Growing in the nursing profession

Ever since I can remember I have wanted to be a nurse. My mom actually has a picture of me at age four with my toy stethoscope up to my baby sister’s chest. My mom was a nurse and my grandmother, who I adored, worked in a hospital.

I loved to hear their hospital stories with happy endings of people getting better. When I turned 16, all my friends got jobs at clothing stores and restaurants. They thought I was crazy that I went through a CNA program and started working at the hospital. I enjoyed the job and the chance to help people in need. 

During my freshman year of college, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. To go through that experience with her, and to see the difference her nurses made in her care, reinforced my desire to be a nurse. I believe that the patient should be treated as a person and not just as a diagnosis. The nurse needs to care for all aspects of the patient not just the physical aspect and also include the family in the care. This allows the patient to feel that the nurse truly cares about their well-being, and I believe that makes a difference in the patient’s recovery. 

The wonderful thing about nursing as a career is all of the different things you can do. I believe nurses should never be burned out because there are so many other avenues they can explore if they are unhappy with their current position. I can’t think of another profession that allows you to give so much and enables you to be so flexible. My nursing career has changed as my life circumstances needed it to. I started out in a hospital on a busy surgical floor. Then I went to work for an orthopedic physician in his clinic and also assisted him in surgery. I was a traveling nurse for a couple of years and lived in a variety of places with some of my favorites being Tampa, Fla., Phoenix, Ariz. and of course Maui, Hawaii. 

I now work at Menorah Medical Center in Overland Park, Kan. and am grateful for the experiences I have had. Everyone here supports my career. I have grown from a staff nurse to a charge nurse to an educator and now serve as the program manager of the Joint and Spine Center. I am an example of how you can advance in your nursing career. I believe education is a wonderful thing in nursing and something that can never be taken away from you. I recently graduated from the Research College of Nursing with my master’s degree, which opens the window of opportunities even wider. 

Nursing has been very good to me and I hope that I have returned the favor to the nursing profession. No matter which position I have been in, I have always thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope someday my daughter, although only 2-years-old now, will follow in my footsteps and choose nursing as her profession.

Kari Liggett, RN, MSN, serves as manager of the Joint and Spine Program at Menorah Medical Center.

Trackback(0)

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Write comment