“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt

I have been pondering my future a lot lately as it is my senior year at Gannon.  We are already three weeks in and I am learning a lot and loving almost every minute of it.  Having a type A personality, I am eager to plan my future and pursue that plan in the coming months.

One of the many perks of pursuing a career in the health science field is the endless possibilities of places to work and live.  I am from a small town in Ohio, but living there has never been my plan. I enjoyed growing up there but never could see myself living there after high school.  I have always loved big cities and am drawn to the different cultures, the amount of things to do and just the nuance of a big city. 

I would really like to start my career off with a bang, so I’m considering a move to a big city where I could work at a trauma center or in critical care.  I would love nothing more than to move to New York City for a few years to work.  I would love to move there right away but I have some extensive research to do and have to save some money to be able to afford the expenses of living in a big city.  I am also slighty nervous about moving to such a big city on my own, but it has always been a dream of mine.  I keep asking myself, why not pursue the option of moving to a big city while I am young and able to?

If moving to the Big Apple is not quite in the cards I have a few other options.   I have been to Buffalo, N.Y. several times and really liked it. It is a little bit closer to home and a few of my friends from Gannon live there.   Pittsburgh is a huge healthcare destination, as UPMC owns many of the hospitals there. I have some family and friends that currently live there as well. Another option I have (although it is not a big city) is Danville, PA; a small town but home to the only trauma center within 150 miles, Geisinger Medical Center.  The fact that I have so many options has made it difficult to plan where I want to go!

When I started nursing school three short years ago, I was pretty set on being a labor and delivery nurse.  My mind changed after last semester and this summer after my internship where I worked on a medical surgical unit and had some experience with critical care.  I really like medical surgical nursing and also really liked the emergency room environment as well as the critical care units.

This semester, I am doing my critical care rotation and I love it so far.  Critical care nursing is a field of nursing which requires that you are on your toes at all times.  It can be very overwhelming at times with all of the meds, tubes, drains, and patient’s extensive medical problems but it is a very intense and rewarding field of nursing.  I love helping the patients and doing what I can to make a difference in their day, whether that is talking and interacting with them and their families, talking with various members of the healthcare team discussing the plan of care or being that voice and advocate for your patient to help make their stay at the hospital better and improve their condition.

I constantly find myself pondering where I see myself in the next eight or nine months.  I am really excited to start my career and I am hoping it will be in a fun and exciting place.  The difference I have seen in myself from last year to this year is really exciting because I am one step closer to being a nurse. Everything is starting to come together.  Gannon is such a great school and has really prepared me thus far to be a nurse and I am continuing to learn everyday.

Check with me next month to see how my senior year is panning out and if I have gotten any further in the big plan for after graduation!

Check out some of the situations Kim experienced during her summer internship in some of her past blogs here.