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CPA Paper
Career Pathways Assessment Paper
Tina Rector
UIN #00896924
NUR 401
Old Dominion University
NORFOLK, VIRGINIA
Fall, 2012
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In 2001, I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. I had a hysterectomy, appendectomy, partial
lymph node removal from my groin area and was in the ICU for five days. It was a pretty miserable
experience for me, but the care and concern of one nurse changed my whole experience. I was at a
teaching hospital, and due to a miscommunication, I was abruptly taken off all pain medication and
lay huddled in the fetal position from the pain. My nurse was a very vocal advocate for my welfare.
That incident has always been a perfect example to me of how one person can make a difference.
My goal after my surgery was to become a nurse so that I could “pay it forward” and make a
difference in a hospitalized patient’s experience. Another reason for me to go into nursing involves
my niece who has been battling severe kidney disease for most of her life. I am a naturally
inquisitive person, so I would educate myself about her condition or procedure to be better
prepared to understand all of the possible outcomes/consequences. All of these experiences led to
a love and interest in medicine and cemented my desire to become a nurse.
Educational Experiences
I originally began my college education pursuing a degree in Zoology to become a doctorate
of veterinary medicine. Prior to going to college, I was very squeamish about blood, needles and
hospitals in general and had no desire to enter the human aspect of medicine. I volunteered with
wildlife rehabilitation of birds of prey, small mammals and marine mammals. As part of the
curriculum, I was forced to take a human anatomy class with cadavers. The complexity of the
human body became a fascination, but I still had decided to pursue the animal aspect of medicine.
During that time, I participated in fieldwork in Costa Rica examining the varying parasite
loads of a species of tree frog from locations that were near civilization and in rural environments.
Throughout this research, it became apparent that the frogs closest to civilization had much higher
parasite loads than the more rural frogs. It started me thinking about the human, nature and animal
interconnectivity. I also took a course in college concerning the ethics of animal use. Until that
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class, I had been blissfully ignorant of the way in which food animals were raised with all of the
chemicals and antibiotics. The excessive use of antibiotics in our food possibly contributing to the
antibiotic resistance in human populations, and the effect of using proper, quality nutrition to
combat disease instead of prescribing endless amounts of medication.
I finally decided to pursue nursing, several years after obtaining my B.S. in Zoology. As part
of my pre-requisites I had to take physiology, sociology and psychology. The further study of the
body’s complex physiological and psychological processes confirmed that pursuing a nursing career
was my future. My niece continued to experience a health decline and I became fascinated with
kidneys and the complex roles they play in many body processes… they had seemed like a less
important organ to me.
Work Experience
I have worked for the last eleven years as a Registered Veterinary Technician, the animal
equivalent of a Registered Nurse. I worked in Emergency/Critical Care, Oncology and Internal
Medicine departments. I performed many roles that included: radiology, venipuncture, preparing
and administering chemotherapy, ultrasonography, lab work and many other duties. I learned
valuable information and skills from each of these departments. Being the Oncology Head
Technician enhanced my technical skills, and understanding of the cancer disease processes.
Oncology also improved my people skills by my communication with the owners of our patients…I
was a client coordinator/educator, caretaker, and counselor. I had to care for the animal patient as
well as the owner.
The Emergency/Critical Care and Internal Medicine departments enhanced my time
management skills, technical skills, attention to detail and greatly improved the quality of my
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nursing care. In emergency medicine you must be prepared to handle any and all types of
situations, from snake bites, animals that have been hit cars, and various types of distress. You have
to think and act calmly and efficiently to try to ensure a positive outcome. I had to be able to
educate the client about any possible treatments, outcomes and act as a calm and capable advocate
between the veterinarian and the client. I eventually became the Emergency Head Technician. This
position allowed me to take on a leadership role and create protocols to improve patient care and
educate staff so that procedures were done consistently and correctly. It allowed me to create an
employee evaluation system that was fair and not based on personal opinions of a single individual
evaluator. I improved my listening skills and learned to be a mediator, so that staff would feel
comfortable coming to me with any questions or concerns. I eventually learned not to take things
personal and to separate my roles as friend and supervisor.
Internal Medicine was a very knowledge intensive part of my career. I worked closely with
the Internal Medicine Specialist to perform various procedures, like endoscopy, ultrasonography,
biopsy, fine needle aspirates, venipuncture and anesthesia. Most of the animal patients in Internal
Medicine are very sick, and of course being unable to communicate directly with the patients
involved dynamic thinking and problem solving. This department enhanced my observation skills,
since you must pay attention to details from the patient’s body and behaviors. My general
knowledge improved because I needed to educate myself on various interwoven disease processes
so that I would notice any changes in patients to be proactive with patient care. I also needed to be
able to properly educate the clients on many medications, procedures and care.
Professional or Community Activities/ Groups
I had been involved in wildlife rehabilitation for thirteen years, but mostly marine mammal
rehabilitation for the last eight years. I loved the rehabilitation of seals and sea lions, primarily
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because they are incredibly smart and mischievous animals. I have seen sea lions climb seven feet
high chain link fences, or navigate their way miles inland and away from the ocean. They are
escape artists and I can willingly admit to having been outsmarted by a few sea lions. The nature of
trying to treat medically a wild seal or sea lion involves cultivating quick reflexes, hyper-awareness
of your surroundings, and good observational skills. You must be aware of cross contamination
between animals and educate yourself and others about possible zoonotic diseases. I learned to
think outside the box to problem solve difficult treatment, animal handling and behavior.
Volunteering for beach rescues improved my ability to interact with people. A sick and seizing sea
lion can be a stressful thing to experience for most people, and it takes a calm, sensible person to
ensure that both the animal and people are safe. I participated in many public outreach events to
educate the community about general biology and husbandry of marine mammals (it really is okay
for a seal or sea lion to be out of the water). I became a rehabilitation supervisor, which allowed me
to develop animal husbandry protocols. I traveled to conferences to educate myself on new
research and procedures to improve the quality and success of the rehabilitation facility. Marine
mammal rehabilitation improved my communication and teamwork skills because coordinating a
difficult capture, release or treatment was a group effort with each person on the team playing a
specific role.
I also volunteered with the Channel Islands Naturalists Corp, which was associated with the
Channel Islands National Park. The Corps are individuals that were on local whale watching boats
to serve as a source of information for the public. The Corps required you to go to classes to learn
about the local history, flora and fauna in the Santa Barbara, Ca area and pass a requisite test. As a
volunteer, I engaged the public with demonstrations, visual aids and casual communication. I
answered questions and helped to spot potential marine mammals in the ocean. I participated in
research with photo identification and maintained a log of all marine mammal sightings. This
volunteer enabled me to approach strangers and initiate conversations. I wanted to get people
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excited, engaged and to care about the ocean and its inhabitants. I feel most people can only care
about things that they can experience or feel and I was grateful to be able to share my enthusiasm.
Self-Assessment
I feel I have a realistic overall impression of my strengths and weaknesses. My strengths
include the ability to adapt to changing environments and situations, which I gained from working
in a veterinary ER. I am able to multitask but remain focused on what I am doing, even if I am
dealing with multiple emergencies at once. I am able to handle stressful situations in the moment,
but a weakness may be that after the rush I need a few moments to re-center myself. I have a
passion for medicine and further educating myself. I like to know why a particular medicine or
treatment was chosen and the benefits of the treatment. I have been through a serious surgery and
have had to face my own mortality with my cancer diagnosis and I feel that I can be empathetic to
patients who have to experience the same things. I am a good listener, which is an invaluable tool
in nursing. I am able to take on a leadership role in various situations, and can easily work in a
team environment.
My weaknesses are problems that I continually work on to improve. I am an admitted
procrastinator. I will usually wait until the last possible minute to turn in paperwork. I can become
emotionally involved with my patients and can sometimes bring work home with me. I have been
trying to establish mental boundaries to try to prevent staying stressed or upset about a patient. I
need to develop ways to take care of myself so that I do not become burnt out or make myself sick.
I need to live a more balanced life, although it is hard to do while working and going to school at the
same time. I usually arrive to work exactly when I should or 1-2 minutes late. I know when I enter
the nursing profession I will need to be early so that I am prepared when my shift starts.
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My core values involve honesty, fairness and responsibility. I expect myself to consistently
be truthful in my interactions with others and certainly with patients. When I have made a mistake,
I promptly report it to the DVM and do not seek to hide the truth. When patient’s lives are at stake,
it serves no purpose to hide relevant information about any wrongdoing to try to shift blame. This
ties in with responsibility. As a nurse, you must be accountable for your actions and use good
judgement in all aspects of your work life. And lastly, I hope to treat everyone fairly. I try to treat
people equally and try to make decisions without favoritism or prejudice.
Path, Educational and Professional Goals
My path is undecided at this point because I am pursuing my RN and BSN concurrently and
am not actively working in the nursing field. I desire to obtain my BSN so that I may find gainful
employment, and potentially find employment as a traveling nurse to other countries. I want to be
able to volunteer in underserved communities in both the U.S. and other countries so that people
will have access to quality medicine. I want healthcare to be fair and available to everyone of lower
economic means. I have done a small bit of traveling, and have experienced true poverty in other
countries, which left me feeling spoiled and overindulgent. I want to combine my love of scuba
diving and medicine, which are two things I am passionate about.
Some educational goals I hope to achieve during this BSN program include: critical thinking,
problem-solving, organization, and effective communication. I want to improve my critical
thinking skills so that I may better gather and assimilate information gathered from observation,
my own experiences, my education and from the experiences of others. I want to be open to
considering alternative perspectives and new ways of thinking, which coincides with problemsolving skills. I like to think sometimes outside the box while trying to solve a problem and
enhancing this skill can only help my academic and professional life. I don’t want to feel stymied
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when a known solution to a problem doesn’t work, and I cannot create an alternate solution. I
need and hope to become more organized to make more effective use of my time. I am working full
time and attending two schools for a usual total of 16-17 units per semester, so I need to make sure
nothing is overlooked. I can always improve my communication skills. I tend to talk rapidly and
sometimes not clearly, which can make effective communication impossible and frustrating when I
have to repeat myself.
My professional goals are to learn a new skill, communicate more effectively, aspire to a
different practice and to complete projects with less procrastination. I hope to become a more
effective communicator with coworkers so that we work more cohesively together and there are no
misunderstandings. I want to learn new skills and cultivate my abilities as I transition to human
nursing. I want to learn and become more efficient in veterinary surgery (for now until I become a
nurse). I do not challenge myself enough at work in learning a new aspect of veterinary medicine
by participating in surgeries, because I do not like anesthesia. I aspire to complete all projects,
professionally and academically, in a more timely fashion and not wait until the last minute to
complete.
Plan for Achieving Goal and Areas of Focus
My plan for achieving my professional and academic goal is going to involve organization
and effective time management. I plan to utilize my computer and iphone to set up reminders of
when assignments and tests are due and reminders a week before the due dates to better prepare. I
will make a study schedule and treat my study hours like a job so that I stay focused and on track. I
will decrease my work hours to 32 hours per week so that I am able to keep my benefits while
going to school. I am going to set-up a shared responsibility system between my siblings and I so
that my elderly parents receive the proper care and support. I plan on maintaining a good GPA so
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that I will not limit the scholarships or grants available to me to help lessen the financial burden of
attending school. I will set-up a health schedule to make sure I exercise and take care of myself to
reduce stress and illness.
My choices for practice area are pretty varied. I am not sure if I will like the areas I have
chosen because I have no real working knowledge of them in human nursing, and my interests are
based on my experience in the veterinary field. My first choice is Emergency Medicine. I like the
pace and unpredictability of ER shifts…you never know what is going to come through the doors.
My Second choice for area of practice is Oncology. I am not sure how I will deal emotionally with
people in various stages of treatment. In Veterinary Oncology the goal was not to cure, but to make
the patient feel better. When an animal became very sick from any of our protocols, we would
change treatment or stop altogether. We tended to not be as aggressive in treatment given to
animals. My third are of practice would involve nephrology. My niece suffers from long-term kidney
disease and I would like to better understand disease processes of the kidneys. Again, kidneys are
amazing and underrated organs.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I found this paper to be very helpful in focusing my goals to obtain my BSN. It
forced me to evaluate my strengths and weaknesses, so that I may develop ways to overcome
academic and professional obstacles. I needed to reflect on my current skill set in the veterinary
field to see how I can apply my knowledge to my future nursing profession to be successful. This
paper helped me to narrow my areas of interest and provide a focus to pursue those areas.
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CPA Paper
Honor Pledge
"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 if the academic community, it is my responsibility to turn in all suspected violators of
the honor system. I will report to Honor Council hearings if summoned."
Tina A. Rector