Dear
Future Nurse

Dear Future Nurse, 
      

I heard that you were considering nursing as a career, so I had to write. I’ve been a nurse for 6 decades. What an adventure it has been – and I am still working! I was drawn to nursing by my Aunt Anne who was an Army Nurse in the Second World War. It was not so much the nursing work but the opportunity to travel the world, as my aunt did, that drew me in. My father endorsed my career choice and supported my enrolling in a 4-year BSN program despite warnings that educating a woman was a waste of money. My mother did not think I could be a “good nurse” because of my poor bedmaking skills –– the corners were never crisp, and the bedspread drops never matched. Nevertheless, here I am decades later – nurse, psychologist, professor, author, editor and who knows what’s ahead. 

I chose psychiatric nursing as my area of practice after my student experience at the US Naval Hospital during the Cuban Missile crisis. I was struck by the effects of good care on the young men stressed and breaking down in the throes of impending war. I worked as a staff nurse in psychiatric hospitals for three years, and oddly enough never had to make a bed. Hmmm, perhaps that is why I gravitated to psychiatric nursing. I experienced my first “CR,” career restlessness, 4 years into my career, which took me back to school for an MSN in Psychiatric Nursing after which I worked in Staff Development, orienting and teaching nursing staff on best practices. I loved having the run of the hospital, working with all levels of care staff, designing programs, and improving care. After leaving my hospital position, I developed a private practice travelling across the US conducting assertiveness training workshops for nurses.   I then ventured into nursing education and eventually was Director of a hospital school of nursing. I was fired from that position for protesting an administrative decision. Being fired catalyzed my side-career as a writer of articles and textbooks and eventually as editor of a Nursing journal, a position that I held for 45 years. My deep interest in working with those with mental disorders fueled my pursuit of a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology which enhanced my teaching, writing and private practice in the mental health field. Had Nurse Practitioner programs been available when I pursued my doctorate, I surely would have entered a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner program and eventually opened my own clinic now that NP’s can practice independently in at least 25 US states. Can you see yourself having your own practice, your own clinic, serving a community in need?

I can think of no other profession with the range of opportunities to integrate one’s skills, interests, former degrees, or work experience. If you are technologically inclined the path may be emergency or critical care nursing or if you are tired of sitting in front of that computer screen and want rich, human contact and purpose, the path may be hospital staff nursing, pediatric nursing, or home health nursing. Imagine caring for patients and families on their own turf immersed in their family dynamics and cultural traditions. Let’s say you have a business degree and have worked successfully in the business sector; your organizational and analytic skills will easily translate into your own nursing practice/business. You may be a high school teacher ready for a change, not only caring for patients but “teaching” self-care. Second-degree students have often had indelible health care experiences – being cared for by nurses during a serious illness, watching nurses care for loved ones who eventually pulled through, being comforted by nurses through a dire situation. And many, like you and me, are searching for meaning, for opportunities to make a difference.

I recall a conversation with a young attorney who had applied to a second-degree nursing program. She worked primarily with malpractice clients and thought that having a nursing degree would give her not only a deeper understanding of care issues, but also an opportunity to influence legislative bodies that regulate nursing practice. And then there was the middle-aged man with a degree in mortuary sciences who explained that he now wanted to use his comforting skills to work with and care for the living.

BAYADA Education’s approach to nursing education will respect your need to learn, excel and become a change agent. The clinical experiences combine academic knowledge and clinical practice in unique ways that integrate the student into the care team from the first course.

A nursing career is like a giant cornucopia providing an abundance of meaning, good fortune, life satisfaction and opportunities for creativity. And, as my father would say, “the pay isn’t all that bad, either.”  If you want to change your life, serve others, make a difference – choose nursing!

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