Personal Narrative- My Experiences as an Operating Room Nurse in the Air Force

Twenty-six years ago I a 17-year-old boy joined the United States Army. I served my country faithfully for 22 years, two months and four days; I served in the Transportation Corps. My time in the army was a special period in my life. I gain a lot of life experiences as well as professional ones; the military shaped and molded me into the husband, father son, and brother that I am today. During my service, I grew up and learned several life lessons that would serve me well in and out of the army. To get a real understand on how the military shaped me into the person, I am today; I must first give you some insight into the person I was before I left for basic training. I graduated high school in 1991 just four months’ shy of my 18th birthday;

I went pre-med before getting deployed and as an intern I've seen a lot of horrible things. But when it's your friend... Someone you serve with... It stays with you forever.

Clinical day started slow, I was a bit anxious about waking my patient up that morning but I knew I had to go in. I woke him slowly and took his vitals and proceeded with my assessment. As I assessed my patient, his wife came in to his room and I introduced myself. During the morning I found out that my patient was being discharged. Before discharge, my patient was going to be fitted for a LifeVest.

Wounded soldiers were flying home and staying in the hospital with no family or friends. With the decreased patient load and paperwork, I was able to sit at the bedside and listen, feel compassion and empathy. As I listened to their stories of bravery and heart break to lose a fellow soldier. With each patient I was assigned to, my heart grew bigger and bigger. I became more mindful of patients and their struggles. Theses soldiers looked brave with tattoos,

“There was a lot of blood,” an EMT told reporters on the scene. “He must have hit her artery just right.” “She’s very lucky,” the ER nurse on duty confirmed. “She’s got a good chance of surviving,but we’re being really careful. Especially since so many people want to talk to

No matter how bothersome it was when my parents got on my back for not saying “Yes ma'am” or “No sir,” I now realize they were teaching me responsibility, integrity, respect, and leadership.When I pinned my mother's rank of Master Sergeant to her shoulder it instilled a sense of pride in my family. We earned that insignia alongside her through all of our sacrifices over the years. My inclination towards engineering and flying is reflective of the dedication and pride my family has set before me. Between my mother who would arrive home late due to her six-hour commute and my cousin who depended on my family while his parents served in Afghanistan, I learned what it meant to be selfless. These members of my family, these role models, show me every day what it means to put service before self. These are the footsteps I aspire to follow

Before realizing what was happening, a nurse was trying to put an IV in my arm. The needle compared to my little arm looked huge and too long to go in my arm. I refused to let them touch me and tried to run to my mom. When they had a hard time succeeding at putting my IV in, they decided to get help from my mom. She calmly told me to lay down and to watch her, while they put the needle in. It was hard to ignore the pain pulsing through my arm and all the commotion happening all around me. I looked at my mom and saw the tears that were falling down her face as they held me down. When they were done, there was an IV and a cast on my arm, so that I would not be able to pull the IV out. Then they wheeled me into another room where my mom held and comforted me, while we waited to hear the results.

If anyone has ever looked into the eyes of a wounded service member one will tell you. You will see more than just wounds on flesh. I know I did. Being a young Navy corpsman I treated and cared for many wounded sailors and marines coming back from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan at Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune. The wounds I saw were mostly from IED blasts that would pepper the individual with shrapnel with the occasional broken bones. These types of wounds range from minor castings and splints to major surgeries. Caring and treating the physical wounds was not a problem. I was good at it. It was the wounds that you could not see that made caring for these young individuals much more humbling. I have a distinct memory, where I am treating a

Comforting and helping people before, during, and after a procedure is something that has intrigued me for a while. I’m relatively accustomed to the field of nursing, considering my dad has to go to the doctor for numerous checkups. Most nurse anesthetist work alone, without the supervision of an anesthesiologist, which is one reason why I chose to research this career. Nurse anesthetists, normally called CRNA (certified register nurse anesthetist), are the primary provider of anesthesia in rural America. In some states they are the sole provider of anesthesia. My initial resource for information about my career was the Mississippi Choices website. Next, I searched the Occupational Outlook Handbook website. Then, I conducted

SPC Chaquea possess all the fundamental skills and the experience to work in a tough, high tempo organization, and has experienced working in hostile environment during his two deployments while in support of OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM. SPC Chaquea is committed to improving his medical skills by pursuing additional medical certifications, has worked as a civilian paramedic on the weekends to become proficient in his medical skills. His experience, character and determination to succeed make him a valuable candidate for the AMEDD Enlisted Commissioning Program. I am convinced SPC Chaquea, Diego F. will be successful in completing the Nursing Program and will go on to become an outstanding

I applaud you for being an emergency room nurse and being attentive enough to be able to catch a potential complication for the patient. My husband had an anaphylactic reaction to Morphine after a knee surgery several years ago. Recently, my husband went to an emergency room with chest pain and diaphoresis. The admission clerk immediately took my husband immediately took my husband back and alerted the nurse. The facility he went to is one my husband that has all of his current history which included his allergy. The nurse obtained lab, an electrocardiogram, and ordered a chest x-ray. She then informed the doctor of my husband’s status. The nurse then brought a syringe full of medication and nitroglycerin to my husband’s bedside. She gave my

We arrived at the hospital and went straight to her room. The sight shocked me to my core there were tubes and wires everywhere and the beeping of the machines filled the room. She wasn't fighting anymore. She was just laying there, she was so still it terrified me.

When a person is uprooted from their everyday life of comfort to venture off to a foreign land, they often take a time to cope with their new living conditions. This is particularly stressful to the members of a military, since everyday life is now of the highest intensity, given that every action they take could be the deciding reason of whether they live or die. For some fortunate people, they might never have to deal with any high stress situations, however this is not the case for most. Many individuals in the deployed environment are part of unit where they are subject to seeing people losing their life, who are often members of the same unit or the enemy combatant. For these individuals, it is often difficult for them to adjust back to

I digested the fact that something is appreciated only if it's about to be taken away. I remember all the doctors buzzing around her like flies; her life was at stake and at the last moment the doctors saving her. Examining the doctors they seemed nothing less than heroes to me. That’s when I realized this is the profession I wanted to pursue. My first step was volunteering to change her bandages and measure the amount of blood coming out of the drain tubes and then making a report to the doctor so he can see how fast she is healing. After doing that I was driven by wanting to follow this profession at all

Even the easiest operations have their difficulties but all you can do is call on your training and practice and hope that you can save whoever it is that needs saved. As i take a look at my watch i noticed that i was already ten hours into my shift and i hadn't left the room once. As i take a look around the room i take everything in, the smell of the blood on my scrubs, the sound of the various machines and their whirrs and buzzes. It's hard to take a look at the plethora of tubes extending from every part of the body. In the end did any of it matter? Would the past several hours be a waste? Would i have to go out and explain to his family that no matter how hard i tried i was unable to save his life? I don't usually regret choosing this line of work but in moments like this when i do everything i can but the outcome lays in fates hands that i wonder if i really did choose the right thing. My buzzer went off giving the signal that the patient was stable and could be