Nurse's Story: Andrea - Between the "Ladies Home Journal" and the "Wall Street Journal"

Andrea -







I’m amazed I made it through nursing school. Never a cake walk, many students dropped out half way through the nursing program back in those days. Geriatric nursing weeded out students lacking stamina. We started work at 7:00 a.m., a lot earlier than other students, and were in a separate course track, isolated from others in our cohort. It was a residence program, so we took care of elderly patients -- people who needed to be fed, couldn’t respond, and needed lots of physical assistance. Half of my class dropped out. I wanted to prove I could stick it out. It was a matter of pride.

After receiving my bachelor’s degree, I joined the military with 12 other nursing graduates. Some of us didn’t even realize there was a war going on in Southeast Asia, but we quickly learned how to set up tent hospitals and fire a rifle and care for people with gunshot wounds. I also cared for people who had lost arms and legs in Vietnam. Fresh out of school, I suddenly had to behave as an adult. My idea of nursing was completely changed. I was really taking care of patients – not only caring for them, but also figuring out how to help them transition back to civilian life with major wounds.

I developed an affinity for orthopedics and rehabilitation through my Vietnam experience. And, I had the GI Bill to help me get to graduate school. I wanted to get my master’s, but wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue my nursing education and move up that track, or change my focus to a business track.

I remember the day I decided to go the MBA route. I was working at the hospital when a young teenager who had lost her leg in an automobile accident was being discharged.“I’m committed to sharing my knowledge and transferring my skills to others, so when I’m ready to fully retire, I know I’ve done my part to strengthen the nursing profession." Her family was presented with a huge bill as they were leaving the hospital. They were upset, and the teenager was distraught because she had cost them so much money. I kept thinking that all the rehab work I had done with this patient was going down the tubes. I took off my cap when my shift was over, put it in my locker and said, “I think I’m going for the MBA because I can’t deal with this cost issue.” That was in 1970. When I signed up for the course I still had my nurse’s uniform on. I received a lot of weird looks, like “What are you doing here?”

After passing the test to get into the MBA program, my quandary became how to get out of the MBA program. I found it difficult and different. It wasn’t like nursing at all. There were only ten other women in the class of more than 300 students, and I was the only nurse, so my orientation was very different from the other people in the class. The other students did not perceive the world through their feelings as I did. Everything we did was quantitative, not qualitative. Business and health care are two different worlds. It was hard to balance the two and I always said I’m halfway between the “Ladies Home Journal” and the “Wall Street Journal.”

After settling into the MBA program, I realized nursing really did prepare me for the business environment. One of the first things nurses are taught is to observe. In nursing school I was tested on my observation skills. I was told to walk into a room and out again and then asked how much water was in the vase? Where was the vase? What did the sheets look like? What did the patient look like? The point was to hone observation skills because I needed to know very quickly if the IV was still running, the oxygen was still on and if the patient was perspiring or looked uncomfortable. In business you use those same observation skills, you simply observe different things. You still look at the situation, assess it and decide what to do.

I retired from healthcare about ten years ago. At the time I thought I would work a little bit, and only when I really found something I wanted to do. I decided to work with health care organizations that needed to make system changes. Instead of working like a consultant, observing a system and then writing a paper to convey what needs to be changed, I work alongside a staff to teach them how to implement changes that have been recommended. I teach staff how to do things, and once they’ve learned it all, I walk away.

I’m pleased with the multi-dimensional path my nursing career has taken. In addition to consulting work, I work in a project that helps people without health insurance have access to health care. So I care for patients, for the community and for nurses. I use my nursing skills and my business skills. I’m now 62, and I don’t want to work as much as I used to. That’s why I feel strongly about orienting other people to do this work. I’m committed to sharing my knowledge and transferring my skills to others, so when I’m ready to fully retire, I know I’ve done my part to strengthen the nursing profession.

Power Strategies: Facilitation, Community, Diversity
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