Business Interview Essay
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“Mommy, Mommy, I want to be a nurse when I grow up” said 5 year old Dorothy. Thus, began a lifelong career in the healthcare industry for her. She started out in her teenage years as a “tray girl” who delivered meal trays to patients at the local hospital. Her love for nursing grew from there. After completing high school, she entered into the Nursing School at Roxobough Memorial Hospital in Pennsylvania. She completed 3 full years (36 months) to receive her Registered Nurse Degree. Only, in 1958 they were called Diploma Nurses. Dorothy then continued her education by attending the University of Pennsylvania to get her Bachelors in Nursing in August of 1959. At this point they were called Graduate Nurses. In October of the same year she went to Harrisburg to take her State Boards, it consisted of a 2 day long exam. In December 1959 she received word that she had passed. She then took her passion and went back to Roxobough Memorial where she became a Clinical Instructor of Nursing.
Dorothy stressed to me that things were different back then with regards to nursing. The school that she attended used their nurses as “labor”. The hospital was staffed with student nurses. They attended school from 7am-3pm daily and then were expected to work from 3pm-11pm daily. She talked about the 6 month probation period in both school and floor that they had to pass in order to get their “nurses cap”. The cost for attended school was only $100 a year, this included room and board. The nurses were then sent out to area hospitals for their specialty training, i.e. orthopedics, pediatrics, psychiatric; on 3 month rotations. Only 9 days after beginning her schooling she was called in to assist in the operating room. She said that, then, “they were taught to be nurses” and that now, “they are taught to pass boards”.
In 1962, she joined the Navy, entering in as a Navy Nurse. She mentioned that you only had to be an RN to join. Once she was in the Navy she was automatically given National Reciprocity, meaning that she was able to practice anywhere in the world. She left the Navy in 1965, and worked in hospitals in Virginia and California, neither of these states required her to become Board Certified for that particular state, they accepted her Pennsylvanian license. In 1968 she moved to Missouri and began working at the Medical Center of Independence as the Assistant Director of Nursing. She was required by the state to become board certified.
To this day, Dorothy continues to hold her licenses in the states of Pennsylvania and Missouri, which she renews every 2 years. Even though she no longer works in the managed care setting, she is a Court Appointed Guardian RN for her disabled brother in law.