Paige Wilderotter, '22, is a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Registered Nurse at the Inova Fairfax Medical Campus. She shares her experiences from Catholic University here.
Briefly describe your responsibilities.
"As a registered nurse in the NICU, you are responsible for performing head to toe assessments on each of your babies every 3-4 hours. Advocating for them in a setting like this is especially important since babies cannot tell you what’s wrong. It’s extremely important to rely on your own nursing judgement and to ask for experienced nurses for their knowledge on certain scenarios to ensure the infant is getting the best care. For example, if they are on respiratory support, making sure their settings are correct and they are receiving the appropriate amount of oxygen, hanging fluids/ IV medications for central and peripheral lines, giving medications and knowing their purposes and side effects, drawing labs and interpreting those results and notifying the NP or doctor when there is a critical lab value, explaining the plan for the shift to the parents and answering any questions they may have and also communicating and coordinating with other members of the care team (doctors, nurse practitioners, NICU therapist, OT, PT etc) and ensuring everyone is on the same page."
How did your Conway School and Catholic University education help you find this career path?
"The Conway School of Nursing helped me find this career path because when you’re in school you are exposed to so many different types of nursing (medical surgical, acute care, community, psych, OB and pediatrics). During my time at Catholic there were a lot of things I enjoyed about these clinical and other things I didn’t enjoy as much. It helped me figure out and narrow down what fields of nursing I may be interested in. I enjoyed my pediatric clinical at Inova Fairfax and always have been drawn to the NICU. Having clinical there helped me get my foot in the door."
What activities were you involved in during undergrad?
"I was a part if the Cross Country and Track & Field teams during my time at Catholic. I was a distance runner for 4 years and my events ranged from the 800-5k."
What were some highlights of your time at Catholic University?
"There are several highlights of my time at Catholic University. One is the close community, especially the Nursing school. I formed life long friendships with fellow peers in the Nursing School and in other areas at Catholic University.
Another highlight was being on a team for four years. The Cross Country and Track & Field teams are extremely close. Everyone is so humble and always wants the best for one another. Having those fellow peers throughout my four years was such a gift and made me really enjoy my time on the team.
One of my favorite cross country memories was qualifying for the national cross country championships. It was always a dream of mine to qualify for NCAA's. My senior year, they hired Coach Alvarado who was a great mentor and coach to me on and off the track and helped me to qualify for nationals and break school records during my final year at Catholic. During my last year, they brought a great group of underclassmen in and throughout the year, we all grew really close on and off the track and formed such a tight knit community.
It has truly been a treat getting to train with them occasionally, attend their races, and watch them crush it on and off the cross country course and the track."
What advice do you have for students during their job search?
"In school, it can be so hard to figure out what type of nursing is for you but in those moments when you are beginning to apply for jobs, it’s important to make a list of units you may be interested in and areas of nursing that you have ruled out. It narrows down the process and takes off some stress.
If you have connections at certain hospitals, whether it is at at home or down in D.C. or Virginia, use them as they may help you land a great speciality or job out of school. Even if you don’t end up on a unit where you want to be immediately, as a new grad it’s important to keep in mind that any job you take will help you gain experiences and really help you get a feel for what it’s like to be a nurse.
Lastly, it can be so easy to compare yourself to peers and it is so much easier said then done but keep in mind that everyone has their own path in life and that God has a plan for you. Everything will work itself out."