Ronan Castronuevo 7th

ISM- MENTOR INTERVIEW ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS

Student Name: Ronan Castronuevo Period: 7th

Printed Name of Person Interviewed: Yvonne Judd

Role of Individual: ___ Mentor __X__ Co-worker

Place/Name of Business: Maindland Medical Center

Business Address: 6801 Emmett F Lowry Expy, Texas City, TX 77591

Phone Number: 832-977-5267

Date of Interview: 04/14/18

Type of Interview: __X__ In Person

1. For someone working in your field, please describe the fantasies versus realities of the job.
(fantasy vs. reality)

I was already expecting nursing to be a stressful job, especially in the ICU. For example, one day I was
talking to another nurse to get a report, and the patient’s blood pressure starts going down along with the
oxygen saturation. Good thing I was looking at the monitor and jumped on it immediately, but yeah—
you don’t really have set expectation of your night and you come into work, not knowing what’s going
to happen.

2. What is your current educational level? What continuing education and training are required?
(educational level and requirements)

I have a BSN now, but I want to be a nurse practioner in critical care. So I will need to go back to school to get
my master’s degree for that. Before I get that, I want to be a critical care RN—which you need some sort of
certification for and you need to take a test. If you pass, you get certified as a critical care nurse.

3. Please describe the typical day to day activities of someone working in your field.
(day-to-day activities)

Well, your day could be easy, as easy as passing medications—to working around the clock, trying to
save your patient’s life. Like what I said earlier, it happened Wednesday night, on my third night in a
row. And I didn’t get to sit down, until almost midnight, because we had to intubate the patient—to
protect the airway. Cause I already got the medications to increase her blood pressure, which was the
first thing I got—her blood pressure went up quickly. But we still had to intubate, because her oxygen
saturation was in the seventies, so we intubated her, she was fine. And then ten to fifteen minutes later,
she tanked on me while I was in the room. So all the respiratory therapists were there, trying to fix the
tube. And I was looking at the monitor, her blood pressure dropped and then her heart rate was dropping.
I was like “Ohh no!”, I told one of the respiratory therapists to call my charge nurse. Because she coded,

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we did CPR, she managed to survive---I thought we were going to lose her. Everyone thought she wasn’t
going to make it, the only thing was, after checking the chest x-ray, we found out she had pneumothorax
—from the CPR. So you just never know what your day would be like in the ICU. It can be as easy as
passing out meds, to trying to save someone’s life.

4. How secure are you in your current position? What do you think is the future of your field?
(job security)

I feel very secure, like you will find a job anywhere in this field. It’s pretty much one of the best parts of it. And
you save peoples’ lives. I think it will still be the same. It’s going to be around for a long time—I mean people
will get sick and you need people to take care of them. This type of job is always in demand.

5. What is a typical (average or lowest to highest) salary of someone working in your field?
(salary)

I think for ICU nurses, the highest is like forty dollars an hour, and the lowest is thirty dollars an hour. And for
night shift, you get night shift differential, if you work nights. And then charge nurses make around sixty per hour.

6. What potential for growth is there in your field?

(growth potential)

There’s a lot of potential for growth. You will learn a lot, like in medical surgery—you don’t get to use
drips, so you will learn a lot. Because in med-surg those patients are stable, you just monitor. And if
something happens they get transferred to the ICU for closer monitoring.

***Questions 7-10 will be created by the ISM student.

7. Can you please recall the most memorable experience in your career? Whether it was with a patient or
another nurse.

There’s a lot, like the last one. It’s not even a year yet that I’ve become a nurse, and I’ve done a lot of
stuff already. Like two weeks ago, I got to do CPR on the elevator. The patient coded in med-surg, while
we were transporting the patient. So we got him on the elevator and I was looking at the monitor. The
heart rhythm was still okay, and then as soon as the elevator doors open it had “wide QRS” and “V-Fib”.
I was like “Take the side rails off!”, so I can jump on the bed and start doing CPR, and they just wheeled
the bed into the room.

8. As someone who is fairly new at nursing and worked a little over a year in the ICU, has there been any
difficulties with translating the skills you have learned in nursing school to real life scnarious?

A lot, because I went to school in the Philippines, and there’s not a lot of advanced machines. They are not
available in the Philippines. Technology-wise there’s not a lot over there, so when I came here I had to learn more
of that stuff. So those were the difficulties, but the skills are still there, so you know what to do. I learned that stuff
by the books, not hands-on, because they’re not available. For example, the IV pumps: you have to calculate it
manually. You look at the drip chamber, and look at the clock, while counting the drips.

9. What made you want to be a nurse? Now that you are a nurse, are there any other career that you’re
interested in?

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Ronan Castronuevo 7th

Well, I was heavily influenced by my family. At first I was doing it just to do it. But then, during my first year of
nursing school, I said “Do I really want to do this? It’s so hard”. But you just have to hold on to it. Once I started
doing my clinicals, it changed my opinion. Because I like taking care of people and feeling appreciated/

10. What are the negative aspects of your career?

The stress, specifically emotional stress. I’ve had a lot of moments, where I’d go home crying, literally.
Because if you had a rough night—it’s just tough. That’s why you just got to let everything out, and once
you get home, you’ll be alright. You just got to be prepared.

Interview Summary
What information from this interview will you select for your ½ page typed,
bulleted list of research information—to be used in your presentation?
Create a bulleted summary list on the next page.

 Working in the ICU, and other critical care units, is stressful.

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Ronan Castronuevo 7th

 You must always be alert and closely monitor your patient, constantly checking for any changes
in their condition.
 If you want to be certified in critical care, as an RN, you must finish the lessons, and pass the test
to be certified.
 Nursing and the medical field in general, is one of the most stable occupations, that you can be a
part of today.
 There will always be patients, since people are always getting sick and growing old.
 ICU nurses make around forty dollars an our max, with thirty dollars an hour being the
minimum.
 Charge nurses and those working night shift get paid significantly more than average.
 There is an adjustment period when you are just starting as a registered nurse, where you relearn
certain skills or learn more—to adapt to real scenarios.
 If you study in a foreign country, or anywhere that is not as developed as the U.S, there may be
some difficulties in adapting to the advances present in the U.S.
 To be a nurse, especially if you are going to work in a unit involved in bed-side care, you need to
have a passion in caring for people.

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