Personal Narrative: A Career As A Nursing Assistant

Making a difference

I started my health care career as a nursing assistant at the young age of 16 years-old perusing the dream of one day becoming a nurse. At that time, I really had no idea what I was getting myself into and what it meant to be in the health care. I have been able to touch and impact so many different people’s lives throughout the last 6 years from patients and residents to their family members. Sometimes not even realizing that I was changing someone’s life. Although I’ve helped hundreds of people there is one person that will I will always remember. I worked at an assistant living for 3 years while I was in high school. I ended up working full time and going to school full time. During this time, my residents became more

I would just hold her hand and talked to her. The evening before she passed away as I was leaving she mumble to me “I love you Sunshine, thank for you for always being there”. Although I knew I impacted her life I never really realized how much until her daughter called me letting me know she passed away. Her daughter told me how thankful their family was that there was someone who cared and protected their mother. She had told me that they wanted to move her mom from the facility after they would not accommodate her needs. They decided to keep her there because they knew how much I cared for her and that I would make sure she got the proper care from everyone else. She told me that her mom always talked so highly of me and that I was one of the few things she looked forward too especially in her last few weeks.
This experience was overall a very difficult but rewarding experience. It taught me that it’s okay to advocate for a patient and insist they get the respect and care they deserve. I also learned that it’s okay to get involved emotionally with the patient as we become family sometimes. We as the nurse should strive to make an impact in our patient’s lives as well as their family members. Majority of the time we are caring for and see the patient at their most vulnerable time. You may not always feel like you’re making a huge impact in a patient’s life but sometimes the smallest things make the biggest