Message from Ashley Watts

Hi all! My name is Ashley Watts. I graduated from Cape Fear Community College with my ADN in May 2007. I had been taking classes needed for my BSN and continued to do so until spring 2008. I started taking summer classes before I took the NCLEX, which shows I am either incredibly ignorant or a masochist, neither one being very encouraging. I was a Med-Surg nurse in Whiteville, NC until March. While there I quickly learned why my professors and clinical instructors had stressed time management skills as a priority. Having seven ailing human beings to juggle when you should only be handling four or five is not realistic, but it is reality. I am an impatient person by nature and found that the pace of care was frustrating. One night, not long after I was off of new graduate orientation, a lady came in with a diagnosis of ARF. Her physical and mental state quickly began to deteriorate upon arrival from the ED. I had that gut feeling that something terrible was going on, but could not figure out what. Several times I paged the house doctor and pleaded with him to come and see her. After an extended period of calls and my charge nurse getting involved, he did. Even after he examined her he questioned my concerns and told me he did not feel that she needed to be sent to the CCU. I become livid inside, having my apprehensions and observations cast aside. Finally, with the help of my vigilant charge nurse (who is also one of my best friends and a mentor), another nurse and I wheeled the patient down the hall and upstairs to the CCU. When we laid her flat to transfer her to the CCU bed, she coded in my arms. She had gone into flash pulmonary edema. She did not make it. Weeks later, I was driving towards work and suddenly burst into tears. I had to pull over because I could no longer see through the tears. One of my nursing supervisors, a twenty year veteran, and I discussed what had happened on that night. She said that experiences such as this help us decide not only what kind of nurse we want to be, but what kind of person we decide to be every day. I started applying for critical care positions that week. I now work in Myrtle Beach at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center in the MICU/CCU. While it does not take very long in the nursing field to figure out that not everyone can be saved, I feel that my job as a critical care nurse allows me to have the tools to do all that I can do and go home feeling more at peace. I know that was a long story, but I believe it sums up much of my journey in the last year. I love (and sometimes loathe) being a nurse because I choose everyday to help not only the healing, but the dying as well.The events that happened above also solidified my choice for continuing with my schooling. I plan to graduate with my BSN in May 2009. I have started studying for the GRE and plan to attend school for a Masters in Anesthesia. I had the summer off (my first ever) and found that I got no more done in my life except house work because I need to be on the edge of insanity to be productive. I have had several issues with the whole process at UNCW and this has made me have an underlying feeling of "what next?" I am incredibly nervous about school because I want to do well and find myself thinking “what did I get myself into?” and hyperventilating from time to time! In my spare time I love to be outside. I have been married for six years and my husband Joe and I share a love of the water. I love to wakeboard and tube whenever I get the chance. It is nice to release some frustration out on my grandparent’s farm by skeet shooting, better the clay pigeons than the patients! I have three palm plants (Clive, Roger and Bella). I have commitment issues; hence the three plants in lieu of children or pets. Joe and I have discovered Rock Band and this video game has replaced television as the number once source of procrastination. I also love interior decorating and Home Goods, TJ Maxx and Ross are places where I can frequently be found. I also enjoy making cards and picture frames, but do not scrap book because I am anal retentive and can never be satisfied with a page. I hope to have a great semester and expand my knowledge and insight of the career I have chosen to devote so much of my life to. (Posted on 8/21, 2008)