As I discussed in my last post, my career has been a truly transformational journey...one I could have never planned myself. Today I want to continue with three more reasons I love my career and invite you to begin looking at the gifts you have reaped from your journey through life.
When I graduated from nursing school it was a lot like graduating from any college. I had to get out in the ‘real’ world and find out how to put my degree to work. My nursing school instructors had taught us about ‘reality shock’ in the 'real' world beyond school but understanding it intellectually was nothing like experiencing it first hand.
It was a rough and rocky start for me.
In fact, one of my first supervisor’s told me I would never make a good nurse, then she intentionally tried to add insult to injury by saying I would be lucky to be an LVN/LPN. Well, being young and inexperiences, I was sure she was right. Luckily I was never raised to be a quitter. So, I gathered myself up and went on down the road to apply for work at another hospital. It was here that I received the unexpected offer to work as the charge nurse in the ICU.
Looking back on it, I can see the humor in how that first interview went but at the time, I was dead serious. When the Director of Nurses offered me the job I told her I didn’t think it was the job for me because...and honest to God these were my exact words...I wasn’t a good nurse. I can remember her smile and the conversation that followed. The bottom line? She promised they’d train me. When I repeated myself she added "We won't leave you alone until you feel ready." What could I say? This awesome and incredible nurse believed in me and not only helped launch my career but unwittingly helped me find my talent, because, I was never cut out to handle 30+ patients on a general med-surg floor where I had barely enough time to talk to each patient. The ICU grants access to (and responsibility for) every single detail of one or two people’s well-being and care.
It couldn’t have been better or more perfect fit for me. I discovered it is better for me to handle the intensity of a crisis with sustained focus, and attention to subtle nuances, as well as the grueling hours of a high stress environment for 12 to 16 hours at a time. Plus, I learned that in an emergency, when no one else steps forward to take charge, I can and do.
It was a rough and rocky start for me.
In fact, one of my first supervisor’s told me I would never make a good nurse, then she intentionally tried to add insult to injury by saying I would be lucky to be an LVN/LPN. Well, being young and inexperiences, I was sure she was right. Luckily I was never raised to be a quitter. So, I gathered myself up and went on down the road to apply for work at another hospital. It was here that I received the unexpected offer to work as the charge nurse in the ICU.
Looking back on it, I can see the humor in how that first interview went but at the time, I was dead serious. When the Director of Nurses offered me the job I told her I didn’t think it was the job for me because...and honest to God these were my exact words...I wasn’t a good nurse. I can remember her smile and the conversation that followed. The bottom line? She promised they’d train me. When I repeated myself she added "We won't leave you alone until you feel ready." What could I say? This awesome and incredible nurse believed in me and not only helped launch my career but unwittingly helped me find my talent, because, I was never cut out to handle 30+ patients on a general med-surg floor where I had barely enough time to talk to each patient. The ICU grants access to (and responsibility for) every single detail of one or two people’s well-being and care.
It couldn’t have been better or more perfect fit for me. I discovered it is better for me to handle the intensity of a crisis with sustained focus, and attention to subtle nuances, as well as the grueling hours of a high stress environment for 12 to 16 hours at a time. Plus, I learned that in an emergency, when no one else steps forward to take charge, I can and do.
Landing in that ICU early in my career surely helped to leverage my career in part because it honed my skills. With those skills, nursing has offered me an incredible variety of job opportunities. My willingness to learn and accept opportunity when it presented itself resulted in a long run of interesting and exciting jobs. Aside from the ICU’s and ER’s, which are certainly exciting, I have had opportunities and experience with spinal cord and head injuries in a rehab hospital, as a home health nurse and in hospice. In a more wellness-oriented vein I was the coordinator for health promotion programs in four major corporations, have had my own case management business, been a clinical manager, taught full day workshops to other nurses on holistic nursing, coordinated performance improvement and staff education for a large home health company, been an auditor in a revenue management department for a county hospital system, handled financial and service contracts for incoming research protocols from medical schools, and contracted with attorneys for medical record reviews. What do I do now? Currently I work as a regulatory consultant, and will be teaching nursing students in an LVN school this fall. You gotta love the variety.
LONGEVITY/REMAKING OF A CAREER
With all that variety comes a nice career with unusual longevity. Most people face the challenge of transitioning to new careers at lest two to three times in their life time. As you can see from the variety of jobs listed in the last paragraph, nursing has afforded me ample opportunity to remake my career without having to start from scratch. In fact, longevity in nursing has been possible exactly because it has offered me such diversity. It has truly offered me a journey like I could have never imagined.
In my next post, I'll begin with Reasons 6, 7 and 8...and a more personal look at how it has afforded me a truly transformational journey.
In my next post, I'll begin with Reasons 6, 7 and 8...and a more personal look at how it has afforded me a truly transformational journey.
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