ISM- MENTOR INTERVIEW ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS

Student Name: Abigail Bergman Period: 1st

Printed Name of Person Interviewed: Erika Sanchez, RN

Role of Individual:
__X__Mentor
Place/Name of Business: UTMB Emergency Room League City, TX

Business Address: 2240 Gulf Fwy S, League City, TX 77573

Phone Number: (409) 772-1011

Date of Interview: 4/18/2018

Type of Interview: __X__ In Person

1. For someone working in your field, please describe the fantasies versus realities of the job.
(fantasy vs. reality)

The fantasy comes from Grey’s Anatomy and the medical shows, shows the glamorous side of medicine.
Things don’t always a happy ending, it’s not always as cut and dry and things are a lot more complicated in real
life. Everything the nurses do, it’s not the same in real life. The nurses do much more in real life than the
programs show. The politeness that the patients show in the programs are definitely not the same as in real life,
the job is very thankless and many people under-appreciate the job that is being done for them as a medical
provider.

2. What is your current educational level? What continuing education and training are required?
(educational level and requirements)

Currently I have my bachelors in science and nursing. In order to renew license every 2 years, we have to
have a certain number of CEU credits, (continued education unit). I am currently up to date with my credits, I also
have my CEN (Certified Emergency Nurse), an additional certification that nurses can receive to show they
specialize in emergency medicine. In order to maintain that you have to have 40 CEU’s every 4 years. They can
be obtained by going to seminars and other events. The thing that is really helpful is that UTMB will host
seminars and they also have conferences for the nurses to receive more credits. It is very easy to get the credits
needed.

3. Please describe the typical day to day activities of someone working in your field.
(day-to-day activities)

Revised Fall 2017

In the ER, it’s a 24-hour job, people are always coming in non-stop. I will come on my shift and take an
assignment and pick up where a previous nurse left off. We get a lot of chest pain patients as well as minor
emergency patients as well. I work in conjunction with the doctors and work up the patient, blood work and vitals
mostly, and make sure they get their radiology tests done. The goal is to discharge the patient, if they need to be
admitted, we facilitate that. We a lot of the time have to transfer them to other hospitals, mostly Galveston if it is a
case that is too advanced for the hospital so that we can get the patient the best care they deserve. Most patients
are a lot more challenging. If we have to perform CPR or if there is a drug overdose, the stress levels definitely
increase ten-fold. Mostly though, we draw blood, take vitals, clean patients occasionally, and educate the family
and the patient to arm them with information that they need in order to, hopefully, not have to return to the
hospital.

4. How secure are you in your current position? What do you think is the future of your field?
(job security)

I feel like there will always be a need for nurses. It will never go away, the big challenge is the nurse to
patient ratio, that is a big discontent with nurses because we are having to do a lot more, it gets very
overwhelming very quickly. Nurses are going to become a lot more responsible for things they are now. Way back
when, they used to be a lot less useful than they are now. We know what to expect and we aren’t micromanaged
very much anymore. I think it’s going to expand and grow mostly over the years to come. There will always be a
need for health providers. Something I think that we should start focusing on is how to decrease the turn-over rate
due to unhappy nurses. I think a lot of nurses are leaving the bedside for higher positions, which will increase the
shortage.

5. What is a typical (average or lowest to highest) salary of someone working in your field?
(salary)

I would say the average is probably $60-70,000 annually. When I started 5 years ago the income was
about $25 an hour. My income was around $49,000 annually but now I believe I stand at about $79,000 so I have
definitely maxed out my experience in basic registered nursing. The good part of my job is there is always room
for advancement and with advancement there is higher pay, depending on how much over time you put into the
job.

6. What potential for growth is there in your field?

(growth potential)

There’s a lot more mid-level positions that are becoming more easily available like NP. I see a lot of people going
off their masters in nursing and going into different aspects of medicine. It doesn’t always have to be bedside, you
can be an educator and there’s also a nurse leadership track for management, the sky’s the limit. We are in the
medical center so it makes for a good and open job market for plenty of advancement.

***Questions 7-10 will be created by the ISM student.

7. How is what you are taught in nursing school differ from what skills you actually need in the ER?

Revised Fall 2017

In nursing school, the way you learn most things is very black and white and when you get into the real world, it’s
hard to apply it. Everyone wants to do the textbook definition for the patient but that doesn’t work out always.
There are patients that come in having heart attacks and it’s a very step by step environment so it makes it a lot
easier to deal with that stress. It’s a lot more stressful in the real world trying to come up a good treatment plan;
you have to learn to look at big picture. You have to be able to put different ideas together from different
treatment plans and determine what’s the best treatment for that patient. Every patient is different.

8. Favorite aspect of your job?

The everyday learning, is nice. I think I can say that I learn something new every day. There is never a dull
moment and I get to work with a lot of strong nurses. The learning is never ending; you can never learn too much.
In order to stay on top of the current education, you have to keep learning. Seeing my critical thinking skills get
better is so cool. Like instead of being told what to do I can anticipate it, which means faster, and better treatment
for the patient and we can get them out of the ER sooner, which is always nice for the patient. Helping people is
also so amazing, I do get to change lives which is so crazy to me.

9. Least favorite aspect?

It would have to be the nurse to patient ration is stressful, I am in a new facility so there is a lot of road blocks, so
that’s challenging. Trying to navigate around the construction workers is pretty difficult, especially when they’re
there all day. Since the facility is new, there are policies that are always changing, so trying to remember all these
new rules is definitely challenging even when they are most likely to change within the next month. I work 12 to
midnight so it takes my whole day. The high stress environment is constant, it can really take a toll unless you
have an outlet, having someone to vent to is very nice to have.

10. Most memorable patient you’ve had?

During the hurricane I was at the hospital for 7 days and we couldn’t leave so we had to camp out. The last day I
had a 9- day old come in limp in her dad’s arms, and her oxygen was at 77%, she was in the ER for an hour or so
and we finally got her stable, it was a lot of teamwork. We got her stable enough to get sent to Galveston and then
life-flighted to the medical center. She had a congenital defect of her blood vessels. Its corrected with surgery and
that was so high stress and we had been in the hospital for 7 days. Sadly, I don’t know what happened to her, but I
think about her every time I see a pediatric patient come in.

Interview Summary
What information from this interview will you select for your ½ page typed,
bulleted list of research information—to be used in your presentation?
Revised Fall 2017

Create a bulleted summary list on the next page.

  Nurses in the hospital do a lot more than what has been perceived in TV shows and movies.
Nurses are usually the ones dealing with the patients the majority of the time. While the doctors
usually diagnose the patients and order tests and medications, the nurses are the ones that give
the medication and make sure the patients get sent to their tests and they draw blood and take
vitals.
 Medical education never ends. In any medical field, recertification’s are needed usually every 2-
4 years meaning that medical providers are always attending conferences and seminars to learn
about new medical technology that has recently been introduced into the medical field.
 In nursing school, everything that is taught is textbook definition making it hard to apply it to
real life scenarios because not every patient is going to have textbook definition symptoms.
Going into the ER can be a self-learning job; adjusting to the fast-paced environment and trying
to piece medical knowledge together from previous experiences can be difficult.
 There will always be a need for medical professionals, the medical field is most likely the most
human-dependent profession in the world that will always need new people for new jobs that
will appear in the incoming years.
 Income for nurses can vary largely depending on what you specialize in and the amount of work
you do. There is so much room for growth and opportunities to earn more money and raise your
income. Depending on certain certifications and education levels, income can be greater because
of experience and responsibility.

Revised Fall 2017