Why Am I Doing This?
Mentoring: In The World of Nursing & Health Care
I can still vividly remember my first job as Neonatal Nurse Practitioner in a Level III/IV Intensive Care Nursery. I was one month out of nursing graduate school and I was scared out of my mind.
Don’t get me wrong. I was excited and blessed that I was hired. Thrilled to be in such a prestigious, academic learning environment. And I went home crying most days. The good news is I was very aware of my ignorance and naivety in caring for the sickest of newborns. I just didn’t know what to do with that fear and I had no one to talk to about it. I completed an extensive training program and was “precepted’ (that’s a very nursing-related term) for several weeks by another experienced Nurse Practitioner. But I knew then and I know now that I had very few external resources to give me the strength I needed to work through the expected fear of a new career.
I was twenty-six years old. I had a Masters degree in Nursing. I lived on my own in a big metropolitan city in California. I was single, loved reading and traveling (even though I hate to fly:) visiting with friends, and I lived thousands of miles away from my immediate family. You see, back then I wanted to be completely on my own and so I was. Living the dream of every young, single person in America. Fortunately for me, I chose a degree and career in a decently paying field that paid me well enough to enjoy all of the above. So life was good! Except when I went to work and felt like I knew nothing and that most of my decisions were inadequate at best and life-threatening at worst. That was over twenty years ago.
I needed a mentor. This is why.
