I was just 25 years old when I entered the hallways of the Level 1 trauma center that would change everything about how I perceived being a nurse. I had a few years of experience, just enough to have seen all the common things and to know what to anticipate. I knew my protocols and my skills. I knew what to do. But this hospital was going to change how I thought. This was the largest hospital I had ever worked at. The hospital stretched over city blocks, connected with enclo

My time in Portland was truly amazing, and I am still so grateful for the nurses I worked with there. They taught me how to listen without judgment, to hear people’s hearts, not just their words, and to be present even when words are insufficient. They held out hope for me personally on some hard days. But I had left the stability of my home hospital to see what else was out there. I couldn’t just stop in Portland after one assignment! And I certainly didn’t have any reason t

Being in the ER would turn out to be more of an adventure than I had anticipated. However, the Lord was kind in preparing me for the adventure He would take me on. Before I found myself looking at the brink of the unknown, He had first taught me the power of my emotions. It turns out emotions are a powerful force. They can either dig in like a two-year-old unwilling to move from the candy aisle, or they can propel that mountain climber to leap the last unpassable chasm to fin

My first years in the Emergency Department flew by, and I suddenly found myself considered an actual ER nurse, no longer a newbie. I had performed CPR numerous times now and could easily participate in treating a myriad of life-saving interventions. I could be trusted to act without being told. I no longer thought before shoving my hand over bleeding wounds or jumped at the sight of bugs creeping out of bandages. I had lost a number of patients, old and young. I was seasoned,