Personal Statement: A Career As A Nurse

I didn’t always want to be a nurse. When I was in middle school, I wanted to be a math teacher. It was when I discovered I had a natural ability to remain calm in emergency situations when I knew a medical profession was for me. My dad describes this ability as "flipping a switch". I believe this will make me a better caregiver for patients, because if they see I am calm it may help to calm them.

I used this "flipping the switch" on one of my many mission trips. Someone almost ripped off their toenail. An adult raced off to get the first aid kit and asked who would patch him up. She didn’t want to do it, and you could tell from the pale faces of the others, they wouldn't be able to help him. I volunteered, as everyone else was too squeamish, to assist the injured man. The nail of his big toe was pulled back, hanging on by only the cuticle. Getting in my "zone", I began to clean his wound and tried to control the bleeding as best I could. Afterwards, my dad told me I was the calmest one at the scene and I looked as if I was trained in first aid, although I was a complete novice.

I remain calm and don't panic, even when someone's life is resting in my hands. On my first trauma call, a victim of assault, who was initially responsive and alert, became unconscious. Immediately, the EMT and I jumped into action, checking his vitals and level of responsiveness. He was stable, but unresponsive to all stimuli. This level of unresponsiveness placed the patient in the trauma category alpha, the most urgent category. We promptly transported him to a trauma center, continuing to monitor their vitals en-route, where we transferred him over to the doctor on duty. When we were back on the ambulance the EMT told me that I did very well and he was surprised at how calm and collected I stayed considering this was the first trauma I had ever