Position: Mobile Pool Nurse for Baycare Hospitals

Education:  Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing Medical Surgical Certification ANCC (BSN, RN, BC)

What inspired Maggie to become a nurse at first was having a career that would  guarantee her a job after graduating. Once Maggie started her clinicals and dealing with sick people, she realized how important nursing was.  She felt that being by her patients bedsides and helping them feel better was such a rewarding experience.  

Maggie’s path started when she was first a medical cardiac nurse.  A few years ago, she became a float nurse and fell in love with it.  She has the ability to work in different fields, units, and hospitals and to experience something new everyday at work.  

The roles she performs at work is assessing and monitoring patients and assisting any patients with pain and symptom management.  She also calls doctors for any critical labs and any needs a patient may have. Maggie does discharge planning so that her patients may go home or to a skilled nursing facility.  

The most rewarding aspect of Maggie’s career is helping her patients feel better, making them smile, and holding their hand as they recover.  Her favorite part is hearing from her patients and them thanking her and telling her how she is such an amazing nurse. 

 The most surprising aspect for Maggie is how nursing school prepares you to take the board, but working beside is what really teaches you.  Maggie says that the most important thing for a nurse is to be hands on. 

The challenges she faces is dealing with doctors that don’t respond to emergency phone calls or situations.  Sometimes doctors don’t want to speak to their patients or their families to answer any of their questions. 

Advice Maggie has for any future nurses is that you must love dealing with people of different cultures and backgrounds.  You must have a strong stomach because you will deal with all sorts of bodily fluids. A nurse must have patience and learn to smile when dealing with difficult situations because there will be angry patients and families.  Most importantly, Maggie says you must love what you do as a nurse and at the end of the day the most important thing that matters are the patients.

What I have learned and taken away from interviewing Maggie is that a nurse will face many challenges when working, but the most rewarding thing is being able to help people.