Renee Natole RN
I been a nurse for over 30 years in the United States since graduating in 1991. I wanted to be a nurse for as long as I can remember. I remember while I was in high school my fellow classmates were trying to figure out what college degree they wanted or even what they wanted to be when they grew up. I remember thinking I knew what I wanted, and it was to help people, and nursing was it for me. I just needed to figure out the path of how to acquire my nursing education. I started out my career as a nurse aid. I remember thinking as I was starting out my career, I realized that I would not be able to save people’s lives all the time, but hopefully I would be able to make a terrible situation better or even improve the person’s quality of life I was caring for.
While I was working as a nurse aid I studied and got my associate degree in nursing also known as a Registered Nurse/RN. I continued my education while working to acquire a bachelor’s degree/BSN and continued to acquire my master’s in nursing /MSN. I have worked in many areas of nursing in the US including long term care, in patient medical surgical areas, the Intensive care unit, the education of new nursing staff and new hires, worked with palliative care team and I am now working in an outpatient care clinic. I look back over the last 30 years and have seen so many changes in nursing including electronic charting to include bar code administration, different types of isolations and a pandemic.
I could not have chosen a better career for myself given the number of lives that I have changed and that have also impacted my life. My advice to anyone getting into this profession is to remember to treat your patients how would you like to be treated, and that someday that could be you.