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Hello! My name is Arianna T, and I am a current high school student. I'm conducting an interview with any professional in the neonatal field for a foundation in health science class project about careers! I have created a total of 13 questions. Please comment on this post, answering all 13 questions to be apart of my assignment.
1. What profession did you choose? Why?
2. How many years of college did you need to go through?
3. What jobs did you work through before you landed your present professional job?
4. How can I decide if I should earn a Ph.D. in this field?
5. Were you in a college program?
6. Did you have to pivot and go back to school at a later date?
7. Did you shadow another professional in the field?
8. Did you join any school clubs related to your current profession?
9. Was there a particular subject you struggled with during your school years?
10. What skill sets did you learn or gain while pursuing your career?
11. What's your work environment like?
12. What is your favorite and least favorite part of your career ?
13. What sacfrifaces did you have to make in order to achieve where you are today with your profession?
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2 answers
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Maria’s Answer
1. Registered Nurse my specialty is Neonatal intensive care. I actually went to nursing school to work in Labor and Delivery. I decided quickly while in Clinical rotation in NICU that anything with babies was where I needed to be.
2. I have my Associates Degree in Nursing and a BS in Health. I went on to become a International Board Certified Lactation Consultant.
3. I had quite a few careers Unit Secretary, Manicurist, Medical Assistant, Licensed Practical Nurse before realizing what I really wanted to do.
4. Nursing has so many avenues to take, getting a PhD, places you more towards teaching or research. I think the best nursing school teachers were first bedside nurses.
5. The only program I was in was Nursing
6. I took College classes right out of High School then stopped to get married and have children. I worked my other jobs before having Children. I was a stay at home mom then went back to work as a Medical Assistant. A co worker encouraged me to go to Nursing school. I started back to college while staying home again. I was in my late 30’s when my Nursing career started.
7. I never shadowed anyone it wasn’t offered.
8. Didn’t join clubs or groups besides going to school I had small children at home to care for.
9. I struggled a lot with Math, I needed tutors. My daughter was in high School when I went for my Bachelor’s Degree she would tutor me in Math also LOL
10. Skills were all Basic Nursing skill, once in NICU you learn more sophisticated skills like starting IV’s, taking care of critical infants, resuscitation of infants, learning all the equipment not seen in adult nursing.
11. The work environment I was in for 35 years was very intense on a daily basis. I was lucky to work with Nurses who had your back, would help when you needed it. It wasn’t always good because when you work for a profit hospital their first priority is making money. We never had enough staff which made it very high stress.
12. My favorite part of the job was watching a very premature infant grow into a full term infant. It was an amazing thing to see. My least favorite thing is being assigned too many patients in a shift which limits the amount of time I can spend with each patient.
13. The biggest sacrifice was Missing a lot of holidays with my children and family. Being gone an entire day from sun up to sun down and not seeing my children for 3 days out of a week when they were school age. I also sacrificed my health by working in a hospital almost my entire career that was chronically short staffed. Even with the sacrifices I have made, I was extremely lucky to have had a job that I loved. Every career has sacrifices the important thing is to have a career that you love.
2. I have my Associates Degree in Nursing and a BS in Health. I went on to become a International Board Certified Lactation Consultant.
3. I had quite a few careers Unit Secretary, Manicurist, Medical Assistant, Licensed Practical Nurse before realizing what I really wanted to do.
4. Nursing has so many avenues to take, getting a PhD, places you more towards teaching or research. I think the best nursing school teachers were first bedside nurses.
5. The only program I was in was Nursing
6. I took College classes right out of High School then stopped to get married and have children. I worked my other jobs before having Children. I was a stay at home mom then went back to work as a Medical Assistant. A co worker encouraged me to go to Nursing school. I started back to college while staying home again. I was in my late 30’s when my Nursing career started.
7. I never shadowed anyone it wasn’t offered.
8. Didn’t join clubs or groups besides going to school I had small children at home to care for.
9. I struggled a lot with Math, I needed tutors. My daughter was in high School when I went for my Bachelor’s Degree she would tutor me in Math also LOL
10. Skills were all Basic Nursing skill, once in NICU you learn more sophisticated skills like starting IV’s, taking care of critical infants, resuscitation of infants, learning all the equipment not seen in adult nursing.
11. The work environment I was in for 35 years was very intense on a daily basis. I was lucky to work with Nurses who had your back, would help when you needed it. It wasn’t always good because when you work for a profit hospital their first priority is making money. We never had enough staff which made it very high stress.
12. My favorite part of the job was watching a very premature infant grow into a full term infant. It was an amazing thing to see. My least favorite thing is being assigned too many patients in a shift which limits the amount of time I can spend with each patient.
13. The biggest sacrifice was Missing a lot of holidays with my children and family. Being gone an entire day from sun up to sun down and not seeing my children for 3 days out of a week when they were school age. I also sacrificed my health by working in a hospital almost my entire career that was chronically short staffed. Even with the sacrifices I have made, I was extremely lucky to have had a job that I loved. Every career has sacrifices the important thing is to have a career that you love.
Thank you for your response! This was very helpful in completing my project, I learned so much
Arianna
Updated
Marie’s Answer
1. I chose a career in nursing specifically neonatal intensive care (NICU) straight out of nursing school. In the old days, you were able to work on a permit , before your license came in.
2. Initially I took a 2 year nursing program at a local community College.
3. I was a stay at home mom before nursing school. During school work on peds oncology unit. After went straight into NICU.
4. PhD degree is used primarily for nursing research and teaching. There is another doctorate nursing program. Doctor of nursing practice (DNP). This degree is used to teach high level nursing programs.
5. The only program I was in is nursing
6. I graduated in 1990 with my ADN. In 2012 I went back to school for my BSN then MSN, so that I could teach.
7. I never shadowed anyone in the NICU. I did shadow a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) to see if I could do the examinations.
8. Since I started school at an older age, I did not join any clubs or groups .
9. Statistics was my Achilles heel. I took 2 lower level classes, before my graduate level Statistics.
10. All the basic nursing skills like venous blood draws, IV placement., nasal gastric tunes, Foleys, and critical thinking skills. Also there are different skills/task you learn depending on specialty unit you were in.
11. Work environment can be challenging, mentally/emotionally draining, and stressful. Also being a prominently female workforce there is bickering, backbiteing and bullying. But the rewards of seeing a baby get better, watching the parents take them home makes everything else not matter.
12. The favorite part is helping people. Seeing them leave better then when they got to hospital. Helping new nursing , seeing the changes they make growing as a nurse. Some people are in it for the money and that is wrong, they won't last.
13. They biggest sacrifice I made to achieve what I have in nursing, not seeing my kids grow up. Missing out on grandkids.,not attending MSN graduation.. it is called work/life balance. I was so focused on building a resume, losing focus on everything else
Best of luck. ME
2. Initially I took a 2 year nursing program at a local community College.
3. I was a stay at home mom before nursing school. During school work on peds oncology unit. After went straight into NICU.
4. PhD degree is used primarily for nursing research and teaching. There is another doctorate nursing program. Doctor of nursing practice (DNP). This degree is used to teach high level nursing programs.
5. The only program I was in is nursing
6. I graduated in 1990 with my ADN. In 2012 I went back to school for my BSN then MSN, so that I could teach.
7. I never shadowed anyone in the NICU. I did shadow a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) to see if I could do the examinations.
8. Since I started school at an older age, I did not join any clubs or groups .
9. Statistics was my Achilles heel. I took 2 lower level classes, before my graduate level Statistics.
10. All the basic nursing skills like venous blood draws, IV placement., nasal gastric tunes, Foleys, and critical thinking skills. Also there are different skills/task you learn depending on specialty unit you were in.
11. Work environment can be challenging, mentally/emotionally draining, and stressful. Also being a prominently female workforce there is bickering, backbiteing and bullying. But the rewards of seeing a baby get better, watching the parents take them home makes everything else not matter.
12. The favorite part is helping people. Seeing them leave better then when they got to hospital. Helping new nursing , seeing the changes they make growing as a nurse. Some people are in it for the money and that is wrong, they won't last.
13. They biggest sacrifice I made to achieve what I have in nursing, not seeing my kids grow up. Missing out on grandkids.,not attending MSN graduation.. it is called work/life balance. I was so focused on building a resume, losing focus on everything else
Best of luck. ME
Thank you so much! Your response was very helpful in completing and educating me.
Arianna