Becoming A Nurse Essay

Early on in life, my mother instilled in me the motto, “education is power”. She pushed me to be the best that I could be and to strive for knowledge through formal education; something that she always regretted not obtaining herself. Becoming an RN was one of the most personally gratifying moments of my life because it was the first milestone on my road to professional fulfillment. I have always known that I would be a nurse in the same way that I knew the sun would come up every morning. The only question I had in regard to my future was, what kind of nurse did I want to become. During my junior year as an undergraduate, I had the opportunity to be a part of a mission trip to Haiti. To say this experience humbled me would be an understatement.

With my recent acceptance of a position in the ICU at my current hospital, I will be learning through practice and exposure as an ICU RN throughout my time in the BSN-DNP program. I believe that this experience and the option of specializing while in the program will enhance my clinical education and make me a stronger provider. After a few years in a Hospitalist role to bolster a broad experience base, I would like to transfer to a high acuity cardiology based unit. Cardiology has intrigued me for sometime, even more so during my time on my tele/med-surg unit, and is a field that I plan to pursue in my career. While researching potential graduate programs, one of many factors that impressed me about UMass Medical School Graduate School of Nursing was the option of specializing in Cardiovascular or Critical care. Being able to specialize while in graduate school, would be an enormous educational benefit in my goal of practicing in Cardiology. Once I have settled into my role as a nurse practitioner, I would like to transition into teaching. Firstly, through becoming a preceptor, before progressing into a more formal teaching role in a nursing