This document summarizes interviews with two nurses, Stephanie Minor and Mary Hampton, who have different nursing careers and experiences. Stephanie has worked as a long-term care nurse for 14 years, working with patients in their homes. She now owns her own long-term care agency. Mary has 30 years of experience working in various hospital and facility settings, and currently works at a psychiatric hospital with mentally challenged patients. Both nurses find their work rewarding, with Stephanie enjoying keeping patients out of nursing homes and Mary finding her work with the mentally challenged the most gratifying.

1. In the medical field there are a plethora of subdivisions. One of the largest health care professions is nursing. According to the United States Bureau of Labor, there are approximately 2.9 million registered nurses in all fifty states. Although this is a vast number, there is still a projected nursing shortage that will occur in the near future. I was once told that, without nurses, the chain of hospital care would inevitably be destroyed. This stressed the importance of every nurse that is practicing. I chose to interview two very different nurses with a tremendous amount of experience in drastically different fields. <br />First I interviewed Stephanie Minor, a woman that I have know personally for years through church, but I never completely knew about her professional life. During this interview, I was surprised to find out that Stephanie has been a licensed practical nurse since April of 1997. Although she only needed one year of formal higher education to receive her license, she has been learning while practicing for 14 years. She also is currently attending Owens College in pursuit of a degree in education.<br />Over Minor’s career, she has worked in various different venues. She has worked at Toledo, St. Vincent’s, and Flower Hospitals but is currently working as a long term care nurse. While doing this, she has several responsibilities that are critical to each patient. Some tasks she has to complete in an average work day are wound treatment and completing physician and lab orders. During her time in medical administration she had to supervise nursing assistants that were on staff. Minor also is responsible for designing care plans for her patients.<br />During my interview with Stephanie, I asked her what her perception of the work she does every day is. She thought for a moment and answered, “Although sometimes it’s strenuous I enjoy my job because, without nurses, healthcare wouldn’t survive.” <br /> Minor unlike, many LPN’s, is an independent provider and does not work for an agency. She owns a small business agency in which she has a registered nurse on her payroll. This is state funded so her patients bill the State of Ohio and she receives her income from them. I was informed that this is very uncommon for a LPN to be a national provider. She is granted a lot of freedom because she is her own boss and has no one above her. Although the registered nurse she employed has a higher level of certification and training than her, the RN is only used to sign her care plans. I initially didn’t understand this concept, but after further research I discovered that the state of Ohio prohibits care plans to be completed solely by a licensed practical nurse. They have to been overseen by a nurse of higher credentials. A signature from nurse practitioners and registered nurses would suffice.<br />Stephanie’s main purpose is to keep her patients out of nursing homes. She explained with her doing long term care she is able to take care of her patients in the comfort of their homes. She also stated that there is an increased rate for those who have to be placed in nursing homes versus long term care. She attempts to maintain the health of her patients through her profit home based agency. Her patients are usually elderly, suffering from orthopedic problems which restricts there abilities to perform their everyday activities.<br />After this invigorating interview, I contacted Mary Hampton, my grandmother. She obtained her registered nurse license in 1981 and went back to school to receive her Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing degree in 2007. She has been practicing for a total of thirty years. Over her years of experience she has worked at several hospitals, nursing homes, and she has also worked for the Ohio Correctional Facility in Lima, Ohio. She has also worked as a pediatric nurse and assisted in medical surgical aspects of nursing. She specializes in work with the mentally challenged. She currently works at a Northwest Ohio Psychiatric Hospital (NOPH) here in Toledo. This hospital is located on South Detroit Avenue. Out of all of the fields she has been a part of, Hampton stated that working with the mentally challenged is the most gratifying. She also stated that working at a prison in the medical unit was by far the most challenging. <br />Mary Hampton has been working for the state of Ohio for almost twenty years. This organization is funded by the government resulting in a profit. The individuals she serves at the psychiatric hospital have been clinically diagnosed with a mental disability. Some have schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or clinical depression. The mission of the hospital is to make recovery reality. The NOPH has been open since 1888 and is an adult facility that is structured on a cottage plan. This plan consists of structuring where residents of the hospital have a community living feel. Mary is responsible for patient care, administering medication, and supervising lower level staff. Ms. Hampton said she doesn’t know what her patients would do without her and that’s the only reason she gets up and goes to work day in and day out. <br /> Although Stephanie and Mary’s work practice settings greatly differ, they encounter some of the same situations. Mary’s job comes with a higher aspect of danger than Stephanie’s because some of her patients cannot be accounted for the actions. Also Stephanie has the opportunity to develop more of a relationship with her patients because she usually has the same clientele. Mary is unable to develop strong bond with her patients because they are admitted and then released after treatment. Another difference is Mary is in a controlled setting while Minor is working in an uncontrolled environment. Stephanie never can be certain what she is going to encounter during a shift because she is in someone else’s house. My impression of both jobs is that they are extremely complex, but they have a gratifying reward. <br /> Over the course of both interviews the sense of pride that both interviewees possessed was undeniably apparent. I learned a tremendous amount about my future field from conducting these interviews, an enlightenment that could only be given by a soon to be peer. <br />