As we welcome the 70 recent new graduate RNs who are joining our UAMS nursing team this summer, I’ve reflected back on the early days of my nursing career. I went to nursing school because I wanted to care for patients at the bedside. I started my career as a new grad nurse in the newborn nursery and pediatrics unit at St. Joseph’s in Hot Springs, and I loved my job and the relationships I built with my patients, their parents and the team on my unit. The only change I envisioned at the time was perhaps moving up into unit leadership, but still working directly with my patients and their families. After several years at St. Joseph’s, I started a new job at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. There I found myself on the other end of the Angel Flight trip, taking care of sick premature babies after they landed in Little Rock instead of preparing them for transport in Hot Springs. At both ends of the journey, it was so rewarding to know there was hope for these tiny babies and their parents.
Fortunately, doors opened, and my career took a pleasant but surprising turn, including working many years as an APRN caring for congenital heart patients. This was where I learned about not only complex congenital heart disease, but also care management and social determinants of care, as well as leadership. As I took on more and more administrative and leadership roles, I continued to work shifts as an APRN at Children’s for several years after I came to UAMS in 2011 because I so loved my time at the bedside.
This flexibility is one of the things I love most about nursing. There are so many different career paths you can choose to fit both your lifestyle and passions. Here at UAMS alone, we have nurses who teach, nurses who care for patients, nurses who care for patients using telemedicine, nurses who focus on quality improvement, informatics, regulatory issues and payment issues, trauma nurses, pediatric and geriatric nurses, and nurses who conduct research — the list goes on and on.
No matter what professional role nurses are in, I’ve found that they are also tremendous mentors, career coaches, life coaches, guides and just generally wise people. My advice to the new grads, other young nurses and those who may just be looking for a change is to reach out to more experienced UAMS nurses and ask for advice about opportunities to grow. Another way to grow is to volunteer to become a subject matter expert for a project in your area. These often open doors and lead to new career opportunities.
UAMS is a large, dynamic institution, and new doors open every day. I hope you will take advantage of these opportunities to advance your career and see where the path may lead you. Look for opportunities to expand your knowledge, skills and passions. Our new grads are blank slates right now, and we all have a responsibility to help them begin to write the story of their nursing career. Think back to your early days and the people who helped you write your story. Remember the people you laughed and cried with, and become those people for this generation of young nurses.
This is why I love nursing. The possibilities for finding our own unique passions are truly endless. If you haven’t already done so, explore all the opportunities at UAMS and find yours.
Trenda