What school did you attend, and when did you graduate?
I attended Catawba Valley Community College School of Health and Public Services, and graduated with the
Class of 2010.
Where do you work? Why did you choose this venue and not another (e.g. doctor’s office, nursing home, etc.)?
I work at Cottonwood Healthcare Center (Nursing Home/ Post Acute Care Center). As a new grad it’s really
hard to find your initial job because everyone requires you to have experience. I would rather be at an acute
care setting like a hospital, but I have not met a lot of the hospital qualifications yet.
When and why did you decide to become a nurse?
I have enjoyed helping others for as long as I can remember. Taking care and caring for people came natural
to me. I grew up with 4 siblings and I’m the oldest child. I basically raised my siblings along with my parents.
For my senior project, we had to choose a career path and nursing was mine. During the speech in front of
class, tears were rolling down my face like raindrops. The speech touched my heart; at that point, I knew
nursing was my pathway. People touch our lives. Nurses touch peoples’ lives.
If you had it to do all over again, would you still be a nurse? Why or why not?
When times get rough, I wonder why I became a nurse. Nursing is one of the most stressful jobs out there.
You basically take your patients home with you. When I first started working as a nurse, insomnia was my
best friend. I stressed out about everything. Questions ran through my mind each day. Did I do the right
thing? Maybe there were things I should have done, maybe there were things I shouldn’t have done, or
maybe I missed something. Nursing is tough but I wouldn’t change my career unless I had to.
What was the most difficult part of nursing school (e.g. a specific class, talking to doctors as a student)?
I would have to say the hardest part for me in nursing school was doing all the paper work before clinical
(rotations at the hospital), memorizing all the patients’ medications and their history & physical…etc…I
remember pulling all nighters…crying before I headed out to clinical and hoping I didn’t mess up when a
question was asked.
Do you have to work a lot of late shifts and holidays? And how does this schedule affect your family and social life?
Nurses work through all the holidays. I work 3rd shift from 10pm to 7am. It’s doesn’t affect my family and
social life because I can request to have holidays off.
Please describe a typical day at work for you.
I first start out the night with a shift report from other nurses. Then, I would assess all my patients. After
that, I do my first round medication administration (there are two rounds of medication passes). Before the
second medication pass, I re-stock supplies needed for the morning. Then I clean up any loose ends before
laboratory or pharmacy comes. For instance, I collect specimens for laboratory so they can get it tested. I
also put away medications that arrived from the pharmacy.
Some nursing skills that I do are: change urinary foley catheter, change PICC line dressings, change wound
dressings as needed, hang up IV fluids including TPN, GT feedings, and more. One of the things that NOC
nurses sometimes do is call doctors. We usually don’t call doctors during the middle of the night. It depends
on how severe the situation is or if it’s an emergency. If not, we just wait till morning to handle the situation.
Of course nurses also carry out doctors’ orders like transcribing orders from doctors, ordering medication
from the pharmacy, setting up x-ray or EKGs for patients, etc. One of the most important tasks of the night is
to check certain equipment for infection control compliance like the temps of refrigerators that hold the
vaccines, specimens, and other laboratory specimens. Testing the glucometers is also important since we
use it every day.
At any kind of healthcare, job documentation is very important. I usually chart right before I do my last
medication round. When I get done, I just start my last medication pass and get ready for the AM shift. Then I
would report on all my patients to the first shift nurse.
How many patients are you responsible for at a time? How stressful is it taking care of all of them?
There are only two nurses for the whole facility during the night shift, so about 40 patients each nurse on 3rd
shift. Like I said earlier, nursing is one of the most stressful careers out there. People’s lives are in your
hands.
How much paperwork/record keeping is involved (e.g. medication errors, nursing care, charting)?
I do about 3 hours of charting every day on average. It depends on the patients; if there was a change in
condition that night or not. Remember, everything that we do as nurses is charted. Every single medication
that we give is charted. At times, I would not have time to finish my charting so I would wait and finish it after
my shift ends.
Do you have to talk with doctors often? And do you get nervous/intimidated doing it?
On 3rd shift you usually don’t talk to doctors unless it’s an emergency or something that can’t wait till
morning. As a new grad, everything is new to you so it’s very stressful. I do get nervous talking to the
doctors at times but not that intimidated. It’s pretty funny due to the fact that you talk to doctors and know
their names but have never seen most of their faces before. This one time I called a female doctor by a male
doctor’s name that was also working with our facility. :)
What is it like talking with the families of patients? Have any of them really made you mad?
Most of the time, family members are really cooperative and pleasant. They just want what’s best for their
loved ones. As a nurse, I treat my patients like my own parents or grandparents so I know why family
members do what they do. There are times when you can’t handle or answer family members’ questions and
that’s when you refer them to your supervisor. On 3rd shift we seldom have family visits. Once in a while,
we get follow up phone calls but that’s about it.
Has anyone under your care died? If so, how did that make you feel?
Yes, there have been patients who died in my care. It’s really sad to see a patient go, but usually it’s an
expected death. There was one death in particular that took a toll on me. I had a hard time getting over it. I
cried for two days off and on thinking about it. When patients die on nurses sometimes they wonder if the
outcome would be different if they had done something different.
What’s the most difficult thing you’ve had to do as a nurse (e.g. performing a procedure, giving bad news, etc)?
There are things that nurses have to do, procedures that they carry out each day but the hardest thing in my
opinion for a nurse is to bare all the stress that comes with nursing overall.
Was your perception of a nurse’s job accurate? If not, what are the differences?
People are not perfect. Nurses make medication errors each day. I remember my first night by myself, I
forgot to give one of my patients her medication and I had to fill out a medication error report. I even had to
notify the MD about the missed dose. All we can do is be extra careful and use the rights of medication
administration before giving that pill.
What information about being a nurse do you wish you had known before deciding on this career?
I didn’t realize how stressful nursing is until I worked as a nurse. I knew that nursing was hard and stressful
but didn’t really realize it until I experienced it. It’s the real world.
What advice do you have for students interested in becoming nurses?
If you are really serious, I would consider being a Certified Nursing Assistant first. It gives you a chance to be
around nurses and see what they really do; in addition, talk to a nurse. Interview them.
Is there anything else you would like students to know about being a nurse?
It’s tough, but can be very rewarding.
I attended Catawba Valley Community College School of Health and Public Services, and graduated with the
Class of 2010.
Where do you work? Why did you choose this venue and not another (e.g. doctor’s office, nursing home, etc.)?
I work at Cottonwood Healthcare Center (Nursing Home/ Post Acute Care Center). As a new grad it’s really
hard to find your initial job because everyone requires you to have experience. I would rather be at an acute
care setting like a hospital, but I have not met a lot of the hospital qualifications yet.
When and why did you decide to become a nurse?
I have enjoyed helping others for as long as I can remember. Taking care and caring for people came natural
to me. I grew up with 4 siblings and I’m the oldest child. I basically raised my siblings along with my parents.
For my senior project, we had to choose a career path and nursing was mine. During the speech in front of
class, tears were rolling down my face like raindrops. The speech touched my heart; at that point, I knew
nursing was my pathway. People touch our lives. Nurses touch peoples’ lives.
If you had it to do all over again, would you still be a nurse? Why or why not?
When times get rough, I wonder why I became a nurse. Nursing is one of the most stressful jobs out there.
You basically take your patients home with you. When I first started working as a nurse, insomnia was my
best friend. I stressed out about everything. Questions ran through my mind each day. Did I do the right
thing? Maybe there were things I should have done, maybe there were things I shouldn’t have done, or
maybe I missed something. Nursing is tough but I wouldn’t change my career unless I had to.
What was the most difficult part of nursing school (e.g. a specific class, talking to doctors as a student)?
I would have to say the hardest part for me in nursing school was doing all the paper work before clinical
(rotations at the hospital), memorizing all the patients’ medications and their history & physical…etc…I
remember pulling all nighters…crying before I headed out to clinical and hoping I didn’t mess up when a
question was asked.
Do you have to work a lot of late shifts and holidays? And how does this schedule affect your family and social life?
Nurses work through all the holidays. I work 3rd shift from 10pm to 7am. It’s doesn’t affect my family and
social life because I can request to have holidays off.
Please describe a typical day at work for you.
I first start out the night with a shift report from other nurses. Then, I would assess all my patients. After
that, I do my first round medication administration (there are two rounds of medication passes). Before the
second medication pass, I re-stock supplies needed for the morning. Then I clean up any loose ends before
laboratory or pharmacy comes. For instance, I collect specimens for laboratory so they can get it tested. I
also put away medications that arrived from the pharmacy.
Some nursing skills that I do are: change urinary foley catheter, change PICC line dressings, change wound
dressings as needed, hang up IV fluids including TPN, GT feedings, and more. One of the things that NOC
nurses sometimes do is call doctors. We usually don’t call doctors during the middle of the night. It depends
on how severe the situation is or if it’s an emergency. If not, we just wait till morning to handle the situation.
Of course nurses also carry out doctors’ orders like transcribing orders from doctors, ordering medication
from the pharmacy, setting up x-ray or EKGs for patients, etc. One of the most important tasks of the night is
to check certain equipment for infection control compliance like the temps of refrigerators that hold the
vaccines, specimens, and other laboratory specimens. Testing the glucometers is also important since we
use it every day.
At any kind of healthcare, job documentation is very important. I usually chart right before I do my last
medication round. When I get done, I just start my last medication pass and get ready for the AM shift. Then I
would report on all my patients to the first shift nurse.
How many patients are you responsible for at a time? How stressful is it taking care of all of them?
There are only two nurses for the whole facility during the night shift, so about 40 patients each nurse on 3rd
shift. Like I said earlier, nursing is one of the most stressful careers out there. People’s lives are in your
hands.
How much paperwork/record keeping is involved (e.g. medication errors, nursing care, charting)?
I do about 3 hours of charting every day on average. It depends on the patients; if there was a change in
condition that night or not. Remember, everything that we do as nurses is charted. Every single medication
that we give is charted. At times, I would not have time to finish my charting so I would wait and finish it after
my shift ends.
Do you have to talk with doctors often? And do you get nervous/intimidated doing it?
On 3rd shift you usually don’t talk to doctors unless it’s an emergency or something that can’t wait till
morning. As a new grad, everything is new to you so it’s very stressful. I do get nervous talking to the
doctors at times but not that intimidated. It’s pretty funny due to the fact that you talk to doctors and know
their names but have never seen most of their faces before. This one time I called a female doctor by a male
doctor’s name that was also working with our facility. :)
What is it like talking with the families of patients? Have any of them really made you mad?
Most of the time, family members are really cooperative and pleasant. They just want what’s best for their
loved ones. As a nurse, I treat my patients like my own parents or grandparents so I know why family
members do what they do. There are times when you can’t handle or answer family members’ questions and
that’s when you refer them to your supervisor. On 3rd shift we seldom have family visits. Once in a while,
we get follow up phone calls but that’s about it.
Has anyone under your care died? If so, how did that make you feel?
Yes, there have been patients who died in my care. It’s really sad to see a patient go, but usually it’s an
expected death. There was one death in particular that took a toll on me. I had a hard time getting over it. I
cried for two days off and on thinking about it. When patients die on nurses sometimes they wonder if the
outcome would be different if they had done something different.
What’s the most difficult thing you’ve had to do as a nurse (e.g. performing a procedure, giving bad news, etc)?
There are things that nurses have to do, procedures that they carry out each day but the hardest thing in my
opinion for a nurse is to bare all the stress that comes with nursing overall.
Was your perception of a nurse’s job accurate? If not, what are the differences?
People are not perfect. Nurses make medication errors each day. I remember my first night by myself, I
forgot to give one of my patients her medication and I had to fill out a medication error report. I even had to
notify the MD about the missed dose. All we can do is be extra careful and use the rights of medication
administration before giving that pill.
What information about being a nurse do you wish you had known before deciding on this career?
I didn’t realize how stressful nursing is until I worked as a nurse. I knew that nursing was hard and stressful
but didn’t really realize it until I experienced it. It’s the real world.
What advice do you have for students interested in becoming nurses?
If you are really serious, I would consider being a Certified Nursing Assistant first. It gives you a chance to be
around nurses and see what they really do; in addition, talk to a nurse. Interview them.
Is there anything else you would like students to know about being a nurse?
It’s tough, but can be very rewarding.
| Nurse Interview |
| Ms. Lisa Saephan |
