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Holly M Arana
English 101A
Dr. Bose
March 5, 2016
Profile Project: Nursing for Patricia Plog
When you think about going to the hospital for a checkup or for a serious condition that
you might have, you always have the expectation already set in your mind to have a nurse see
you first before anyone else. Seeing the nurses might be something that you dread if you have to
take multiple tests that might involve needles, or you might be happy to see a friendly face after
facing the struggles that you had been enduring. As a small child, whenever I would go to the
hospital I would look forward to seeing the women who would asses my physical well-being and
conduct multiple tests. I always used these experiences to learn from and thought that it was
quite fun to follow each instruction that they had for me. For a long while, the one thing that I
would never forget about my stay at a hospital were the nurses that I would see. This was
because they were the ones who I would talk to the most and I would always feel welcome and
comfortable with the smiles I would receive from them. It didnt matter the situation that I was in
or what they were dealing with at the moment, they always seemed to be filled with great spirits.
From an article She Understood the Power of Nurses by Tiffany Monroe, Maya Angelou stated
the following, As a nurse, we have the opportunity to heal the heart, mind, soul and body of our
patients, their families and ourselves. They may forget your name, but they will never forget how
you made them feel. Nurses are the ones who are by your side when you have a serious
condition or if you are just there for a checkup. They are the ones who attend to you and make
sure that you are okay from the first to last hours that you are there. Because of the experiences

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that I have had be it good or bad, I was inspired to become just like them one day. I wanted to be
the one to be able to help people and make sure that their day was better because of how they
were treated. Not only was I inspired by the nurses that I would encounter back home, but also
by the nurses that are in my family. My aunt Patricia has been a nurse for many years and has
never ceased to talk to me about the profession and help me discover the beauty of what a true
nurse should be like. She not only is an inspiration to me, but many others as well. She is now
working at St. Marys Hospital in Tucson, AZ and has changed many lives due to her integrity,
courage, and laborious work that she puts in each day.
My Inspiration
My aunt Patricia Plog is the one of the most appreciated nurses as Saint Marys Hospital
and does the best that she can while she is at work to make the patients feel at home and
appreciated.
As a nurse you have to remember that these people that you see have gone
through a lot. You have to have that compassion in your heart when you care for
these patients. You have to be a people person. Being a nurse is like being in a
costumer service job. You have to make sure that the patients are happy and
comfortable. They have been going through so much already. So, it is my job to
make sure they feel comfortable, safe, and at home as much as possible.
Plog, Patricia. Interview by Arana, Holly. March 10, 2016
Patricia knows that the job of a nurse is not easy. You have to have your heart and mind
in the right place before you dive into this profession. It is easy to let the hardships that you face
overcome you, but as for Patricia, she makes sure that nothing stands in her way of being her

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best and helping each individual that is in need to the best of her abilities. From research that I
have done, many nurses claim that from all of the terrible experiences and cases that they have to
experience, they become bitter and cold hearted. They come into the practice full of
compassionate hearts, ready to share empathy and care for the patients. However, after seeing all
the pain and suffering that some people go through, often times many nurses lose that emotional
care for patients because of not wanting to feel the pain from their patients pain any longer. Some
nurses have complained that the physical and emotional demands of the nursing profession put
nurses at risk of professional compassion fatigue Journal of Clinical Nursing Nurses perceived
and actual caregiving roles: identifying factors that can contribute to job satisfaction by Kelsey
B Morrison and Susan A Korol. Nurses always have to go through and put up with so much, not
only from the patients but also the pressure that is put on them by the administration of the
hospital (Morrison and Korol 3469). That is why I admire Patricia so much. Not only does she
have to go through this experience as a nurse every day, but she is able to put the stress from the
work setting behind her so that she can focus on helping her. Patricia is an individual who did not
always know what she wanted to be at a young age. It was through the difficult experiences that
she had as a child that drove her to the wanting to help and heal people who are in pain.
A Journey to Making the Right Career Choice
As I asked Patricia about her life journey in finding the best career path to take, she
reflected upon the hardships that she went through as an adolescent and moments that inspired
her to becoming what she is now, a registered nurse. Patricia grew up in small city named
Nogales, AZ until the age of twelve. She then moved to El Paso, Texas and stayed there until she
moved to Tucson to finish her nursing degree at the University of Arizona. As a child, her family
struggled financially and it was hard sometimes for Patricia to be home because of the stress and

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anxiety that was slowly eating away at the family. Her father struggled with the addiction of
smoking and alcoholism. After a short while, he developed lung cancer that eventually led to his
passing. Her father needed to be constantly cared for due to his unhealthy habits and Patricia was
the one who took on the job. She did all that she could for the family and her father even though
she was not always respected or treated right by him or sometimes younger siblings. She learned
to keep her head up high and be patient and helpful through the emotional abuse that was
inflicted upon her. Her mother did not help because she was at the constant care of her younger
sister who had down syndrome. Throughout the time that Patricia was growing up, she had to
learn how to be a leader and care for her younger brother when her mother did not. At a young
age she learned how she was going to make sure that everyone was cared for and healthy as her
mother did not do the job on her own.
Patricia became strong and independent and knew that God had given her the talent for
caring for people. At the age of about fifteen, she decided who she was going to be in the future.
She knew that she had the capability to help and care for people other than just her family. She
was going to become a nurse and that is exactly what she did. I think that God gives us talents
for things that he wants us to do. I cannot sing or build a house, but I can be his hands and feet to
help someone in need, and that is a gift (Plog Interview). Patricia has put her fine qualities
into her work and has been successful in everything that she has done. She is respected by many
and is hoping to continue with her work for as long as she can. Patricia loves working at St.
Marys because she always is acknowledged by the work that she does. She reflected in the
interview that everyone works hard to respect each other through each situation that occurs.
Nursing Profession

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After talking to Patricia, I learned that at St. Marys Hospital everyone works as a team.
The Doctors, Nurses, and Technology Specialist all work together to get the job done. In a
hospital, the best thing that can be done is for respect to be kept throughout the whole hospital. In
the past, it was normal for nurses, especially a women nurse, to not be treated and respected as
they should have been. Many individuals would associate women as just being made for working
at home. That their job was to stay home to clean, care for and give birth to the children.
However, this was not the mentality of a lot of women. They also wanted to get their careers like
the men and be able to do what they loved to do. As time has progressed, women have been able
to make a difference in the world, especially in the medical field.
Many women have contributed their knowledge to medicine and the medical field
according to Access World News Historical and Current, Exhibit Cites Challenges Female
Doctors Can Face. Arizona Daily Star, page A9. That is why it was so amazing to hear that at
St. Marys Hospital, respect is an important trait to have at that hospital. I think that as a health
professional it is important that everyone can communicate especially when the lives of many
individuals are in your hands. The hospital staff take the lives of each patient very seriously but
they also make sure that through all the chaos, they can still make room for fun and celebration.
One of the most memorable moments for Patricia was when they had the Fabulous 50
Celebration for the nurses and doctors that were 50 years of age, have worked at the hospital for
many years, and have contributed a great deal to the hospital work place. Patricia said that she
was recognized for the outstanding job that she had done as a nurse professional throughout the
years of being at the hospital. Patricia claims that in the work setting at St. Marys, the women
and men are treated equally for their accomplishments. One of the things most impressive that I

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have found about Patricia is that she is not just a general nurse, but she is one who works in the
emergency department of the hospital.
Life at the Hospital
Working as a nurse in the emergency department can be stressful and very demanding.
There are many people who come in with extreme conditions and ones who are not really sick at
all. Some people may even come in stating that they are dying by giving a long list of fatal
symptoms that they have just so they can get the pain medication. Some people believe that the
more they talk and the more things that they claim to be wrong with them, that they will find a
way to be granted some medication. That is not how things work (Plog, Interview). That is why
assessing the patients, getting the situation under control and knowing what is wrong with each
patient is crucial. In this department the nurses have to rate the patients at how serous their
condition is. There are five levels in the emergency department. Level one being the worst case
or condition where they have to be treated right away, and level five is when the patient comes in
with a simple tooth ache. Patricia claims that nursing is a serious job. You have to make sure that
you are doing everything with precision and great care especially when you are giving
medication to a patient. You have to monitor the patient constantly because you never know how
a patient is going to react to a certain drug. There are many procedures that you have to follow as
a nurse. There is a certain protocol that they have to follow so that the patients are assessed the
same and correctly. This ensures that there are minimal amounts of error in being able to
diagnose a patient and give them what they need to improve their health.
For the nurses at St. Marys there are five things that are monitored. The patient, drug,
route, dosage and vitals. If these things are not monitored closely, you can leave a patient in
serious condition. The goal of a nurse is to better the health of the patients, so if you are not

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making sure of that, then you are not doing your job. Patricia loves taking care of the patients
there, but she hates to see when people come into the hospital for things that they did to
themselves. When people overdose on drugs or alcohol, it makes her feel disappointed because
she knows that those people could be doing so much more with their lives.
Working at the hospital has made her realize that she cannot take like for granted. She
claims that if she is having a bad day, being at the hospital makes her feel grateful for what she
has. There are people that come into the hospital that seem fine at one point in time and then a
few hours or days later they find out that they are dying from cancer or they have a heart attack.
These people make her realize that she is blessed to be healthy and honored to be able to take
care of the people who are in bad situations. Whatever she can do to help these individuals, she
does. Patricia always has a positive attitude and has the ability to make people around her feel
better and more at ease. That is a quality that you must have as a nurse. If you are able to make
the lives better for the people that are struggling for just one moment, you are doing your job
right.
At the end of the interview, I was able to gather some final thoughts that Patricia had
about the health care profession. She stated that even after twenty-seven years of being a nurse,
she has never regretted being part of the nursing profession. She loves waking up every day and
being able to go out and help people that are in need. One thing she pointed out was that it was
important for people who are thinking about going into the medical field to not do it for
monetary reasons, or any other reason except to want to help others in need. You should be
passionate about bettering the lives of others and be a people person. Nursing is more than just
being smart and knowing how to make people better, it is also about the heart. You need to be
there for people for their physical well-being but also for their emotional healing. If you cannot

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put your heart into something and are not passionate about it, do not do it, no matter how much
money you make. Patricia works and loves it because helping others is her passion and that is
why she is so honorable. Making others feel better makes her feel better.

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Works Cited
Arizona Daily Star. "Exhibit Cites Challenges Female Doctors Can Face. Access World
News - Historical and Current (2004): A49. University of Arizona Library Database. Web. 29
Feb. 2016.
Health Career Compass. "A Collection of My Favorite Nursing Quotes. Health Career
Compass.

N.p., 14 Dec. 2016. Web. Mar.-Apr. 2016.

Monroe, Tiffany, RN, BSN. "She Understood The Power of Nurses." Answers Articles
and Jobs for Nurses and Nursing Students RSS. Allnurses, 28 May 2014. Web. 05 May 2016.
Morrison, Kelsey B., and Susan A. Korol. "Journal of Clinical Nursing. Nurses
Perceived and Actual Caregiving Roles: Identifying Factors That Can Contribute to Job
Satisfaction (2014): 1-11. University of Arizona Library. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.
"Nursing Profession Experience." Plog, Patricia. Personal interview. 10 Mar. 2016.