Kaeley Wise

I attribute my success to stubbornness, hard work, and determination. I know those sound cliche, but when I decided I was doing nursing, I was going to succeed no matter what, and I put my all into it. There was a point where I thought about leaving nursing, but then my son was born and he's disabled. I realized it's not an option to give up - it wouldn't be an option for him, so why would it be an option for me? Once he was born and I saw how strong he was and his willingness, even as an infant, to keep going and have that stubborn, bull-headed streak like I have, it really pushed me. I can really see a turn in myself about three years ago because I decided I was going to do this 100% and not give up. That determination has driven me to continue researching schools to get my RN and further my education so I can be there for families who don't understand the healthcare system and mentor them through situations they may not understand.

The best career advice I've ever received is to just go with it. I know that sounds cliche, but in healthcare, things change on a dime. It was so eye-opening for me because when I first started, I thought healthcare was just very structured, and it is, but if you can't move and adjust, then you're going to get stuck really fast. Healthcare is super structured, but in the same breath, if you can't roll with the punches, then you don't really go anywhere. A lot of times, the nurses in that situation tend to burn out. That was hard for me because I expected everything to be by the book every time, and it's not. Being able to figure it out as you go and roll with it really helps.

When you enter nursing, you can't think of it as glorified and you can't try to make everything perfect. Healthcare is not perfect. Healthcare is not a pretty pink badge reel and a hot pink stethoscope and the giant nursing bag that's full of all the aesthetically pleasing things - it's not like that in every degree. You can romanticize nursing or healthcare to an extent, but you also have to be very realistic about it as well, because not everything's going to be perfect every single time. You really have to understand that it's not all glamorous - there's nothing glamorous about nursing, to be honest. It's not easy, it's tough.

The biggest challenge in the industry is that nurses don't feel seen. After COVID, when the travel nurses were very prevalent and then COVID slowed down, everything petered out and the money left. It really honed in on the safety factor, especially in the hospitals. Nurses don't feel seen and they have unsafe ratios. That's one of the biggest things in the hospital that terrifies me because it's about the money for the hospitals and corporations, and the nurses don't get it. They get left with these unsafe ratios, violent patients, people calling out, and low staffing. The nursing shortages aren't there because we have a nursing shortage - they're there because so many nurses left because of the lack of money, the lack of safety, and just being overlooked. You can't fix everything in nursing or healthcare with pizza in the break room.

Integrity is a big one for me. Having pride in your work is a big one. But also being reliable and being consistent. In nursing, it's a team no matter what, and even if you're working alone in a role, you always have a team somewhere to back you up. If you don't have those three values - take pride in your work, integrity, and being able to be reliable - those things will break down a team very quickly. It's the same thing in your home life. You've got to be reliable for your family, you have to still be able to show up even when things get hard at work. It's very hard for some to separate, but if you live it one way and keep it that way, then there's no 'oh well, I'm like this at work and I'm not like this at home.' Those are things that are important regardless, and it's things that my husband and I have even instilled in our children.