Shannon Sproat spent many family dinners listening to her grandfather, a doctor, tell tales of the medical profession.
His vivid descriptions caused most of the diners to lose their appetites. The stories helped Sproat discover an interest that later became her career.
“I had been around the medical profession all my life,” Sproat says. “My grandfather was a big influence.”
Sproat attended Duquesne University and earned a degree in nursing. “I chose to get my degree because if I wanted an administrative position somewhere down the road I’d be able to do that,” Sproat said. “But mostly, I just wanted to have a broader knowledge base.”
Four years of nursing school and its hands-on clinic work let Sproat glimpse the things she’d have to handle in a nursing career.
A nurse must pass a licensing board test before becoming a registered nurse, or a R.N. If a nursing student applies for a job before hearing the results from the board’s licensing test, the student is called a Graduate Nurse, or a G.N.
Sproat began applying for jobs after getting her board results. She found herself sending out resumes at a time when many nurses were being laid off. Eventually, she got an interview with Pittsburgh’s Saint Margaret’s Memorial Hospital.
“It was very nerve-wracking to sit there and know that this could be the springboard for the rest of my career,” she says. Nerves aside, the interview was successful and Sproat was hired as an R.N. for the critical care area. She says that first job helped give her a solid nursing background.
It also taught Sproat that dedication to patients and a sense of humor would serve her well. She remained calm when confronted with all sorts of bodily functions. “It’s not a glamorous career,” Sproat says. But she felt confident that she had chosen the right field of work.
Sproat worked at Saint Margaret’s Memorial for almost three years. During this time, she worked as both a staff nurse and a charge nurse. As a charge nurse, Sproat handled scheduling for the next day and had greater responsibilities with patients.
“Because Saint Margaret’s is a teaching hospital, I often dealt with residents,” Sproat said. “(They) were very good, but because I felt it was my responsibility to protect the patients, I always went over the resident’s orders very carefully.
If something seemed out of line, I would ask. If I was wrong then I was wrong. But at least I asked.” Sproat says her patients provide a source of both joy and of sorrow. Interacting with the patients and hearing that occasional “thank you” makes hers a worthwhile career.
“Positive feedback from patients definitely makes the hard work worth it,” Sproat says. “Most of the time, (the patients) will in some way let you know that they appreciate that you have taken care of them.”
Losing patients and working with the severely ill are the most difficult aspect of nursing. “Emotions must be kept in check, without letting them get the best of you,” Sproat says. “If you spend a 12-hour, overnight shift working really hard to keep someone alive and you come in the next day to find they have passed, it’s hard.”
Sproat learned more about the emotional effects of becoming close to patients during her time at a dialysis clinic.
There, she sees patients on a regular basis. Sometimes, the same person receives treatments three times a week. That means Sproat, who was trained as a nurse to help people get better, now works with people who might never be healthy again.
“You have to deal with the fact that these patients have life threatening diseases,” Sproat said. “They live on a day-to-day basis. It’s not a problem that’s just going to be medication, surgery and okay in a few weeks. You have to deal with knowing that you are working with somebody that’s not going to go out the door and (get) all better.”
Sproat is thankful for the chance to get to know these repeat patients. Knowing that she can make a patient smile by offering kind words and a cheerful attitude is enough to keep her going.
The wide variety of areas in which nurses can specialize can keep nurses from leaving the profession when they burn out in one area, Sproat says. But she adds that the long, odd hours of a nurse’s job is a major cause of stress.
“It’s not like the clinic or hospital closes for holidays,” she says. “You are there. If they are short staffed and call you, it’s hard to say no because you know it is the patients that suffer.”
Sproat says a lot of people try nursing as a way to make quick money, “not thinking how emotionally and physically taxing it is.” Dedication to the profession, she says, is key. “If you are there for the people and truly there to be a health care professional,” she says, “then (the job) stays with you, even after you go home.”
