Mary - Credentialed to Make Changes

Mary -







As a child, nursing was already very much a part of my life. My mother was director of a convalescent center, and from the age of five I’d spend half the day in kindergarten and the other half with her. During that time I learned what a marvel the human body is, and developed an appreciation for the preciousness of life that has stayed with me through my career.

After several years of traditional nursing work, I went into nurse education, a field where I have found my passion. I believe strongly in the ways education can change lives. As a faculty member at a community college, I help place student nurses in their clinical rotations. Clinical placement is crucial for producing nurses.

It’s remarkable to reach out and touch people and see them change. Education transforms people. It’s a lesson I learned for myself, but I also gleaned pieces of it from my mother. As a health care provider, she encouraged many people into nursing, furthering their education and seeing their own potential. She reached out and actually touched people, and she made a difference.

Just like my mother, I visualize potential and care deeply for the students I guide. Everyone has a unique story, so they all come from different starting points. Some come as single mothers seeking only a two-year degree. Some are nurses wanting to get a master’s degree. Whatever their story, I see their potential and I push them. It helps them, the patient, and the community.

I think that any education, any learning, empowers people. There’s such a human component to nursing, but yet there’s also an intellectual component. When you mold it all together, you reach people in a way that few actually can or have the opportunity to do. In that way, I think you are credentialed – and obligated – to make changes.

Everything in nursing requires a team approach,"It's remarkable to reach out and touch people and to actually see people change because they are transformed. Education transforms people." and, it’s the camaraderie that actually drives everything, not the leadership. Probably no one has more fun or enjoys herself more than I do. That’s really the truth. But I’m very serious about nursing. I’m very serious when I communicate what nursing is and the responsibilities and the power that nurses are given in the clinical setting.

Nurses are often people with personal challenges in their own lives. It seems to give them a greater capacity to nurture. Even though the demands are huge and outstrip the compensation, they keep doing it, because it’s some kind of calling. It has to be. I can honestly say that you don’t see it in a physician. Often times there are physicians that go into medicine for altruistic reasons. But I think that there are equally as many that go in for the financial reward. Nurses just go in knowing that there is very little of that. That’s always been the situation, but they still do it.

Because of that, I have great hope for the future of nursing. I think that there still is that connection and I find that I really care about my students and they give a lot back to me. And I think that the patient gives a lot back, too. There is no other profession that comes so much from the inside. It’s very unique.

Power strategies: Influence, Leadership, Camaraderie
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