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A new day for nurses
Changing profession provides many options for careers
For many people, the word "nurse" conjures up images of Florence Nightingale or women in crisp, white uniforms with muslin caps at the hospital bedside. Things are different today.
Nurses work in law firms, manage operations for state health departments, teach other nurses and health care providers, and serve as nurse practitioners who help ease the workload for physicians.
In many ways, nursing has changed dramatically, with medical and technological advances and the growing need for nurses to be at the management table in health care.
Some things, however, remain the same . Nursing is still perceived among the most compassionate and trustworthy professions, and nurses are known as caretakers, serving as mentors, role models and confidants for people in times of crisis.
Debra Meadows worked at Emory Hospital for 16 years, mostly in general surgery and as a float nurse in various departments. She also helped recruit nurses by working in the Emory human resources department.
As her knowledge grew, she eventually was hired by a major consulting firm to help hospitals develop nurse retention programs. Today she works for King & Spalding law firm as a legal nurse consultant.
"When I began my career, I really wasn't thinking I'd be here," she said. "I've just always been driven to learn new things, and when I came here, I didn't know about the legal process, but I did know about nursing."
Meadows uses her nursing background to review cases from a medical viewpoint. "We bring our insight into a real-world medical situation," she said. "We review medical records and turn 'medicalese' into layman's terms so that they're easier to understand. The attorneys then use what we produce in their cases."
Sometimes Meadows creates a chronology or a treatment history; other times, she might compare certain treatments against accepted protocols. Much of her time is spent researching.
"I miss my clinical work a little," she said, "but we still use the same skills that all nurses use -- assessment, evaluation, developing a plan and implementing it. These are the same things we learn in our first semester of nursing school."
Georgina Howard is the deputy director of operations for the Georgia Department of Human Resources, Division of Public Health. Her interest in nursing began when she was a high school student, setting up community health fairs in Massachusetts, where she grew up.
"Early on, I was framed as a person who would ask a different set of questions than most people, and that led me to a career in community health," she said. "I always wanted to know what could be done to prevent health problems and how to find solutions. That's really what community health is all about."
Howard graduated from the Boston College School of Nursing in the mid-1970s and began her public health career.
"I worked in clinics, did a lot of home visiting and looked at patterns in public health so that we could solve problems and prevent certain situations from happening again," she said. "We always need to think about more than just the person walking through the door of the clinic. We have to be concerned about the people who don't know about public health issues, too."
Howard developed a health program for New York City Public Schools before moving to Atlanta, where she eventually became director of personal health services at the DeKalb County Board of Health. Last year, she joined the state's Division of Public Health and was named deputy director of operations in October 2005.
In her new job, she has broad influence on public health in Georgia. She created the Learning Academy for Future Leaders in Health Care and works with various community organizations and colleges to promote public health.
"Most people think public health is flu clinics, immunizations for children and health screenings," Howard said. "We focus on the population for health awareness, health promotion and disease prevention."
Dee Baldwin is on the nursing faculty at Georgia State University. She has dedicated her career to teaching new nurses.
"There's a huge shortage of nursing faculty, and that just compounds the nursing shortage," Baldwin said. "So many nurses are retiring, and there are not enough students in the pipeline or enough faculty members to teach them."
Nursing faculty members teach classes and help students with research and their clinical/practical experience.
"We combine classes with clinical experience to make our students safe nurses," Baldwin said. "The public may not realize the diverse content of our training -- anatomy, microbiology, chemistry, cultural diversity and mathematics, plus their clinical work. We want our graduates to practice nursing safely for themselves and their patients."
Being a nurse instructor can be rewarding. Baldwin said she knew from an early age that she would be a teacher.
"I enjoy imparting knowledge to students and helping them learn," she said. "We're preparing the next generation of graduates, but we also touch the lives of every person our students touch."
Shona Alexander is a nurse practitioner at Park Springs Continuing Care Retirement Community in Stone Mountain, but her job goes way beyond taking care of patients. Her title is director of member services.
"I'm the nurse practitioner for the on-site clinic, the member services director for the community and the home-care administrator," she said. "There's never a dull moment here."
As the population ages, baby boomers are seeking living choices to meet medical, social, housing and recreational needs . Alexander blends her nursing background with the types of services being offered in new communities that attract seniors.
"I take care of the physical, emotional and social needs of the people who live here," she said. "When I started my nursing studies, I never thought I'd work in geriatrics, but I really love it.
"Nursing is so diverse; you can really do anything you want to do. It's just a matter of deciding which career path to take."
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