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I loved blood and guts, so the medical field seemed right for me. -
Someone told me doctors boss the nurses around. I was the youngest child, so this was very appealing to me.
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I did a semester in a bachelor program and then transferred to a community college with the goal of going to UCSD medical school some day.
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I didn't know what career I wanted to pursue, so I quit. I regret that to this day.
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I trained in the outpatient, inpatient, surgery, and ER. I learned a lot about things like insurance that has actually helped me advocate for my patients as a nurse. I loved the ER and I got to see what great nurses actually do.
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After having my first daughter, the thought of college was the furthest thing from my mind. -
Daughter #2 had some medical issues early on, so I learned a lot about PICC lines and IV pumps. I started to reconsider going back to college, but I didn't know how when I was raising 2 under 2. -
After seeing what physicians actually do, I realized that I would prefer nursing. I was now a single mom and needed a stable, well paying job, with a great schedule. I realize that this is not the best motivation for going into nursing, but in my defense I had always wanted to be in the medical field so my intentions weren't entirely misguided.
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I met some great people during this time who I ended up going to nursing school with and became lifetime friends with.
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This was the best job that I have ever had and I still miss it. However, it had a demanding schedule that was difficult for a single mom of young children to handle. It also didn't offer much opportunity for advancement and I knew that I needed that. -
I spent every day of the first semester glancing over my shoulder at the door and wonder if I should just get up and leave. I didn't find the academic portion difficult, but I struggled with how students were treated by faculty. Was it really worth it to leave my stable dispatching job to be a nurse? -
During my 2 year nursing program I learned a lot from the good professors and even more from the "bad" ones. I realized that, despite my fear of public speaking, I wanted to someday teach so that I could give students a better experience than I had. -
We made it!!! After 2 years I now had both an ADN degree and a significant amount of anxiety. -
Don't tell my kids, but this was the best day of my life. -
I was hired on a med-surg/tele floor and hated every minute of it. I questioned if I had made a mistake in my career choice because I was so miserable. -
The minute I stepped foot in the ED I felt like I was home. I no longer hated my job or questioned my career path. However, the ED I was at was severely understaffed and I worried about my ability to provide safe patient care.
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I was in a self-paced program which allowed me to finish in 8 months. I wrote papers all day when the kids were in school and then worked nights and weekends.
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It was a huge change working at a hospital with high quality nurses and providers. We had adequate staffing and equipment. It is also a level 2 trauma, stroke, and STEMI center, so my nursing knowledge and experience increased immensely. I even ran into old classmates when I took patients to the floor. -
I decided that I may as well keep going to school and enrolled in my MSN-Ed immediately.
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I wish I could have worked full-time as a nurse for longer, but being home for my kids was always a priority for me. -
I knew that I wasn't ready or experienced enough to teach yet, but I had enrolled in my MSN so that I would have the degree when I was ready.
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I realized at this point that I much prefer medical/surgical patients to trauma patients. Apparently I lost my love for blood and guts along the way. -
I had a great mentor and students when I started teaching clinical. I now work with the student I am standing next to in this picture, which I still find crazy. -
I had no idea what I was doing but I made it work. The faculty encouraged me to apply for a full-time position, telling me that it didn't actually require 40 hours of work a week. Boy did they lie! -
I was hired a week before the semester started and during a very difficult time in my life. I felt like I was drowning most days, but I pushed through because everyone said it would get easier. I'm still waiting for that to come true. -
The pandemic drastically changed the healthcare landscape and negatively impacted the quality of care that patients receive to this day. Travel nursing took off and hospitals that were unwilling to pay their nurses a reasonable rate lost their nursing staff. My hospital is still trying to recover from this loss. -
Teaching ADN students how to insert an NG tube via Zoom is definitely in my top 10 things to never do again. However, I am truly grateful for the timing of my faculty career as I was forced to learn new technology and how to teach online. This has allowed me to do things like create a RN to BSN course! -
I still don't know what a chi test is, but I do know that education on transgender patient care improves nursing students' knowledge and attitudes toward this vulnerable population.
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The opportunity of a lifetime was presented to me and I did not hesitate to say yes. -
My colleague and friend, Dr. Michelle Rowland, tends to be a bad influence and makes me do things like quit stable jobs and enroll in DNP programs. -
I am so excited to be on this journey with all of you! -
Hopefully this program will start in January 2024. I am also helping to develop a paramedic to RN bridge, which will be the only one in southern California
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These will be online programs and have several tracks. -
Because I have nothing better to do with my free time.
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I will ban APA from having any more editions. I will enact a law which states that CNOs cannot be paid more than their highest paid bedside nurse. I will abolish daylight savings for good. Vote Basinski 2030!