to come see his patient until he could get there. I did this and the other MD arrived. The man with Chest pain we had to transfer to another cardiac unit for further monitoring. The man with shortness of breath started to get worse as the other doctor was there seeing him, then his own doctor arrived. They ended up having to cut his neck open at the bedside and evacuate a large blood clot that was blocking his airway. They saved the man’s life, and if I hadn’t have called the doctor when I did he would have died. The doctor thanked me and the other nurse for our excellent care.
Give an example of your initiative in handling a challenging situation.
My one and only initiative is that my patients live.
Give a specific example of a time when you knew you did a good job as a nurse.
The story above is the most recent example where I knew I did a good job as a nurse.
How do you go about making a decision?
Often times as a nurse you just “do”. You don’t have a whole lot of time to think, just react. I think a lot of it comes with experience.
How do you respond to crabby people in pain?
I medicate their pain. My practice as a nurse is to try and teach my patients to let me know about their pain before it gets to a point where it is that bad. We use a pain scale, 0 is no pain 10 is the worst pain you have ever had. I tell my patients to let me know when there pain is a 1 or a 2 because once it gets up to a 5-6 it takes longer to control and get the pain back down.
Mr. Smith has just died and you haven’t had a break yet - what do you do?
Depending on the manner of death would be how I decide what I would do next. But it would definitely not be take a break. If he was there on comfort care, meaning he were there to die and we were keeping him comfortable; I would notify family and the proper people. If it were an unexpected death, we would still have to call a code and try to resuscitate the patient and fill out all the corresponding paperwork. There is a lot more that goes into all that obviously.
How did 911 (Sept 11) effect you personally?
I had just finished working the night shift and had gone home to go to sleep. My phone was ringing off the phone so I woke up and that is when I heard what happened. The hospital had called me to put me ‘on call’. They thought we might be getting victims flown in from NYC. No victims ever arrived because there weren’t a lot of survivors. It was horrible. I wish that I could have been in NYC at the time to do more.
How do you manage your personal feels when it comes to protecting yourself from feeling patients pain?
I try not to numb myself because having those feelings make me a better nurse. I just go the gym after work and burn off all the stress.
How would you respond if a doctor in a rude and haughty tone questioned your work, which you knew to be top-notch and absolutely accurate?
Ignore him.
Describe a situation you experienced in the past year, connected with nursing that made you angry.
The only thing that really makes me angry is if a patient doesn’t get the good care they deserve. Fortunately, I work with great doctors and nurses and I don’t see that very often.
What do you like/dislike most about being a nurse?
I like caring for people and being able to make a difference in someone’s life. I dislike the long hours.
What type of people do you like to work with?
Fun people who work hard but can also laugh and have a good time while doing it.
What type of people do you like to work with the least?
Lazy people
Describe the difference between being a manager and a leader. ...a leader and a follower?
A manager can do the paper work and fulfill the quotas and make the schedule, but a real leader will make you want to do your best. A follower usually just needs a good leader to show them how to lead.
Are you a leader or follower?
I would hope I am a leader. We have a lot of new nurses on the floor fresh out of school. I see myself in them, how I used to be. Timid and nervous. They will come up to me and ask me questions so I try so show them things I have learned that have helped me. When I was in charge the other day they said they love it when I am in charge. And they all worked hard for me to make it a good night, but we had fun too. It was nice to hear that from them, and we worked as a team.
Are you a team player?
Yes
Do you work better alone, in a group or both?
Both
Are you a good communicator?
I try to be.
Can you resolve conflicts with other?
Yes, I am usually pretty good at that. I think my background in psychology has helped me with that.
Are you a motivator?
I think so. I try to help motivate people.
What motivates you?
It’s that perfectionism again, I guess. I want to leave work knowing I did the best job I could.
What characteristic about yourself do you admire most?
I am driven. When it comes to putting my mind to something to do it, I do it.
What characteristics about others do you admire most?
Organization… My brother has all his stuff like sorted and filed away in a cabinet with laminated categories. Mine is like, in a drawer. Need to work on that.
How important is understanding diversity in the nursing field?
Extremely
Who is your mentor and why?
One of the charge nurses I work with, she is really great. Hardworking and fun, she has been a nurse over 20 years and knows a lot. I like to learn from her.
Are you a mentor?
Like I mentioned earlier, I try to be to the new nurses.
Other than nursing, what other field/fields would you have gone into?
I would have loved to be a cop/detective and a veterinarian. I love animals.
What work values are important to you?
Work hard and do your best.
When did you start feeling comfortable being a nurse and why?
After I was a nurse at least about a year I felt more comfortable. Because most of nursing you learn by doing, it is through experience you really learn.
What was your biggest fear starting out in the nursing field?
It is always scary when you think an off day might result in someone doing bad, or even dying.
What part of the medical field would make you feel uncomfortable and why?
Not too much in this field makes me uncomfortable anymore.
What characteristic makes an excellent nurse?
Compassion. I think you can always learn skills but not everyone has the heart to do this job.
What characteristic makes a poor nurse?
Someone who just doesn’t care.
What characteristic makes an excellent doctor?
I think a good listener. Patients will tell you what is wrong, you just have to listen.
What characteristic makes a poor doctor?
A bad listener. A doctor that patients feel they can’t open up to, they won’t. Then some important element can get missed.
Are you a risk taker?
Not at work
If you could trade places with anyone would you and who would it be?
Sure sometimes you think it would be nice to be rich and famous and not have to work all these long hours on your feet. However for the most part I like my life.
What occupations are not in your character to do?
I don’t think I could work on a factory line up; doing the same thing day in and day out would drive me nuts. I like the versatility of nursing.
How do you manage stress on your off time from work?
I go to the gym and work out on the machines that really does make me feel better. And just hang out with my friends. Most of them are nurses too so we “get” each other. We can talk about short staffing and crazy days at work and understand what really goes on.
Do you have any hobbies?
I like to travel, movies, read, hang out with friends, go to the gym.
Do you have a sense of humor?
Yes, I think laughter really is the best medicine.
Do you like animals?
I love animals!!
What do you prefer as a pet; a dog or a cat and why?
I would love both. However, because I work 12 hour nights I would feel bad leaving a dog alone that long. Cats are more self sufficient in that way.
This is a totally open question for you to answer to whatever pops in your mind first! What would you change if you could?
I wish I had a cure for cancer
Is there any other information or feelings about nursing or yourself you would like to add /express?
No that pretty much sums it up.
