What If... I Wasn’t a Nurse?

I spent my teenage years working at the local VA hospital in the kitchen helping with food preparation and serving meals to our veterans.

In my 20’s, I became a nursing assistant and worked at that same VA hospital in their psychiatric unit and nursing home.

At the age of 26, I went back to school and got my RN degree (ADN).

In my 30’s, 40’s and now 50’s, I have worked as an RN. I just passed my 20th year as a nurse.

So what if I had never become a nurse? What would my life be like? What would I be doing?

I have been wondering about this lately and can’t seem to imagine my life any other way. I think about all the lives I’ve touched and all those people who have touched my life, helping me to become the person I am today.

What if I have never met any of those people who changed me, taught me things I would never have learned elsewhere and inspired me to be a better person? To be happy?

I know I would be a different person and I don’t think it would have been for the better.

I was a shy, introvert with no confidence in myself and I didn’t even know who I was.

Nursing helped me find myself, gave me a voice and made me feel confident.

What if? No more what ifs, I became a nurse and it was the best decision I have ever made. It was tough and the road here wasn’t always easy to follow but I like to think that without me, all those people’s lives I have touched would also be different as well. I believe their lives are better because of me.

I was their advocate, teacher, mentor and friend. I helped them in difficult times and laughed with them when the news was good.

That "what if" is now, I am Proud to be a Nurse!

8 Key Traits of Great Nurses

I could hardly wait to write this article. Why? Because I have always felt that – in general (disclaimer so I don't offend anyone) – you have to possess a certain type of personality to be a great nurse. The question is: Are there common denominators to the personality of nurses? I say, yes!

■Sense of humor. I have found this to be one of the definite nursing characteristics. We may, at times, have "darker" humor than others, but we have experienced things in our professional life that would not be complete without the little sarcastic comment or funny pun thrown into the mix. It's what keeps us going in the tough times!


■Professionalism. I have been in other professions and in the military. I have always found that nurses understand what professionalism and ethics are and apply these qualities to their practice each day. It is comforting to work with professionals on a daily basis.


■Diligence. Nurses are some of the hardest-working and energetic people I know. Does anyone disagree? We work hard on the job for 8, 10, or 13 hours a day, have the energy to go to our home lives and families, and are up and running to do it again the next day!


■Compassion. Nurses get it! Simple as that. We understand nursing relationships and when someone tells a sad story or has a chronic illness. Maybe we haven't lived through such circumstances, but we just understand and seem to know what to say and what to do to help and comfort.


■Sense of deeper understanding to life. We have seen some of the worst parts of life, dealt with patient death, and understand and appreciate the truly important aspects of life. We tend not to care about the toilet seat being up or about a dirty dish donning our sink. We understand what is important in life and focus on that.


■Sense of hope for what to others may seem hopeless. How many times have you heard a patient tell the worst story you have ever heard about a chronic illness, and seen a nurse immediately smile and offer the positives to that patient? I have seen it many times and it never ceases to amaze me. It is not something we were taught - just something we simply are!


■We never say never. "Sure, I can pick up that 13 hour shift on Sunday." "No problem taking care of an extra patient today." Just a couple of examples of the endless "never say never" spirit of nurses.This spirit makes us seem as if we can accomplish anything at anytime!


■Sense of pride in saying "I'm a nurse". Not to offend anyone out there, but I have known several lawyers in my life. I have never heard one of them admit in public what he/she does for a living…mmmmm. Anyway, nurses are always quick and proud to say "I'm a nurse" – loud and clear. And why not, great nurses? Look at our wonderful personalities and all we do for others each day!

One Nurse's Secret Success to the State Boards

The last few months of nursing school can sometimes be the most stressful. You are studying constantly, preparing care plans for your clinicals, as well as caring for more complicated patients. You may be job hunting, interviewing and updating (or developing) your nursing resume. With everything coming at you at once, the last thing you may be thinking about is your nursing state boards. But the truth is, you better be thinking about them since they are just around the corner!

There are formal review classes for the boards as well as online classes offered, not to mention your own study group if you happen to belong to one. You no doubt have volumes of your old notes and books to help you prepare. But what is the best way to study for boards? I have a method that worked for me and I know it will work for you! You will enter into the testing arena with the confidence that you are ready to take the most important exam of your life! And you will excel!

Toward the end of my senior year in nursing school, I purchased a large silver book for my own personal review choice. At the risk of sounding like a commercial, I will tell you it was Mosby's Comprehensive Review of Nursing and it was one of the wisest purchases of my life!

As I paged through the huge book (and I mean huge), I became overwhelmed. It was more than I could handle. I quickly set it aside for another day.

Eventually I had to face the reality that graduation was only a few months away and I had to get busy. Procrastination was not an option. I opened the monster sized book to become familiar with it. I discovered it was divided into sections labeled "Med/Surg" (which was by far the largest), Psych, Pediatrics, OB, etc. I bought colored paperclips and clipped off each section with a different color (just for fun, really).

The next thing I did was to give myself a time limit. For example, Med Surg would take me 2-3 weeks to review, Peds, about 5 days, OB about 1 -2 weeks, etc. I decided to bite off one piece at a time and I chose to start with Med/Surg.

I opened Mosby's to that giant section and found that it was set up as multiple choice questions (just as I was used to from class) and that the answers were all in the back. Now I had to decide if I would try to do the self testing or not. I decided not to self test since that could put incorrect answers in my mind and I only wanted to see correct answers. I was already too stressed. I went through the whole section and circled the correct answers. I didn't want to waste time. I then studied the section over and over to look at the questions with the circled (and correct) answers.

I'm so glad I reviewed with "the big silver book," because I will tell you my most amazing nurse story. When I finally found myself face to face with the state board exams, some of the exact same questions from Mosby's were on the test! The wording of some of the questions was taken directly from the book I had spent weeks studying from! It was a miracle! I almost felt as though I had cheated, though I had not.

Needless to say, the hard work during nursing school and my beloved instructors had a lot to do with my success. I had worked hard and studied hard. It was no breeze and I cannot say the experience was easy by any means, but I can promise one thing. Studying for the nursing state board exams was vital to passing and becoming a registered nurse. It was hard, but worth it! And thank you, again, to Mosby's Comprehensive Review of Nursing!

LOL, This is so me...Anyone else?

What Being a Nurse Means to Me


Having a caring heart, enjoying knowing that I have made a difference in someone's life. Just the knowing that you have just touched even one person makes all the difference. Hearing the patient say "great to know that you are back because you have been the nicest nurse I have had". Once a nurse always a nurse and even when I am off-duty, I still try to help people and this story tells it all!