I am a Registered Nurse who works in a rehabilitation unit. I provide direct care and administer medicine to stroke patients and trauma injury patients. My purpose is to help them lead to full recovery with the goal of being independent on their own.

EDUCATION | BS in Nursing and a Minor in Health Science at a CSU

HOW TO GET STARTED | Really make sure that you have a passion to help people. If you don't have it, then it is not the right job for you. Being flexible and organized will be your two biggest strengths in Nursing. To be flexible means you never know what is going to happen during the day and you should be opened to it and to be organized means you finish your tasks in a timely manner. You should have the patience since it is a slower-paced unit with stroke patients. Also, you should be willing to be patient to go with the flow with the patient's needs. Rehabilitating is a long process.

MUST HAVE TRAITS | Patience, Flexibility, Organized, Good communicator, Be able to separate your personal life with your work life, Caring, Don't take things personally, Have a good humor because working with sick people can be emotionally draining.

how I got started | For me, it was a natural decision. Living in a house with a nurse, I listened to my mom's stories of helping people which inspired me to want to help others too. I remember in high school, I took a Physiology class and really enjoyed learning the interconnections of the human body of one system to another. Seeing how everything was related made me even more interested. Studying to become a nurse is very stressful because of the workload. It is very difficult to get into the Nursing Program because it is very competitive and you have to maintain a good grade point average. I would study every weekend because it was very physically and mentally draining with a lot of memorization. Not only did I have to attend lectures, but I had to do clinical times at the hospital as well.

why this job?| I originally wanted to move down to Southern California to work in a hospital, but things did not work out so I had to find something local. I had a friend in my Nursing class that worked at the rehabilitation center and told me about the impact that I would have with working with the patients. I did not want to initially do this kind of work, but things fell into place and it worked out for the better. I liked how at the rehabilitation center, we make sure that the patient is ready to be on his or her own or take care of the patient until the family is ready to take care of them. We make sure that the patient is okay instead of throwing them out. Kaiser Hospital will take you depending on your insurance. We take in people from all walks of life; we even have homeless patients. We don't have the highest technology, but we do our best to take care of our patients' needs.

why I love this job!| I find that my job is really rewarding and that I can make a huge impact on the lives of the patients. From personal experience of having my uncle go through a stroke, it is easier to empathize with the family. I get to serve a community that is under-served. I get to help people get back on their feet again or just be able to live independently from their conditions.

my typical day| I start at 7A.M each morning and report to the night shift nurses. We go into a room and they give me a run through of what happened with the patients throughout the night. I look at the care plans for each patient, which is a big binder of summaries of how the patient is feeling from head to toe to see if they are tolerating their therapy well. There should be a good flow of things to make sure that the patient is well cared for. It is a continuous care process. I then go on the floor to find out who my nursing assistants for the patients are and make sure they understand their duties. They do simple care such as checking for vital signs. I also go to meetings with doctors that we call "huddles." It is a quick meeting for ten minutes about the patients to see if there are any concerns that can arise that prevents the patient from going home. If there is a reason, we would have to find out why that is the problem. Before I leave to go home at 3P.M., the night shift nurses report to me so I can inform them of what has happened during my shift and what should be addressed.

what they are | Being a new nurse is challenging because you have to feel confident in your answers over the senior nurses. The practice of nursing is different now than it was ten years ago. I have this newer knowledge than they do and I have to find the confidence to convey that to them They doubt me because I am newer and don't have as much experience as them, but I would have to prove to them that I know my stuff in a professional manner. Another challenge is to learn how to delegate duties to the older nursing assistants and as well as a sign of respect to them.

all about growth | There are different titles in nursing. When you start off, it's RN1 and after a year of experience, it is RN2. To get into RN3, you have to work in committees. For example, infection committees; you try to find a solution to a problem about eliminating infections and propose it to the hospital. Titles are gained over time. Overall, this is a good stepping ground to get myself into complex care dealing with intensive care patients, which is in a faster-pace environment. Working in this slower environment will help me become more confident and experienced to prepare me for the faster environment. Also, I would like to work with patients who leave to go home. The rehabilitation center is good practice because the at-home process is even more slow-paced.

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