Personal Statement: A Career As A Nurse

I cannot attribute my desire of becoming a nurse to following the footsteps of a family member, nor caring for a sick family member as I was growing up. I am a first generation high school student, furthermore, a college graduate. I became a mother at the very young age of sixteen. Being so young and growing up without the care of my parents, it was always said I, too, would end up in a rough situation and not be able to care for my child being so young myself. I continued out my days and nights being a high school teen mom. I graduated from high school in three years by attending night school while I was pregnant; allowing me to finish school sooner and obtain a better job that would allow me to take care of my son.

Registered Nurses have a lot of responsibilities and other jobs, the career I chose is a NICU Nurse. They work in the rooms with babies to monitor any complications, but mostly premature babies. I chose this career because I love babies and I would love to be the reason why a baby got better. This career will be a great fit for my life goals because I’ve always wanted to be a nurse and I love working with babies so why not put both the things I love into one.

Strength can be said to come from a position of having the power to handle a certain situation. As I have been working in healthcare for a while, I have expertise in clinical performance which is my strength. Though it is at times overwhelming, talking to patients and advocating for them is an area I am most comfortable with. I advocate for them by reporting to the nurse a change in a patient’s status and reporting it promptly; whether a patient is hypoglycemic or hypotensive. Being a nursing assistant gives the necessary insight to acknowledge areas that need to be prioritized when dealing with many patients, such as what patient to attend too first. As a nursing student also and working as a patient care associate gives me a better understanding to identify these certain changes.

The career I plan on pursuing is a registered nurse. I want to become a registered nurse so I can help the people who really need help. Registered Nurse has a positive trend. They have big responsibilities, like making sure the patients get their right medicine, and by having the right treatment they need. Registered nurses work for hospitals, medical clinics, and schools etc. Registered nurse can work in different kinds of establishments. Nurses have flexible schedules. Nurses have the opportunity to interact with the patients. I want to become a nurse so I can make a difference in some bodies’ life.

Professional Nurse is my number one career choice. In many ways, it reflects my second, third and fourth career choices like Nursing Practitioner, Nutritionist and Health Educator. Educators teach and lead people toward success. Accountants keep and maintain a systematic and chronological record of financial transactions. And professional golfer commits themselves to extensive study and practice to master the skills of their profession. As a Professional Nurse, I see myself incorporating all three. I want to master the skills of medical diagnosis, work to keep and maintain a systematic and chronological record of medical and patient information, and successfully educate my patients, so they are empowered to choose a healthy life.

I discovered my obsession with newborns quickly, I loved to hold and care for them. I knew that I wanted to be in a hospital setting taking care of newborns, but I didn't know the exact name of the health care workers in that position. Once, I pointed to the lady carrying my newborn baby brother into the nursery, saying “I want to be that”. Later I did some research and learned about neonatal nurses and I stuck with that. That's what I want to be in five years. Becoming a nurse is more of an inspiration than an interest, growing up I saw my aunts as nurses. I knew what I wanted to be early.

I have wanted to be a nurse or a teacher for as long as I can recall. However, when I was in high school I felt as if I had a calling to serve in the military. At that time, I was very naïve and did not understand how the military worked, but I knew I wanted to serve. Then, September 11, 2001 happened and I knew what I had to do. That is when I made the decision to become a nurse and serve in the United States Navy.

Coming from a medical family it was written onto me at an early age that health care and making people feel better is heartwarming and inspiring. One of the most influential people in my life is my mother, who is a nurse herself. Having watched my mother helped so many people, I grew into knowing that there is no greater reward in life. My mother's joy inspired me to become a nurse.

A Pediatric Nurse is care provider that helps children or adolescents that may have injuries or illnesses. They often work in a hospital or a pediatric urgent care unit. They can also work in many sectors of the medical field including cardiology, oncology, or, dermatology. For finding a job as a Pediatric Nurse, if the person finding the jobs has a lot of training or experiences as a nurse then they are known to have a higher quality and paying job. Being a Pediatric Nurse, they have to perform physical checkups, create diagnostics, and check the patient vital stats.

Through experiences in my life, I have learned that I can make a real difference in the lives of other people. As a healthcare professional, I will be able to touch human lives in such a close and intimate way, that no other career can offer. I will be able to help a cancer patient to fight for their life or put a bandage on a child’s hand. I like to overcome challenges, and I want to gain more knowledge about life, the human body, and diseases. I seek a career where my compassionate and caring personality together with my thirst for knowledge will be well satisfied.

I have taken college classes for the past four years, at multiple universities. College has always been important to me, but it became even more important in the spring of 2015. I became a mother to a beautiful baby girl on April 22nd of 2015. The birth of my daughter will influence my academic work and goals in many ways. I have always had goals of finishing school and getting my college degree. I went back and forth in deciding what I wanted my major to be and finally decided on nursing. I had set my goals of becoming a nurse before I had my daughter. Now my goals are even more important to me, and I have an even bigger reason to focus on my academic work and goals of becoming a nurse. It is now, more than ever, important that I complete

My grandpa was always in and out of hospitals when I was younger. He would always talk about how nice the nurses were, and how much they had done for him to make his stay in hospitals actually be somewhat pleasant. They got anything he needed and did their best to make the family comfortable as well. I knew I wanted to help people in my future career, and my experience helping my grandfather furthered my passion for wanting to become a nurse. I thought taking a CNA class my senior year would give me a head start in the nursing career, but instead, it made me have doubts about becoming a nurse.

There are plenty of experiences in my life so far that has solidified my drive to become a nurse. Volunteer experiences abroad, experiences with other nurses, and my current professors stories of what it was like to be a part of the rewarding field, all reinforce my choosing of the nursing profession. The most foundational experience that steered me to the nursing profession happened when I was 13 years old. My parents decided that I should learn more about my Nigerian roots and they sent me to a boarding school in the village Ijebu-Ijesha, Nigeria. I knew nothing about the country except the reverence and praise my parents spoke with when telling stories of their beloved country. I knew no one in the country but still wanted to gain the experience and learn more about culture, so I went for an entire year.

I have seven years of experience in nursing practice, including cardio thoracic intensive care unit, medical, surgical oncology ward and emergency room unit. I coordinated and collaborated with health care team and provided patient cantered care with a holistic approach at my work. We focused our service in an anti-oppressive and anti-racist framework which changed the patient’s life meaningfully which would be further discussed at York. I ensured compliance with standard of nursing practices and ethical principles during my career.

I am excited to be here and hope everyone had a great summer! I have been an RN since 2009 but have been in health care for 18 years. I began my career as a medic in the Air Force and slowly climbed up the nursing ladder by obtaining my LPN, ASN, BSN and here I am now working on my Masters. Although it has taken much longer than I expected, I have gained a world of knowledge along the way. I have worked acute care (Med-Surg/ICU/Step-down), ambulatory care (Primary Care, Disease Management), home care, Utilization Management, and Patient Safety. I am now civil service employee working as a Discharge Planner at a large military hospital. I truly enjoy my work and have gained yet another perspective about outcomes of care and I am happy to serve