From Bedside to Boardroom: How Volunteer Experience Transformed My Nursing Career
Podcast Episode
Are any of you like me? Someone who goes to work, clocks in and clocks out, and then lives a completely different life outside of the walls of a hospital?
Did you ever think that those two worlds may collide and help you create a nursing career that you are passionate about? Because I sure didn’t!
Imagine this, by night working a 12-hour shift, by day (and on my off nights) volunteering in national committees, and all the while trying to figure out what to do next in my career.
2020 - In the Height of the Pandemic - 1 year into my Nursing Career
In my episode of the Nurse Converse Podcast, presented by Nurse.org, I discuss in more detail my personal nursing journey - the ups and the downs - and how the volunteer work I did helped me find my true passion in nursing education and advocacy for our professional development.
Now it’s time to be honest,
- None of this happened overnight. Finding your right fit is not always as easy as you may think it is. Working in different specialties or roles helps in figuring out your career ambitions.
- As a nurse, over the last 6 years, I have worked in; General Surgery, on a COVID Unit, in the Float Pool, in Neonatal ICU, and Outpatient Oncology before transitioning into Nursing Professional Development full time.
- Working at the Bedside may not be the end goal. There are a plethora of nursing careers that do not involve direct patient care or even working within a healthcare system.
- I knew I wanted to go back to school and get an advanced degree. I started my Master In Nursing Education 2.5 years ago and will be graduating Dec 2024.
- The work you do outside of work is just as important in developing ‘soft’ skills. The most important piece of advice I ever received was ‘You can teach a nurse any specialty but you cannot teach them how to care.’
- Volunteering was always a part of my journey. I have been volunteering in my organization - in various roles - for a decade. Being in those roles developed my interpersonal skills and heightened my care of others.
- If you aren’t passionate about the work you do, it will show. This can lead to burnout and directly impact patient care or disrupt the workplace. Simply put, there is no place for complacency in nursing.
- Education and Advocacy has always been my passion. I just didn’t know how to apply it to my nursing career. However, in 2024, I learned that Nursing Professional Development was a Nursing Specialty and I had to take a leap of faith.
Understanding Transferable Skills
You’re probably thinking… if all of that is true, is it too late to start now? In short, the answer is no! All of your life experience can be applicable to your nursing career. If you know how to frame it correctly!
Being qualified for a nursing role is more than what experience you have within your specialty. There are key transferable skills you can develop outside of nursing.
Some of those key transferable skills are,
- Learning Leadership and Management - Nurses are leaders and you can’t convince me otherwise. In many settings, nurses who provide excellent patient care are promoted into leadership roles. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean those nurses know how to effectively lead and manage teams in a business setting. This can lead to burnout, especially if they don’t have the leadership experience needed for the role.
- Improving Communication - Whether it’s giving bedside reports, SBARs, or talking to patients and their families; Communication is KEY in healthcare. Being an effective communicator is essential as a nurse leader. It’s about knowing how and what to say if it’s to keep staff morale up or even solve difficult situations.
- Providing Education - Effectively engaging and educating people of diverse backgrounds and varying experience levels is fundamental in nursing. Whether it’s teaching new grads skills, providing patient education, or giving educational seminars, teaching is a large part of what we do as nurses. No matter how much experience you have in your specialty, sometimes we must become students and learn new skills.
Deciding "What's Next?"
Many Nurses started their careers because they cared about patients or because they felt called to. However, there comes a time in every nurse's career when they start to question, ‘What's Next?’
This question can be daunting for many nurses. Do you stick with what you know or do you move on to something else entirely?
Let’s reframe the question, to make it manageable.
- What skills do you already have?
- What do you need to work on?
- What are your aspirations for your nursing career?
- What are you currently doing to support your career aspirations?
- What can you get involved with outside of your healthcare organization that will help you achieve your goals?
5 Things You Can Do To Grow Your Nursing Career
- Seek out new opportunities and determine how your unique skill sets can be applied in your nursing career
- Educate yourself! LinkedIn Learning is a great place to start or find professional development opportunities in your area
- Seek Mentors who can help guide you in discovering your passions
- Embrace the messy yet rewarding process of career discovery. What you start doing may not be where you end up!
- Get Involved in your community! Go where you grow!
It's never too late to transition your nursing career, you can do it - I believe in you!
