My name is Dayanara Rodriguez, and I am currently a Senior at Scottsbluff High School. Throughout my educational career. I have always enjoyed school and have had a knack of learning new things, especially on the topics that interest me. I like to work hard and strive to do my best in all my work in hopes that I would be able to succeed and continue my education to the collegiate level to obtain my BSN. My curiosity and yearning to learn more about the human body and all of its inner functionings has pushed me to want an education past high school to continue learning topics that interest me and I have a passion about. Specifically, the main topic that interests me the most and I have always wanted to pursue a career in is labor and infants. The whole idea of giving birth and taking care of the tiny infants has always intrigued me and I have always wanted to have a career where I can take care of them and make sure they are healthy. By obtaining my BSN and working in the Labor and Delivery or NICU Unit, I hope to help many new and returning mothers with their infants and with the process of giving birth to their new babies. From helping them feel as comfortable as they can, to taking the best care of their baby. In my career I hope to help many moms throughout the process, despite their possible stress or fear they may have of bringing a new baby home. I would also like to help all the moms in my community. By interning and job shadowing at my local hospital, I was able to see how it is really like to work as a nurse in my local hospital in the Birth and Infant Care Center. This made me want to come back and help the Birth and Infant Care Center at my local hospital, to care for all of the moms in my local community through their birthing process. While also shadowing I have also noticed that my local hospital lacked nurses that knew Spanish. When entering my career, I hope to progress and be more confident in my Spanish speaking skills so that I am able to communicate with patients if needed that only speak Spanish. I often saw that this was a common barrier that many nurses faced within my local hospital, and that would often delay the care or the communication the patient needed. As a future nurse, I plan on studying more about Spanish in healthcare to help speak to patients that only speak Spanish, and also to help make them feel comfortable and understood in an environment that can seem scary to many new moms or even patients in general.

During my internship at my local hospital, I was able to shadow and follow nurses in different units learning and understanding the real role of what it takes to be a nurse and care for others. While at the hospital, I have shadowed many great nurses, but there is one incident in particular where I believe this nurse showed compassion and care for her patient. While shadowing in the Birth and Infant Care Center, the nurse and I were doing rounds and entered one of her patients' rooms. This mother had just given birth and was a first-time mom, she was extremely anxious and nervous about taking her baby boy home. However, the nurse taking care of her ensured that she was taken care of and would be given any information necessary so that she and her baby boy were safe at home. The nurse walked her through breastfeeding, taking care of the baby at home, and also how to take care of herself, to give the best care possible for her baby as well. Hearing this was an extreme ease for this new mom because she had no one else at home, it was just her, and taking care of a newborn all by herself would seem overwhelming to anyone in general. With all of the nerves the mom was experiencing, it was important that the nurse stayed calm and had as many outcomes or solutions to all of the mother's questions as the nurse could. To have answers to ease the mom's mind to help her is vital to her health and also to the baby's health. The way the nurse spoke and took care of the mom and baby showed great compassion that I want to carry onto myself and my future patients as I take care of them. After we left the patient's room, the nurse explained to me how important especially with moms and their children, to remain calm and to ensure that everything will be okay, even if the odds seem like they aren’t. She continued to explain that even though this is an anxious or even scary time for most moms, it is important that we nurses continue to keep our composure and keep a cool and collected face throughout, to help the mom through the usually long process of labor, and post labor. This nurse taught me how to care for your patients and to make sure your patients trust you to ensure that they feel as comfortable as they can, especially new moms. This lesson and showcase of compassion towards a patient, not only positively affected that mom in particular, but also me as I am learning how to be a future nurse, taking in all of the advice and pointers possible to allow me to succeed in my future career.