CAREER PATHWAY ASSESSMENT
Career Pathway Assessment: Reflection on career path in nursing
Stephanie Shaw
UIN: 00766419
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements in the course
NUR 401: Career Pathway Development
Old Dominion University
NORFOLK, VIRGINIA
Spring, 2013
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Career Pathways Assessment: Reflection on career path in nursing
Nursing was a career choice that came later in my life. I was in my sixth year in the
Navy, serving as a Supply Officer, when I had an opportunity that changed my life. The year
was 2008, and I was working in a desk job that I had little passion or interest for. A coworker was talking about reading a newspaper advertising that the hospital ship, USNS
MERCY, was looking for volunteers for their Southeast Asian Humanitarian Deployment. I
was living in Bremerton, WA all alone, it was February, and seemed to be raining and dark
outside every day. I had always enjoyed overseas deployments in the past, and this
sounded like just the ticket I needed to escape my boring desk job and get out of the rain.
At the time, I was single with no kids, so that very day, I emailed the ship’s Supply Officer
and told him I was interested. In less than 24 hours, I heard back from him and he told me
that they would start working on my orders, and I would report to sunny San Diego that
upcoming April. Throughout the deployment, the ship visited 6 different countries and
provided medical care to people in need. While witnessing healthcare professionals
changing lives for the better, my interest in nursing was born. I enjoyed my time in the
Navy, and loved the people I met and the travel, but my job itself offered little satisfaction.
While on deployment I became close with many of the Navy Nurses, and was struck by the
enthusiasm and passion they had towards nursing, that I became interested in a career in
nursing. I loved the feeling I had while working in different countries providing support for
those in need; I truly feel it was at this time that I found my true calling to become a nurse.
Nursing has been the end result of many different choices and experiences in my life, and
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now that I have found it I want to hone my skills and become the best nurse I can be for my
patients, my employer and myself.
Educational Experiences
I was born in Illinois, and spent the first 22 years of my life there. After graduating
from public high school in 1998, I went to The University of Illinois to pursue a Bachelor’s
degree in Marketing. While applying for colleges, I never really gave my major too much
thought. Having parents that highly value education, college was always an expected
course of action, but at the time I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life. I
have always been very envious of those people who had a clear career focus from an early
age. My focus was strictly on finishing my degree within four years, and getting out of
Illinois. Marketing was a major that sounded good to me, not too hard, and I figured the
details would come into focus throughout the next four years.
Unfortunately, the details of my career path never came into focus and I found
myself graduating with a degree I had little interest in, and not a clue as to what I wanted to
do. The marketing jobs I was offered all involved sitting in a cubicle, wearing pumps and
an uncomfortable suit, and the thought of doing that day after day depressed me. It was at
that time, that I decided to join the Navy. I had a degree, but no attractive job prospects, so
I figured I would join the Navy, see the world, and earn some money in the mean time.
Like any military experience, my Navy journey began with Boot Camp. I was pretty
sheltered and spoiled growing up, so this was a wake-up call to say the least. After a couple
days of getting yelled at, a really bad haircut and marching in snow I thought I had made a
huge mistake. I would think about my friends back in Chicago, hanging out and going to the
bars and wonder what had I signed myself up for? As time went on, I started learning a lot
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about the core values of the Navy, teamwork and the concept of doing your best in all
aspects of life. For lack of a better expression, I learned the Navy Core Values of honor,
courage and commitment. This was the first time in my life that my actions and effort
exerted, directly affected my outcomes. By leaving my hometown, and the comfort of the
life I had known my whole life, I truly gained a sense of self and motivation to become
better in my personal and professional life.
Throughout the next 7 years in the Navy, I had many formal classes and schools, but
the best educational experience was the life experience I gained from meeting and working
with people all over the world, traveling to 22 countries, and living in four different places,
including Sardinia, Italy. The Navy taught me many things about myself, and in a very
round about way, taught me that I wanted to pursue nursing.
After I returned home from my final deployment on the USNS MERCY, I enrolled in
night school to start taking my nursing pre-requisites. I decided at this point that I wanted
to get out of the Navy to pursue Nursing, but I still had another year committed to the Navy
before I could get out. In May 2010, I was Honorably Discharged from the Navy, and began
Nursing School at Tidewater Community College (TCC) that fall. This program was pivotal
for me because it confirmed my interest in healthcare, and gave me the self-confidence I
needed to work with patients, and become a nurse. It concreted all my plans, and made
nursing a reality.
Work Experiences
As stated earlier, the majority of my work experience has been in the Navy as a
Supply Officer. While in nursing school, I worked for Tidewater Community College as an
Anatomy and Philosophy (A&P) supplemental instructor (SI). As an SI my role was to serve
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as an assistant to the professor, and hold tutoring sessions, and open labs. Through this
experience, I learned that I really enjoy teaching, and helping people understand concepts.
I learned how to assess the learner’s needs and attempt to cater my teaching method for
them. A&P is a very challenging course, and it is also a pre-requisite for most nursing
programs. The students were very motivated to learn because their acceptance into a good
nursing school was based on success in the class. I felt like a partner in their success in the
class, and it was great to see their hard work pay off.
Being a new graduate, I am just beginning my first job as a nurse. I currently work
at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughter on their Telemetry, Monitored-bed unit. On
my floor we see many different diagnosis types from renal patients to cardiac, to post-op
and just about everything in between. Throughout school, I had the opportunity to work at
CHKD for clinicals, and I had my student-transition preceptorship in their Emergency
Room. Teaching is one of the things I also enjoy now in my role as a pediatric nurse.
When dealing with pediatric patients, many times the teaching is focused on the family. In
pediatrics, including the whole family in the plan of care for the patient is essential. This
job is also teaching me the importance of communication and teamwork in a hospital
environment. CHKD is a teaching hospital, so the patients have very large healthcare
teams, made up of the residents, attendings, etc. Because there are so many “cooks in the
kitchen” at times, good communication through accurate and thorough documentation is a
must. Also as a nurse, thoroughly reading through your patients chart and all the orders is
imperative. There are so many things going on at one time with patients, that as a nurse
you really have to stay on top of the changing status and plan of care.
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Professional and Community Involvement
Prior to working at CHKD, I volunteered there. I worked with their Child Life
Department helping the patients adjust to the hospital environment. While on The USNS
MERCY, we did a lot of work with Operation Smile, and from the start, I always thought I
had an interest in pediatrics, but my volunteer experience with CHKD solidified this.
Through volunteering, I learned to become comfortable with really sick kids. The site of a
child with a bald head from chemotherapy, or a tracheotomy can be off-putting at first, but
through my volunteer work, I came to realize that they are just regular kids and want to be
treated that way. There is nothing to be afraid of or nervous about.
I have also had the pleasure of being involved with The Virginia Nurses Association.
In nursing school, I was one of their scholarship recipients, and through that I became
involved with them. Now, as a new nurse I am excited to have the opportunity to join their
organization, and attend meetings as a nurse. Being exposed to a professional
organization, helped me see the importance of being involved with fellow nurses, and see
how an organization can be a change agent to make the profession of nursing better.
Self-assessment
As a nurse, assessment is a very familiar skill, but assessing a patient is much easier
than assesing yourself. As a nurse, and in my personal life, I highly value the importance of
forming trusting relationships and bonds with other people. I think that we all have similar
joys and struggles in life, and forming bonds through community and family is the best way
to live. I am interested in relating to my patients, and helping them through whatever issue
they have. I can’t emphasize enough, how much I value the importance of kindness and
warmth toward patients and their families. Safety and quality medical care is vital, but I
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also think the therapeutic relationship that is formed is critical.
My weakness as a nurse
is that I am a new graduate, and there are many intricacies of the hospital environment in
which I am still a novice. With time this will improve, and each shift I work, I gain a little
more confidence.
Some of my strengths are that I am very comfortable working with
others, and I am a good communicator. I really enjoy getting to know people, having
harmony with my co-workers and forming bonds with others at work and outside work.
The way I see it, as nurses we work really long, shifts and it’s important that we all have
positive working relationships among co-workers, and help each other out by working as a
team.
Path Identification
Throughout my RN-BSN program at ODU, I plan professionally to become a better
nurse, and personally learn to prioritize different aspects of my life. As a mother, full-time
nurse and student, I only have so much time in a given week. This busy schedule has
helped me really look at my life goals and eliminate anything that is not adding value. I
hope to gain better organizational skills, and discipline to stay on top of my schoolwork. I
also hope this program helps me look at the different aspects of nursing with a new eye,
and help me become a more well rounded professional.
Educational and Professional Goals
Focusing on the educational benefit of this program, I hope to become more
proficient in conducting research. I have already learned a lot from the program so far, and
hope to learn a lot more. The ODU library has been an excellent resource for identifying
different avenues for researching topics. I am also looking forward to getting practice in
using APA format, and perfecting the skill of writing papers. While obtaining my RN, we
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had very few papers to write, and I hope to become skilled at this while obtaining my BSN.
As a professional, I want to be able to write research papers that are well written and
concise. Right now, writing papers is difficult for me, and I hope it becomes easier
throughout the program. I also hope to become better prepared for graduate school. I plan
on eventually earning a graduate degree, and I hope this program will better prepare me
for that.
Professionally, I hope to obtain my BSN, so I can have the opportunity for career
advancement. In my current hospital, in order to be a part of the clinical leadership team, a
BSN is required. I also want to remain competitive in my profession, and I don’t think I can
achieve that without earning my BSN. As a Navy wife, we move a lot, which means I will be
looking for a new job every few years, and it seems that BSN is the future of nursing. I
think it is going to be increasingly difficult for Associates Degree nurses to get work.
Finally, I would like to help my hospital move toward Magnet status, by adding one more
BSN nurse to the payroll.
Goal Attainment
To ensure that I achieve the professional and personal goals stated above, I need to
have a clear plan to execute. A large part of the plan, will involve time management and
prioritization of goals. Like everyone else in the program, my life can get very busy. The
mainstay in the plan for success has been blocking off time each day for un-interrupted
study time. In between work and family, I have marked times in my calendar each week, so
I can get away with my laptop and books and focus on school. Right now, every day I have
off work I go to Panera and study while my daughter is at pre-school. This way, I am not
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distracted by her while trying to study, and when she gets home from school I can give her
my full attention without schoolwork hanging over my head.
Another key element in achieving my goals for school is having support from my
family and work. I have discussed the importance of success in this program with my
husband and employer and they have both offered support and stated that they want to
help in any way they can to ensure I reach my goals. Stress management will also be a key
factor. I plan to continue to make an effort to find time to exercise and take care of myself.
If we are not taking care of ourselves, there is no way we can keep up the pace that is
needed to succeed in school and at work. At the end of a long shift, school is the last thing
you want to do, but I’m trying to look at the final goal of earning a BSN and stay motivated
and take it one week at a time. One thing is for sure, none of us would be in this program
unless we really wanted it, because it is a lot to juggle and it is easy to become
overwhelmed if we let ourselves.
As for academic goal attainment, I just plan to make sure I give each assignment my
best effort, and hope with practice and good feedback from my professors, my research and
writing skills will improve with time. Through this program, I hope to discover aspects
and career paths in nursing that I have not yet considered. As stated earlier, I hope to
eventually earn my Master’s Degree, and academic success in my BSN will help me in that
goal.
Practice Areas of Focus
My current, and first choice focus is on pediatrics. Another large focus that interests
me is education. I like education because it can apply to any field of nursing. I think a
focus on education makes a better bedside nurse, as well as allow nurses to go into roles as
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the educator for your unit, or becoming a teacher at a nursing school. Lastly, I am
interested in emergency room nursing. During my experience working in CHKD’s ER
during my student transition, I really enjoyed the fast-paced, challenging environment.
Conclusion
This assignment was helpful in the personal examination of what exactly brought
me to nursing, and where I am today and the motivating factors that keep me here. It made
me consider the goals I want for the big picture, and the steps needed to get there. It is
easy to get caught up in the day-to-day grind, and it is good to take a step back and really
analyze where we are in our career and where we want to go. It was helpful to clarify
specific goals and consider the strategies needed to obtain them. It will be interesting to
look back at this assignment in a few years, and see how it relates at that time.
I pledge to support the Honor System of Old Dominion University. I will
refrain from any form of academic dishonesty or deception, such as cheating
or plagiarism. I am aware that as a member of the academic community, it is
my responsibility to turn in all suspected violators of the Honor Code. I will
report to a hearing if summoned.
Stephanie Shaw 3/8/13