by Tammy L Mahan

Created on: July 04, 2007

"Keys to Success for Nurses"

As a former nurse, I found out the hard way that not everyone is cut out to be a successful nurse. My personal story is important, I feel strongly that shared nursing experiences is KEY to finding your own success.

At the age of 20, I was employed in the Intensive Care Unit at my local, rural hospital. (Having a supervisor for a mother, helped me obtain this position.)

That was my first mistake, fresh out of nursing school and just barley 20 years old. While I was textbook smart and knew all the latest procedures, I was to eager to dive in head first, I ended up on my butt! While I never endangered or "killed" a patient. I found out, that emotional I was not stable enough to peruse my nursing career at least in ICU. I am to sensitive of a person to watch a person of any age die, while I tried my best to save them. I had the hardest time, with the teenagers and people my age. Most of my patients were multiple trauma victims, from car accidents. I seemed to always get the ones that were destine to die. Perhaps this was God's way of showing me, while I had a strong desire to help people, I was going about it the wrong way. I lasted just a year, in the ICU, then moved on to Cardiology, which was a lot better, a lot less of my patients died and I was able to interact with them as they were not all comatose. To make a long story short, I practiced as a nurse for 2 years, I had a "mini, nervous breakdown" when my 28 year old patient, who was doing fine and going home the next day. During the wee hours of the morning he went into Ventricular Tachycardia. I was not aware of his condition as his heart monitor had already been removed. Needless to say at rounds, he was unresponsive and not breathing. Despite every effort to revive him, it was a failed attempt. That was my last night as a nurse.

Keys to Success for Nurses

1) Emotional Strength: You must be able to accept death as a part of life, especially when it is unexpected.

2) Believe that God the Creator or whom ever you believe in, has a plan and a purpose for everyone and everything. Even when we don't understand.

3) Flexibly: You must be willing to work odd hours, long hours, weekends and at least every other holiday. If your going to work in a hospital.

4) Start out slow, don't jump into a unit (such as ICU) as your first nursing job. Start on a medical floor and if you want to you can transfer later when your better prepared for that type of patient care.

5) Always know, no matter what the outcome of your patients are, you did your very best.

Last and most importantly always remember!

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

-Reinhold Niebuhr

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