I had the opportunity to interview nurse Vangie Quintanilla who currently works at Providence Hospital in El Paso, Texas. Vangie has been a registered nurse (RN) for 24 years. She obtained her BSN degree from the University of Texas in El Paso and has now been a certified nurse of the operating room (CNOR) for the past 22 years. She has worked in the operating room for 24 years with roles such as Assistant Director, Educator, and Preceptor and Circulator.
Currently, she is working both as a circulator for Providence Hospital and as an office nurse a plastic surgeons office. Her role at the office is OSHA manager, Laser Technician and Nurse Injector (botox and fillers). Vangie also ensures that the office maintains OSHA standards. Her current job responsibilities as an RN are to attend to patient care, whenever a patient is in need of anything she will attend to those needs. She also observes patients behavior while they are at the hospital.
Another important responsibility she has is supervising licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and certified nurse assistants (CNAs). She mentors them and helps them become a better and more advanced nurse and also answers any questions that they have. I also asked Vangie how she perceives nursing now than from when she graduated nursing school. I was sort of unpleased to hear her response. Vangie explained to me how now a days she believes that people pursue nursing to “get a good pay” and that their hearts are not in it to help the community and that it shows via their work.
She also explained to me that since there is a shortage, nurses now have the ability to fast track trough their education or attend education facilities that do not require the rigors of an actual nursing education. Due to this, the students do not benefit and their patients suffer from it. She did not imply that everyone who is pursuing a nursing career now that they are only in it for the “good pay” but that’s just what is commonly Running head: NURSE INTERVIEW 3 known now a days.
As to where when she graduated nursing school, nursing was viewed as a very high demanding job and many people wanted the easy way out of college and did not want to work for their degrees. They did not have all of these alternative education facilities as we do now. “The most obvious barrier to nursing’s achievement of professional status is the variability of educational background of its practitioners” (Chitty-Black, 2011, pg. 106). I also asked Vangie how she integrates HIPAA rules to maintain patient confidentiality, she couldn’t stress enough over how important HIPAA is.
She believes that HIPAA is a must in all aspects of healthcare. She then told me about a past experience when a patient’s friend who was not in that patients direct patient care was asking her questions and she could not give any information regarding the individual. She also told me that that you should never, in any circumstances, discuss information regarding any patient to any random individual. From interviewing Nurse Vangie Quintanilla, I learned so much about the nursing field and about the branches that reach out of the nursing field and all of the different opportunities that this field offers.
I also observed how she portrayed being confident during the interview and could tell that she had a love for the nursing field and also had love for her career that she worked so hard for. You could just tell by tone in her voice when she answered my questions. She also encouraged me to pursue my dream of becoming a nurse and that I could always advance in any kind of nursing if I put my heart and effort into it. After interviewing her, I automatically gained respect for not only her but also all of the other nurses that take their job seriously and are passionate about their career.
