May I have your attention, please? Let’s give a warm hello to KPG Healthcare’s Nurse Spotlight for October, Julie! Let’s learn more about her nursing career!
Introducing, Julie!
Julie’s nursing career spans more than a decade specializing as an Emergency Room Nurse with four years as a Travel Nurse. However, her nursing journey started when she was a child. Growing up in Shreveport, Louisiana, she witnessed and experienced her father’s love for nursing.
“My father was a nurse for 30 years,” Julie explains, “he was also a paramedic before then too.” Julie continued to explain witnessing the passion her father had for the nursing field and how he is the sole reason why she pursued nursing as a career. She jokingly said they are a family of nurses.
Being a nurse for more than a decade, Julie has faced her fair share of challenges. She mentioned how healthcare was changing with examples like universal healthcare and medicine innovation, as well as the emergency rooms becoming overcrowded.
It doesn’t help there is a shortage of nurses in the United States, and many states like Louisiana are experiencing that shortage first-hand. This poses an enormous challenge for the nurses on staff. “We’ve also had experienced a shortage in supplies,” said Julie, but luckily she was able to find supplies in other departments within the hospital.
The challenges Julie face are not easy, but as she progressed through her nursing journey she learned and refined her personal and professional skillset. One of the skills Julie has refined is the ability to put herself into the patient or the patient’s family into perspective.
“[I] meet so many types of people…there’s always a patient in the worst condition,” Julie mentioned, “it puts you into perspective.” Her ability to read people and understand the other person’s perspective through body language is just one of the skills she has refined during her career.
When Julie isn’t refining her skillset, you can usually catch her researching her next big trip while soaking in the tub. As an avid road tripper, Julie has hit some of the United States’ major national parks like Yosemite, Joshua Tree, and Zion, to name a few. Although, her all-time favorite national park is between Yellowstone and the Badlands.
With Portland being her favorite travel destination, San Diego a close second, it’s no wonder Julie has fallen in love with the West Coast. Besides the lack of humidity then she’s used to back in Louisiana, she says the West Coast offers a beach, desert and a mountain all within proximity. She called the West Coast “magical.”
The West Coast wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t for her awesome recruiter, James! James was always accessible whenever Julie had questions and provided a helping hand when he could. Fun fact: James and Julie both started with KPG Healthcare around the same time! #cutesies
When Julie started her travel nursing career, she set out a goal to go from coast-to-coast. She has been able to travel the West Coast via road trip, but she still has a couple of places left in mind. The two destinations she is dying to reach for an assignment is either Boston or Alaska during the summer. A good friend and fellow travel nurse have been in Alaska for two summers now!
Julie, from all of us here at KPG Healthcare, we want to thank you for your continued dedication to our Travel Nursing team. We wish you nothing but the best in all your future endeavors, wherever life may take you. Keep up the great work!
Julie’s Advice for New Travel Nurses:
- Learn to roll with the punches
- Have no expectations
- Enjoy the experience!