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Technology, High Expectations Drive Careers in Nursing
Hickory Daily Record
July 09, 2008
For April Traxler, the rewards of being a nurse outweigh any negatives that come along with the job.
Traxler, a registered nurse in the cardiac catheterization laboratory at Frye Regional Medical Center, admits to being frustrated at times but insists the rewards of nursing make any inconveniences worthwhile.
“Nursing is my life,” said the 41-year-old Traxler, who has been practicing for 19 years “I see a lot of miracles every day.”
Traxler is among more than 500 nurses at Frye. She has the dedication that makes success possible in a demanding and evolving profession, said Suzanne C. Bird, RN, MS, senior vice president and chief nursing officer at the hospital.
Bird and other nursing officials say the profession, driven by rapid technological advances and an increasingly demanding patient base, is a challenge and an opportunity.
She said nurses can choose among numerous career paths, some of which did not exist a couple of decades ago.
Nurses are becoming better educated, more proficient in technology and more autonomous when it comes to making decisions about patient care, Bird added
But compassion remains near the top of the nurse’s job description.
“The tools will change, but the heart of nursing won’t,” she said.
Charge nurse Treye Kennedy works in the critical care unit at Catawba Valley Medical Center. He originally planned to be a paramedic, but was coaxed into nursing by his wife, also a nurse.
The 35-year-old Kennedy, already a registered nurse and certified critical care nurse, plans to pursue a master’s degree, specializing in anesthesia or acute care, or perhaps become a nurse practitioner.
Kennedy said seeking an advanced degree is something he owes to his career, his family and his patients.
