Student Nurse Interview - Possible Career In Women's Health?

[seabari]

Hello. I am currently a student taking my nursing elective, Women & Health. Our professor has assigned an interview assignment for us to look into the women's health field as a possible career path after graduation. Since I am unsure about what field I would like to pursue after graduating my BSN program, any information or advice would be welcome.

If any of you would be at all willing to answer any (or all) of these questions, I would be so thankful!

1. What is your background in women's health (ex. occupation title, years of experience)?
   
2. What setting do you work in (ex. hospital, private practice, medical center, etc.)?
   
3. What are the working conditions (ex. hours, tools used, patient load, etc.)?
   
4. What are your duties and responsibilities?
   
5. What abilities or characteristics do you believe are necessary for your job?
   
6. Describe what your typical day is like?
   
7. What made you want to be a nurse or what made you want to work in the women's health field?
   
8. What are some of the challenges of your job?
   
9. What do you like most and least about your job?
   
10. What advice would you give someone looking to pursue a career in the women's health field?
    

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

We get these requests a lot, so if there are any other students out there who might get this kind of assignment, listen up:

Part of your faculty's reason for giving you this assignment is to get you to go out there and speak to an RN face to face. A big email blast is not a substitute for shoe leather. AN is not Google.

See, in nursing, you have to learn to speak to a lot of people you would not otherwise encounter; you might find yourself out of your comfort zone. This is part of nursing, a huge part. An anonymous respondent online, well, you don't really know who we are, do you? We could be the truck driving guy living next door for all you know.

So if all you do about learning new things is "Go to the keyboard and hit send," then you are limiting your chances of actual learning a valuable skill you will need all your working life. Also, your faculty will not be impressed by your citation of an anonymous nurse on the internet.

That said: Where will you find a women's health nurse? Think outside the (computer) box.

Local hospital: go to the staff development/inservice education office and ask one of them. They value education and will be happy to chat or to hook you up with someone who is.

Go to your local women's clinic or midwifery service and ask them. Ditto.

Go to the public health department downtown. Ditto.

Go to a local clinic / physician/NP office. Ditto.

Notice all of these say, "Go to..." and not "Email..." Remember that part about meeting new people face to face and comfort zone.

Go!

[RunBabyRN]

I agree with GrnTea. You have no way of verifying that anyone here is who they say they are. You also need to learn how to interview people, because, as nurses, this is a big part of what we do. You also need to learn how to seek out your resources, and a public forum is NOT a reliable source of information. Talk to actual nurses in your area, in person. It's good practice, and a good habit to develop as a nurse- don't take shortcuts.