Why have you chosen to pursue nursing as a career?

Every time I am asked Why Nursing? I take the question to heart and
reply with my Mom in mind; I may not always disclose this part of my life to
every person who asks me, as it is very personal. My mother really does
keep me passionate and determined to stay focus along this path. The
constant pressing image in my head that always appears when I am missing
my mother is a never ending reminder of her. I remember my mother just
laying in a hospital bed and how she extended her arm straight down out of
the bed, no longer being able to move smoothly nor communicate words. I
definitely understood in that moment her need for water as she pointed to
the glass of water across the table. It is horrible to know that someone is
trying to communicate with you but they are unable to, because they feel
trapped and all you really know is that that person needs help. Unfortunately
that is the last standing moment in my memory that I have of her life
existence in my life. Mother had a growing tumor in between her two
cerebral hemispheres that with time she began to lose her speech, body
mobility and vision. Growing up without her has definitely not been an easy
task.
Despite her absence in majority of my life, I am grateful that I have not
forgotten her and that she keeps being an important part of my life almost as
if she shapes my decisions and gives me a purpose to continue pursuing a
goal that I have so much desire and love for. Besides my mothers influence,
I myself have a personal interest in seeking a career in nursing. As I got to

know myself as a person I realized that Nursing would be the perfect fit not
just because it was influenced by an important event in my life but also
because it gives me the opportunity to learn, move around at a fast pace and
mainly because it wont allow me to get bored. As this excitement and fast
pace environment was something I experienced at my two year internship
with Rady Childrens Hospital during high school. I fell in love with the idea of
being able to work in many different units whether it was in
Hematology/Oncology, Med Surge, PACU, Dialysis or any other unit. All this
has led to my ultimate goal of pursuing a career as a Travel Nurse.
My ambition to work alongside nurses and doctors and provide families
in impoverished countries with the best care that there is, is due to exploring
my curiosity and researching statistics worldwide of the scarcity of resources
there is in healthcare for these families. Many people in third world countries
experiences disadvantages in their health due to education and resources
and yet they are also the same people with the greatest need.
A career in Nursing would mean being able to influence and make a
difference in peoples life and in that way have an impact on society and
possibly worldwide. Despite, the opposing opinions from my family in regards
to going to work internationally, I still love the idea of working with families
abroad and helping them care for themselves by enabling them with the
proper guidance that can result in a more balanced world. Ive heard it all
from my family from where I can get a disease, possibly die from a war going
on in those countries, being targeted for being an American, and much more.

However, I am aware of the risks that come with the job, but I also know that
training, staying informed and being thorough and making intelligent
decisions is what I need to survive just as many other nurses have in this
position. The qualities and attributes of a person really determine their
success in the route they choose.
What qualities and attributes do you believe you possess that will
enable you to perform effectively as a student and later as a
practicing baccalaureate prepared nurse?
The strongest qualities and attributes that I believe I possess as a
student and that will continue to guide me in a career in nursing are my
ability in being effective and precise in my work as I am well aware there is
not much room for mistakes in this field. In unexpected situations I am very
capable of responding appropriately and quickly. For example recently last
week in my job as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) I experienced a
resident whom I was taking care of to not be responding to me when I asked
her a few questions, so I immediately took her risk and looked for her pulse.
As I got a very vague pulse I took her vitals and noticed her oxygen reading
was very low. Once I realized what was happening I went to look for any
nurse close by and reported to her the situation. Immediately after reporting
to her, I ran straight to the oxygen room about twenty feet from the
resident's room and grabbed an oxygen tank and then a mask. As I got closer
to the residents room I heard the Nurse Practitioner was also now in the
room yelling to go grab oxygen. I was already a step ahead and was there

within the second after she had mentioned that. Now the nurse responsible
for my section, the nurse practitioner and the doctor were all there. All I
could do was quickly help set up the oxygen and step out of the way, I knew
they were the professionals and only stood by for any other help they
needed that day. This was my first real test in the field being so far but yet so
close, and I could not have been more moved by my actions that day, to
validate my certainty in the nursing field.
I am a person who can keep calm and will not freak out or freeze in a
moment of surprise and that is do to the core confidence I have been able to
establish. When something goes wrong I have learned that you must take
that in and create something good out of it by responding in a proactive way,
hardly any good results come out of just waiting for what I call a blessing in
disguise. By this I mean taking the situation lightly and hoping that it fixes
itself, thats not how life works unfortunately. Rarely does life just coast in a
flat surface there are peaks and then there are throphs and it is in those
throphs that one must train oneself emotionally to be stronger and create
some result by reacting to redirect a route.
My confidence has been built from my work ethics, as I take my
patients request seriously. I also treat them with respect by providing them
privacy, knocking on their room door before entering and introducing myself
to them. In general I have principles I follow, one of them is being
professional on the job. For example, visitors come in all the time and ask
questions regarding the patient. Before answering I always ask the visitors of

patients who they are and then determine whether or not they are people
whom information regarding the patient can be disclosed to. A characteristic
that I have acquired since high school due to sports is being a team player
and communicator. In order to be able to communicate information
effectively with doctors, other nurses, patients and family members you
have to determine what terms are appropriate to use by considering who you
are talking to, and this also means being a team player to make sure the
information is delivered in a timely manner.
When content is not understood in regards to anything, for example if
the location where I will meet my friends is unclear to them, I will make sure
to be thorough and clarify the information and then make sure they
understand the message. This is a highly important quality to have as a
nurse and one that I live up to everyday as I communicate with professors,
nurses, doctors, family and friends. I am able to do the job I do well because
of the knowledge I have acquired and this allows for me to answer any
questions my residents, of course when those questions are directed towards
my job description information. Outside of the job I also like researching
topics before making a decision as it helps with making educated guesses
and informative decisions. I am very determined about making the best
possible decisions and one I have determined on accomplishing is Nursing.
How can nursing address and improve global healthcare needs?

Nurses have a great deal of potential to improve global healthcare

needs. Besides the communication (which is a key factor between countries)
and the cultural exchange (which is necessary for communication) that is
necessary for a nurse to be open to, nowadays it would help nurses to do
their research in human rights, economic and political elements when going
abroad to work. I strongly believe that a lot of the current health problems
worldwide are due to money, policy, and greed. Nurses can better prepared
to improve healthcare by being prepared to act on human rights economic
and political issues. This can action can be done through creating more
organizations where people from all over the world can donate money,
school supplies, clothes, hygiene essentials, food and more. Building
relationships with the governments in other countries and bringing to their
attention the importance of promoting services for education; especially in
those less developed countries is where nurses can also take a role in.
Medicine and politics are two different subject areas, but they are two
areas where a relationship must be emphasized as sometimes the lack of
resources and healthcare services is due to not enough attention being
focused on managing funds and ignoring policy within the job. I know travel
nurses are capable of also being actors in human rights issues as they work
so close with the people they provide care for and these nurses then learn
the struggles and challenges their patients face. Good health has become
difficult to maintain in third world countries because people get caught up on
social issues (that serve as a distraction) and they can see those issues as

more important than the health of an individual, making it easy to forget the
real issue at hand; healthcare.
I believe that understanding (this also means educating your
teammates) the situation and how crucial and detailed the care that needs to
be provided should be, can improve healthcare worldwide. A key element
that people most often to do not know or forget is that nurses continue to
learn even on the job and they are required to educate themselves of
updated regulations or healthcare related topics. Nurses are endless learning
individuals and because of this they should be required to at least do a
certain amount of hours in where they take on the role of educators to teach
the public and not just to patients. This is my suggestion because the loss of
a parent, a child, a cousin, or even a friend can be prevented by something
as simple as educating civilians. A loss can definitely change and shape the
future of those who are left behind.