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Interview with a Registered Nurse: Exploring the Positive and Challenging Aspects of this Profession

Weiga Chen

School of Nursing, Trent University

NURS 1000H: The Individual as Nurse

Professor Ann Mary Celestini and Professor Catherine Thibeault

September 30, 2020

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Interview with a Registered Nurse: Exploring the Positive and Challenging Aspects of this Profession

Understanding both the positive and challenging aspects of a profession plays an essential role

in choosing a life-long and rewarding career. By talking to a person who works as an RN (Registered

Nurse), student nurses gain invaluable knowledge about what it is really like working in this position,

their prospects for the future of this career, and what they love the most and find the most challenging

about their work. Thus, student nurses are one step closer in assuring that this is indeed what they want

to do. In addition, because one of RN’s responsibilities is to evaluate patients’ health status and needs, it

is important for student nurses to develop good interviewing skills. Therefore, the purpose of this

assignment is to get a deeper understanding of nursing as well as to practice interviewing skills. This

paper is based on a phone interview conducted with J.L. on September 22, 2020. In this paper, I will first

briefly discuss J.L.’s professional background and what inspired her to go into nursing. Then, I will talk

about one of the experiences during her professional career that she found has had the most impact on

her. In the final sections, I will talk about what she finds to be the most positive and challenging aspects

of this career, and discuss strategies that address the two challenges she mentioned.

Professional Background and Decision to Become a Nurse

J.L. (personal communication, September 22, 2020) indicated that she has been an RN for 10

years. Her highest level of education as an RN is a post-graduate certification as a Registered Nurse First

Assistant (RNFA). J.L. is an RN in operating room, but she has also worked in cardiovascular clinical,

plastic surgery, pediatric surgery, adult surgery, and congenital cardiovascular surgery. Her favorite

position was in cardiovascular surgery, because the heart is her favorite organ.

What inspired J.L. to be a nurse was a mission work in China. Before she went into nursing, J.L.

studied International Development Studies. She did not do very well at school and decided to take some

time off. One time, her friend shared an experience about going on a mission trip to China during which
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they provided free plastic surgery to kids and adults in need. Since she could speak Mandarin and liked

helping people, she decided to go on the trip and help with translation. Although her job was not related

to nursing, this opportunity exposed her to this profession. After coming back from the trip, she applied

and got accepted to a nursing school and excelled at it. She has been working as a nurse ever since.

A Significant Event

J.L. described that, during a placement in a geriatric long-term care facility, she had a patient

with Alzheimer’s who kept calling her his granddaughter. J.L. was raised by her grandparents, and her

grandfather was very special to her. Therefore, she learned early on to see her patients as her loved

ones. She said it is very important for her to take care of them as she would of her own family. This

reminded me of a conversation I had with another RN (personal communication, August 9, 2020). She

described that it could be challenging to work with patients with Alzheimer’s. Despite the wish to help

them, they might not be able to understand what nurses are doing to them, and they might act

violently. Instead of treating it as a task, J.L.’s experience sheds light on another approach: to treat each

patient as an individual with empathy.

Two Positive Aspects of Being a Nurse

The first positive aspect of being a nurse for J.L. is that this profession is always in demand. The

Canadian Nurses Association (2009) stated in its report that if the Canadians’ health needs continue to

follow previous trends, and if there are no new policies implemented, Canada will have a shortage of

60,000 RNs by 2022. According to the Job Bank (2019), the expansion of home and community care and

primary care organizations as well as the aging population has created a strong demand for RNs. This

was supported by RNs having the highest number of job postings per job applicants in Canada (Job Bank,

2019). The Job Bank (2019) concludes that this profession has a favourable outlook in the next three

years.
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The second positive aspect, as indicated by J.L., is that this profession offers high levels of

flexibility in terms of work scheduling and the possibility to switch to different departments. J.L. said she

worked over time and was on call a lot before having her children, thus she was able to make a

considerable amount of savings. She later chose to be a casual RN and work very minimally so that she

could spend more time with her children. In addition, she mentioned that the 12-hour shift is not the

only option. If an RN thinks that an 8-hour shift during day time would work better for them, they could

choose day surgery. Different life stages bring different challenges and preferences, thus the flexibility

this profession allows is something J.L. highly values.

Two Greatest Challenges of Being a Nurse

One of the greatest challenges for J.L. is to speak up for the patients when she knows it is the

right thing to do. She elaborated by an example that one time when an unexpected condition arose, the

surgeon came up with a solution so that the surgery could proceed. However, that would involve a

procedure that J.L. believed the patient was not aware of before the surgery. Therefore, she suggested

to the team that maybe they should get consent from the patient first. J.L. explained that it is

challenging to go against the surgeon who is the “alpha-male” in the operating room. It takes courage

and communication skills. By bringing it up to the team for discussion and avoiding being accusatory, she

protected the patient without offending the surgeon.

The other challenge J.L. identified is dealing with the politics among doctors, nurses and nurses’

aides. She explained that surgeons might blame nurses when they are unhappy with something, and

many nurses would choose to swallow the grievance and bear it alone. She indicated that the poor

communication is what some nurses are struggling with. The way she copes with it is to avoid getting

involved in those conversations and trying to focus on the work. However, if she is treated unfairly, she

will express her concern in a non-accusatory way.

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Possible Strategies to Deal with the Challenges

The conflicting situation that J.L. had with the surgeon is just one example of workplace

communication that could possibly end badly. As J.L. indicated, poor communication is a problem in the

hospital. Curtis et al. (2011) offered a few communication strategies that help facilitate high quality

patient care. First, learn to recognize one’s own emotion and that of the other person and be aware of

how this might affect the conversation. Do not take intellectual confrontation as a personal challenge.

Second, be prepared before contacting the doctor, meaning understanding the goal, finding the right

person and having the information ready. Third, construct the message in an organized manner by

adopting the ISBAR technique, which stands for introduction, situation, background, assessment and

recommendation. Fourth, although it sounds intimidating, be assertive if something is not right. When

the situation warrants it, gradually escalate the concern until it is addressed and solved to a satisfactory

level (Curtis et al., 2011). The work environment in hospitals is sometimes chaotic, having productive

and effective communication is therefore essential in ensuring high quality patient care and establishing

a satisfactory work experience.

Regarding the second challenge identified by J.L. about workplace politics, Montalvo and Byrne

(2016) indicated that nurses could benefit from having a mentor to help with political skills

development. They defined political skills as the abilities to impose influence on others to achieve

certain goals. People with good political skills understand others well and they are able to use such

knowledge in their best interest (Montalvo & Byrne, 2016). In this cross-sectional research, Montalvo

and Byrne (2016) attested that mentored nurses had higher levels of political skills compared to non-

mentored nurses. A few important functions that mentoring has are personal and emotional guidance,

enhancing network ability, coaching, advocacy, and career development facilitation. Nurses who have

well-developed political skills are in demand, and their skills enable them to advance on networking
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ability and use power inconspicuously to reach their objectives. On the contrary, having low levels of

political skills put limits on nurses’ developmental opportunities, because they were less capable of

gaining power, information and resources through networking (Montalvo & Byrne, 2016). Although the

study focused on higher level nurses who had earned or were candidates for a Ph.D. or doctorate of

nursing practice degree, their emphasis on the significance of having mentorship also offers an

important lesson for future new nurses.

In summary, nursing is a challenging, and yet rewarding career filled with possibilities. It is in

high demand and offers a considerable amount of flexibility. Both J.L.’s answer and the research articles

emphasize the central role of a nurse being the advocate for the patients. This profession will provide

heart-warming moments that deepen one’s sense of value, but it also comes with great responsibilities

and challenges. From this assignment, I learned about my short comings when conducting the

interviews. I should be more mindful about the interviewee’s situation and take the lead in directing the

conversation so that it is more organized and does not deviate from the theme. I learned about RNFA

and the endless development opportunities this profession can provide. I learned about the complexity

of the work environment and how nurses should strive to act in the best interest of the patients. In the

end, J.L. told me that in order to be a successful team member in the workplace, one must have integrity

and be responsible for what they need to learn. Along my professional journey, I will always remember

the advice she gave me, which is to produce quality work that I will be proud of.
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References

Canadian Nurses Association. (2009). Adult tested solutions for eliminating Canada's registered nurse

shortage. https://www.cna-aiic.ca/-/media/cna/page-content/pdf-en/rn_highlights_e.pdf?

la=en&hash=22B42E6B470963D8EDEAC3DCCBD026EDA1F6468D

Curtis, K., Tzannes, A., & Rudge, T. (2011). How to talk to doctors – a guide for effective communication.

International Nursing Review, 58 (1), 13-20. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-7657.2010.00847.x

Job Bank. (2019). Employment outlook for registered nurse in Ontario. Employment and Social

Development Canada. https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/marketreport/outlook-occupation/993/ON

Montalvo, W., & Byrne, M. W. (2016). Mentoring nurses in political skill to navigate organizational

politics. Nursing Research and Practice, 2016, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/3975634