Although I have only been a Nurse since age thirty six; the medical field has been a major impact and part of my life for as long as I can remember. My journey in the medical field began as a Nursing Assistant in long term care. After several years working as a Certified Nursing Assistant, I decided to go to Practical Nursing School. I worked as a Licensed Practical Nurse in long term care and hematology/oncology outpatient clinic. As I continued to grow within my profession I began to realize the immense amount of gratification I found and thought the sky is the limit.
Satisfaction was such a reward; in 2007 I graduated with an Associate’s Degree in Nursing. Right after graduation, I started working full time at Penn State Hershey Cancer
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To mention a few examples: I have educated my coworkers about non-pharmacological measures to treat nausea in our patients and about the factors influencing patients’ risk for falls; such as Ambien administration. I have also focused my research and geared peer education on the importance of timely treatment for patients that are admitted with Neutropenic fevers. I single handedly was responsible for bringing attention to nursing and pharmacy with the facility about the FDA warning concerning the risk of Methotrexate (MTX) toxicity when administered to a patient receiving a Proton Pump Inhibitor (PPI). I shared this knowledge with my coworkers and the pharmacist, who were members of the Chemotherapy Safety Committee. Methotrexate is a chemotherapy drug given frequently on our unit as treatment for leukemia, lymphoma and osteosarcoma. Therefore, in order to avoid the toxic effects of MTX; protocols were changed to ensure avoiding PPI …show more content…
My intuition and skills are the product from a comprehensive knowledge base thoroughly grounded in my practice, and I received recognition as a Clinical Ladder Level IV nurse. Through the application process of achieving a Clinical Ladder Level IV, I received recommendation letters from my coworkers and Nurse Manager. One of my coworkers wrote, “Neda is arguably best known among our staff as a nurse with a tireless thirst for knowledge. She analyzes every detail of our practice in attempts to discover ways that we can better care for our patients.” Nurse Manager wrote, “Neda has shown herself to be the leader, role model, and tutor, all while keeping patient care and staff needs as a top