2017 AMRI SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM ESSAY BY JANELL M. SCOTT
Author: JaNell M. Scott
School: Chamberlain College of Nursing
Area of Study: Masters of Science in Nursing Family Nurse Practitioner
The beeping caught my attention first. As I walked down the white-walled hallway towards my grandmother’s room, the sounds were very distracting. I looked around. Nurses hustling around, patients with lines and tubes all over them, monitors with squiggly lines and numbers on them, papers scattered on the desk; I was mesmerized. Then a man in dark green scrubs said jokingly “Hey! You skipping school?” Me? Was he talking to me? He caught me off guard and then he laughed and patted me on the back. That was my first encounter with Ben. He was the ICU nurse who was taking care of my grandmother who was recovering from a heart attack. He was so smart. He always had a smile on his face and a great air of confidence. And he was patient. Ben took all the time in the world answering every question I had and explaining every line, tube, wire, etc. I was fascinated by this ‘world of nursing’. I knew from that moment on, I was going to be a nurse when I grew up. I was 12.
I tell people that I am lucky because I knew from that very moment what I wanted to do with my life. Not many people get that chance. I studied and researched and looked up everything I could on being a nurse. I began tearing into our run down Encyclopedia Britannica’s soaking up as much information as I could. At 13, I had a file folder full of facts and material all related to nursing and medicine. (Yes, I was that kid!) I knew it was going to be a tough road but I also knew that I was up to the challenge. Being the last of 4 children on a limited income I knew that college was a stretch. None of my brothers, nor my parents or grandparents for that fact, had ever gone to college. I would be the first. Money was tight. I studied in order to get good grades because I knew that it had to be scholarships or student loans. I was accepted into nursing school and went right after high school on a combination of the scholarships and loans. I was ecstatic.
Well, life didn’t go as I had so carefully planned. I quit school after one year and jumped on an airplane moving twelve hundred miles from my small, sleepy community of 5,000 to San Jose, CA, with over a million people. I was nineteen and invincible and I did not need college. One year later I was painfully regretting my decision. I had used up my student loan money, not on college but on junk and now I became aware of the fact that minimum wage in a very expensive state with no education was guiding me toward a road in life I did not want to go down. I knew that something needed to change or I was going to be in a world of hurt. Just as spontaneously as I moved to California, I packed what little I owned in my car and set off on a seventeen hour west coast journey back home. Once home I knew I had a second chance to get what I wanted in life. I reapplied to nursing school and was accepted. I worked simultaneously as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) in our local nursing home while going to school full time and doing clinical rotations. I had to take out quite a large amount in student loans to pay for my schooling but it ended up a victory when I graduated in 2006 with my Associate’s degree in Nursing. I passed my boards, the dreaded NCLEX, 1 month later and my life finally started moving in the right direction.
I began as an R.N. in the nursing home where I had been A CNA for so long. What a different experience that was. It was so depressing! I felt like all I did was shove pills at my residents three times a day and charted like crazy for twelve hours. It was not at all what I imagined being a nurse would be about. As much as I loved my residents, I did not enjoy being a nurse to them. I applied to our community hospital and was hired on in the Ambulatory Care/Surgical Services department. This is what nursing was all about. It was fast paced. I was starting IV’s, hanging medication drips, admitting and recovering surgical patients…I was having a blast. But I knew that my educational journey had not ended. In 2008, with a brand new baby in tow, I applied and was accepted to the University of Wyoming’s online Bachelors of Science in Nursing program. While it was slow going, only taking one to two classes per semester, I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 2012. I had a family of my own, two college degrees and was very happy with my life.
I have always said that I could be a lifetime student. I love to learn and actually love to go to school. After graduating with my Bachelor’s degree I continually looked for educational opportunities. I found a need in our community for specialized IV lines called PICC’s (peripherally inserted central catheters). The closest hospital that could place these lines was 90 miles away. I became the first person ever to offer this service in our community after traveling to Colorado for training. It was wonderful. I also became chemotherapy certified in order to diversify my degree. But the need kept growing.
I was thirty four and had finally made my last student loan payment. I had been throwing every spare dime I had at it in order to get it paid off. I wanted that headache gone before I activated a plan that I had been considering for some time. In August of this year I applied and was accepted to Chamberlain College of Nursing’s Master of Science in Nursing – Family Nurse Practitioner program. I begin this journey In January of 2017. I knew when I started my educational journey that a family nurse practitioner would be my ultimate goal. I was just very unsure of how I would get there. I am still nervous about my new journey but I also have a lot of excitement. I have a great supportive family and my friends and co-workers are very encouraging. I feel as a nurse practitioner I can have a more active role in health care regimens of the many patients we have in this small community. I see many people on a daily basis for a variety of health care problems and I want to be the one helping them through it on a different side. I love the autonomy but also a new and exciting side of nursing I have yet to see.
In my ten years of hospital nursing I have had to take both the Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and the Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) programs and renew them every two years. They both are great programs with a wealth of information. These two classes give a person the skills and knowledge they need in order to successfully treat patients across the lifespan. These skills are especially important in rural Wyoming where I live. My community is 5,000 people with a 25 bed critical access hospital. Our ambulance service and our fire department are both volunteer. There are a variety of people who visit this state every year due to its wonderful scenery and national park. Motorcyclists pass through our town every year on the way to Sturgis. Tour buses carrying people of all ages come by. Over my 10 years we have had many types of patients that we utilize the skills learned in ACLS and PALS.
Another reason these skills are so valuable is the nature of our isolation. Hunting is a very profitable sport in our state but this requires people to trek all over the mountains and back country. One could spend an entire day without running into another person. Unfortunately accidents do happen and skills such as those learned in ACLS and PALS could help bystanders take action long before first responders are present on scene. Knowing that I have these skills gives me comfort knowing I can help if the need arises.
I feel very blessed to have been able to obtain and learn so many various skills in my time in healthcare and I feel like a very well rounded nurse. But my journey does not stop here. In January of 2017 I will begin down another road that will ultimately bring me to a dream I have had for a very long time. My program of study will take my approximately two and a half years. The wonderful part of my program is that it is a distance education program in which my clinical experience can be done right here in my own community with hopefully some of my future patients. It is a blessing that I do not have to uproot my family or my children and that in itself has made this decision to continue my schooling a little easier.
So which direction is my life going? In five years I am hoping to be completed with my Family Nurse Practitioner program and have had passed my boards in order to practice. I have already been in talks with one of our local clinics and have expressed my interest in starting a practice with them. I am looking into a women’s health clinic and possibly prenatal and postnatal care with obstetrics. We are rural and have a need for both of these things. In five years I will still be a rookie but with hopefully be well on my way to being a great family practitioner.
In ten years both of my daughters will be grown, out of the house and hopefully off to college. What a scary thought that it is so close! I see myself still continuing to work in my smaller community and helping form a great foundation for a women’s health clinic. As a provider I have dreams of a reduced price screening program for breast exams, mammograms, PAP smears and colonoscopies. As a chemotherapy nurse I have seen those have were able to catch cancer early and those who were not. I am a firm believer in prevention and screenings are a great first step. I truly find myself leaning more and more towards women’s health and after five plus years into my new journey I hope to be closer to that goal.
Fifteen years from now…..wow, what a thought. My children will probably be settled down away from the quiet town they grew up in. While I love my community and at this point have no plans of leaving it, you never know if I might decide to move closer to wherever they put down roots. I will always stay in a smaller community as I love the home-town feel they offer. In fifteen years I will have extensive knowledge and be able to continue helping people on their journeys in healthcare.
No doubt about it I know what I want in life. Like I said before, I am one of the lucky ones who figured it out so early on. I have a go-getter personality and a knack for organization so I believe that nothing is out of reach for me, as long as I keep my head in the game. I am excited and nervous for my next stage in life. Writing this essay has been quite reflective on how my life has gone. I can vividly remember the ups and downs, the triumphs and the tragedies that I have gone through to get where I am today. Would I change it? Probably not. I have my family and my daughters, I have a great career and an even greater one ahead of me. This is my life.