"Healthcare: More Than a Job"

Healthcare is more than a paycheck or a profession—it's a commitment to caring for others. In this segment, an experienced healthcare professional shares what makes healthcare so rewarding, the challenges that come with the job, and the advice she would give anyone considering a career in medicine. From celebrating patient progress to navigating difficult moments, this conversation offers an honest look at the heart of healthcare.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

What's the most rewarding part about your job? Oh my gosh, everything. I know that sounds crazy. Um, but just having patience, I'm so glad you're here. Or thank you. Or well, you didn't tell me to do uh even the you know, the little harsher ones, you know, they still bring such great joy. Yeah. Um and seeing progress, you know, seeing their A1Cs decrease, seeing their blood pressures be more controlled, um, seeing that they get to the cardiologist or the neurologist or the nephrologist. Um, you know, just being able to be a part of their lives and to care for them, even when they don't want it, I guess would be a good way to put it, but it's just it's a blessing. It there's no two ways about it. Um even your most difficult patient, there's a blessing in there somewhere. Um so I I say I get to go to work, I don't have to go to work. Right. It's a get-to thing, not a got-to thing. Yeah. Um, I just I love my patients. I do. Yeah. I I love them and I worry about them and I pray for them and I think of them and I honestly care about them. What advice would you give someone interested in going into healthcare? If you think it's about making money, it's the wrong thing to do. Um if you think it's about having this cakewalk schedule, it's the wrong thing to do. Um if you wear your feelings on your sleeve, it's the wrong thing to do. Um twenty years ago. Yeah, a little over twenty years ago, night shift, ER, trauma center, rough night, rough night. Emotional, physical, mental. It was just a rough night. And I can remember one of my colleagues, one of my other nurses that I was working with was just absolutely complaining. Granted, we all have to spout off sometimes. We all have to just kind of let it roll. But this was, I mean, it felt like for a 12-hour shift, it felt like 11 hours was just constant, you know. And I'm pretty sure things at home were okay. You know, we often drag things at home to work with us. We can't help it, we're human. Um this night was particularly rough. I mean, we had had a child death. We had had, I mean, there it you name it, it was hitting us every which way but sideways. And I'm still thinking it might have been hitting us sideways too. But just hearing this person nag and nag and negative and negative and negative. I mean, it was relentless. And I finally am like, no one forced you to become a nurse. You chose this. Yeah. You know, if if this isn't for you, you need to do something different. And I think I stopped everybody at that moment, and they're just like looking at me and I'm like, I'm sorry. But enough's enough. You know, no one twisted your arm and made you become a nurse. And I still think that's to this day, you know, you're not being forced into healthcare. It's a choice you're making. But if you're making it to get rich or to have a cakewalk schedule, or to have all the bells and whistles and Star Spangled Banner, think again. It is it is truly grunt work. It is emotional, it is taxing, it's frustrating. I mean, you know, you name it, you'll go through all the emotions. But if you have a heart to give selflessly and not take anything personal, you can't take you cannot take anything personal from the folks you work with to the people you care for. You cannot take things personal. Um, then yeah, go for it.