I chose to interview my friend Samantha that completed her schooling last year as a registered nurse. She completed her associate’s degree in nursing at our local community college and it took her approximately 3 years to achieve. While in school she did both classwork and also clinical training. Her clinical training was done at a hospital and also at a nursing facility, this was to further her experience with hands on practice while being observed and supervised.
To obtain her license she had to pass all her classwork and clinical training, once this was achieved she then had to pass the required NCLEX-RN (National Council Licensure Examination-Registered Nurse) to obtain her license. She currently works at a hospital in our state but also at a hospital in another state, to do this she had to take that states NCLEX-RN before she was eligible to work in it. Both of the hospitals have similar job duties that she performs on a regular basis.
They include direct and indirect patient care such as safety, personal hygiene, administering medications, filling out paperwork and setting up the schedules for her subordinates. Depending on the patients she may also have to do skin tests and draw blood for labs. There are times where she has to take action and change the treatment as she finds needed without the approval of the lead Physician, as she works the overnight shift they are rarely on duty when she is.
Her primary responsibility is to maintain the health and safety of all her patients, which can be hard when the hospitals are understaffed and full of patients that are in need of constant medical care. She is also continuing her education to become a Nurse Practitioner, she is unsure if she will like it or not but knows that the salary difference is enough to continue her education.