(upbeat music) - My name is Sara Renz and I am a registered nurse here at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, in the ER.

(upbeat music) So I work specifically in the emergency department which is a little bit different than other specialty areas.

So in nursing, there are several different areas that you could go into.

You could work in a clinic as a nurse where you have outpatients that you see.

So as a outpatient nurse, you generally work in normal daytime hours, like Monday through Friday, 9:00 to 5:00, say.

That's for example.

When you go to your eye doctor, your PCP, you could see a nurse there that could help get some initial vital signs and such.

And you could work as a nurse as inpatient area.

So, of course, inpatient areas are staffed 24/7, 365.

So you can work day shift, night shift, and there's many different specialties.

As I mentioned, I work in the emergency department, specifically, night shift.

(upbeat music) As a nurse, you give medications to patients, you take patients' vital signs, you assess the patient, you see how they are responding to certain treatments, medications, and then you take that information that you could see and feel and assess from the patient, then you can take that back to the provider and recommend them to the provider like a next step in care.

As a nurse, you are the person that is interacting with the patient the most.

So you help to coordinate the care between all of those different services.

(upbeat music) I have about a 25-minute drive to work.

I at work night shifts.

I'm actually able to park in the parking garage.

I take a moment to myself in the car and I say, "Okay self, let's go get this day and give good patient care and be good to my coworkers and colleagues around me."

You check in with the nurses that you're relieving and you get a detailed report as to what's going on with the patients that you're receiving.

I'll say, "Okay, I'm gonna go check in with this patient across the hall that has a low blood pressure, if you wanna go ahead in and get that ambulance settled."

And then we kind of separate and then we come back together and I say, "Okay, we're given this gentleman another liter of IV fluid.

What's going on with the ambulance there?"

And then we communicate, and then, that's just how we continue to care for the patients.

You see a lot in the emergency department.

I always say you could see a one-minute-old or a 105-year-old.

You see anything that comes through the door.

Something can be as simple as a toe injury or someone toe leg is off.

You have to be able to adapt and roll with the punches and take a challenge as opportunity as to how can we fix this?

How can we make it better?

How can we improve it?

(upbeat music) So I work a 0.9 position, so that is 36 hours for a week.

You could work a 1.0 position, that means 40 hours a week.

But as a 0.9, a 36-hour week person, I still have full-time benefits.

So as 36 hours, that's really three 12-hour shifts.

So I really am able to work three days a week and that is pretty wonderful.

Being able to just work 36 hours a week, gives me lots of time to do things outside of work.

We also have very wonderful, like, parks and rec, recreational areas in the area.

So biking is really big now.

I personally don't bike but I do have a chocolate lab and he loves to romp around in the different trails in the area.

Nursing is important because we are the hands that deliver the care.

But we are the hands that give the medications.

That we assess directly what's going on with the patient.

And we are the ones that take it back to the providers that have a very vast majority of knowledge, but are taking what the nurses say to the care of the patient, to put the orders in for us to to care for the patient.

We are the person that will hold your hand when you're having pain.

We sit with a caregiver as their family members passing.

We're like the conductor of the orchestra.

I love my job.

I choose to work this job because I get such a satisfaction as to when I could help to figure out what is going on with the patient.

It's incredible feeling when you are having a very difficult and hard time, and you and your coworkers are able to just work with each other to help get the job done.

And that is such a sense of accomplishment, satisfaction and it keeps you coming back for more.

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