By Sola Ogundipe

“I believe a nurse can work in any health organisation, pharmaceutical company or a company with health needs because nurses are needed 24/7 and the possibilities are limitless; there is always an opportunity for employment.

Cheryl Ukegbu

The nurse is like a project manager because the principles in the nursing professional structure are very similar to project management. A project manager is an objective arbitrator whose duty is to implement and lead successful projects. As a nurse, the primary goal is to lead the patient towards wellness.

The nurse has to use a method of problem solving called the nursing process, which is assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation (ADPIE). The nursing process helps the nurse to deliver efficient and effective nursing care.

I learned earlier in my nursing career that the best way to do my job well was to make the patient the priority. I also learned that everything will still fall back on the nurse one way or the other. As a nurse, you are responsible for your patient’s bathing, feeding, medication administration, treatments and the list goes on, so it is best to make sure things are in place and in order.

Inspiration: I wanted to be a lawyer actually; I was always good with reading and analysing issues critically. The thing I loved about nursing is that I could help people, make a difference, job flexibility and the ability to still earn a good living. Even though I wanted to study law, everything about me kept going back to nursing.  I also saw more opportunities to form the nursing profession into what I wanted it to be.  My nursing job also helped me pay for my other degrees and provided some of the capital for my start-up company.

Nursing career

I have always been in the health profession in one aspect or another because I believe it always worked out better for me. On the weekends and during the summer holidays from university I worked in medical information technology in the medical records department, and in the emergency room as a health information tech.  I have been working in health care industry for about 10-11 years in various positions.  I started my nursing career as a certified nursing assistant and wanted more responsibility so I went back to school to become a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN).  While I worked as an LPN, I went back to school to become a Registered Nurse. From there, I continued with my education and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Management Studies and later a Masters in Business Administration with a concentration in Healthcare Management from The George Washington University.  I practically worked my way up and that is why I can relate with people in the health industry the way I do.

Memorable encounter: While working at an underprivileged and homeless community clinic in Washington, DC, the one thing that got me was a 14-year old  Cameroonian female who came in for a pregnancy test, and we found out that she was pregnant and HIV positive. It was very hard to reveal this to her and that was when I knew what this profession was serious business. On getting to know about her condition, the 14-year old begged us not to tell her parents and was impregnated by a 27-years old male. Not long after, there was another teenager with the same situation. What was shocking was that they were very young Africans girls. That experience really just shocked me as a new nurse.

Limitations

As a nurse in the United States, the Nurse Practice Act is a set of laws enacted by the state regulating safe and appropriate nursing practice.   For example, a doctor orders for a certain medication to be injected into the patient’s subcutaneous tissue. The nurse knows that the particular medication is only meant to be administered in the muscle but the nurse administers the injection as ordered by the doctor.

In a legal case, the nurse would be most liable because he/she was the one who gave the medication to the patient that caused the injury by injecting the medication at the wrong site.

It is the nurses’ responsibility to the patient to question and crosscheck any inappropriate orders written by the doctor. As a nurse, you must always lookout for your patient’s best interest and never follow an unsafe order. In protecting the patient, the nurse is also protecting his/her license.  Patient safety is always the number one priority.  A nurse should always keep it in mind that ignoring an incorrect doctor’s order or treatment plan is negligence.

Advice to nurses: Nurses should improve themselves by seeking more education and training.    Nursing is an art and a science. Most nursing schools in the US require courses in liberal arts like sociology and psychology which helps teach nurses the various ways people think and better ways to relate to different people.

I feel that the Nigerian government should offer more nursing scholarship.  There is a shortage of adequately trained Registered Nurses in Nigeria and offering scholarships would be beneficial.  I would also encourage nurses to go back to school for advanced degrees and contribute towards nursing research.