It’s that time of the month! I’m so excited about this month’s feature. This month’s feature is someone who is very near and dear to my heart; she’s someone I’ve known all my life. She’s also one of the many reasons why I decided to pursue a career in nursing. Her Story is one I’m truly happy to share. April’s Nurse of The Month is my cousin Tiffany Wurie.
“The road to success is not always a straight line”. Sometimes you just have to be determined.
After a rough start in college, Tiffany Wurie finally decided to pursue a career in Nursing. The first obstacle was grades that weren’t stellar. After many rejections, finally came an acceptance to an Associate Nursing Program where she graduated in 2011 and continued to complete a BSN in 2014, graduating Summa cum laude. Tiffany specializes in public health and has worked in several areas including pediatrics, trauma, hospice, and managed care. She has an immense love for people, for Nursing, and for learning and she is currently pursuing an MSN in Nursing Administration. She has a passion for health policy, removing barriers to health care and health disparities. She hopes to one day impact the way minorities especially view and receive health care.
What made you choose nursing as a career?
Ah the golden question! I feel like they ask you this at the beginning of every semester in nursing school just to make sure you’re still there. LOL. Honestly, nothing magical happened that made me choose nursing. I love people. I come alive when I’m able to be there for someone and help them when they really need it. Although there are so many other professions that do the exact same thing, in terms of helping people, I thought about all of the other things I also loved to do in life, and nursing just made sense. The thing about nursing is that you have to love it. All of what we do and why we do it; otherwise you just get lost in all of the madness. It’s something that you just know is right for you and that’s why you fight through the rigor of nursing school and deal with the public, most of the time at their absolute worst. You go to sleep and wake up and do it again because you love it. All of it. What we do and why we do it.
Where did you start your career, what specialty and where are you working now?
Quick funny story, I remember being in my last semester of nursing school discussing my ideal job with the class. I wanted to work in community health, Monday to Friday no weekends ( because I did other things on the weekends and church on Sundays was really important to me). So of course everyone looked at me with the craziest eyes and told me that every new nurse starts out on the night shift working every other weekend. So at my final week of clinicals, I got offered a job at my clinical site, working night shift, every other weekend. I hadn’t even taken the boards yet. I was so excited, I scheduled it right away and didn’t even study. Inevitably, I failed and even though they would have given me another opportunity to take it and pass, it just wasn’t for me. So after I moved back to New York, took the boards and passed I started looking for jobs that I wanted. (No weekends, no nights). Somehow, I ended up getting a job as a high school nurse- straight out of nursing school with 0 years of experience. Then I worked as a program nurse for adults with developmental disabilities, I moved on to be a Field Nurse Case Manager, Coordinator of Care and Assessment Nurse. So in short, I started in public health and made my way through various avenues upwards.
What experience do you have in the nursing field?
I think I may have answered most of this in the last question, but I am also trauma certified and a diabetes educator.
What was your biggest obstacle in nursing/ nursing school?
There were a few obstacles for me in nursing school. Nursing school itself feels like one big obstacle course at times lol, but the biggest thing for me was changing the way that I think. I think that generally we are taught to learn by memorization and recall. That is thrown out of the window in nursing school because it forces you to move from just having a lot of knowledge about a subject to being able to apply that knowledge to a variety of different situations in different ways. Tests in the beginning for me was brutal because I just didn’t know how to study. I started attending reviews and listening to the rationales behind the correct answers and eventually it helped me to change the way I thought. When I studied, and I read something new, I wasn’t just trying to remember the information. I started thinking about what types of situations this piece of information would apply to. That was a turning point for me.
What are some suggestions you would give to a new nurse or aspiring nurse?
On Nursing school…
Nursing school is tough, its hard work, but honestly before you know it, it will be over.
1. Don’t be so hard on yourself
2. You’ve got what it takes
3. Be sure to make time for the things/people that make you happy
On being a new nurse…
It’s hard, but rewarding work
1. Don’t be so hard on yourself
2. You’ve got what it takes
3. Speak up for yourself
4. It’s ok to still be learning ( We all are, always)
For both, always always make time for you and your own personal health and well- being (It’s a must! and we tend to forget it the most).
Would you stay in this profession or would you like to transition into another field?
The thing about Nursing is that there are so many different avenues to explore. So many different specialties, career paths etc. While I do plan to do different things, nursing will always be at the core.
I always love these posts because you can always walk away with some piece of new advice; particularly liked what she said about changing the way that she thinks when it came to studying and applying herself.
Oh Yes! Sometimes it’s the way we think that stop us from being out best self.