Rachel Orem

I would say that my parents gave me a really good foundation. They raised me in a faith that I'm sort of making my own now as an adult. My parents, the support of them, they're always behind me in everything. They helped me get through that really terrible divorce. My sister, the support of my sister (I only have one sister), and my friends and family who've been with me through all these stages have been crucial. My son has a long-term disability and long-term special needs, and people come and go, but the ones who have stuck with me through all the stages are kind of what helped me get through. My husband, of course, has been a huge support as well. It's really the people who have stayed with me through everything that have made the difference.

I was going through an unexpected divorce and needed to go back into the workforce. I was trying to decide whether to go back to teaching, which I knew, when somebody asked me, 'What do you want to do? What was my dream, what was my passion?' Nobody had said that to me in a really long time, if ever, and that really lit a fire in me to be like, I think I want to be a nurse. I had this little thought in the back of my head, a little dream, and just by her saying it, like, 'What do you want to do? What do you actually want to do with your life, with your career?' it has led me to where I am now. I'm so grateful that I had that conversation with her, and I would just advise other people to really think about, am I in a job that I'm just tolerating, or am I in a job that I love, that I want to be fulfilled in? It's about getting permission to ask that question and really think it through.

I think nursing is such a versatile career. You can pretty much do anything in nursing. It's amazing, really. You can start out, and you don't have to start out in med-surg, even though I happen to, but you can go into so many different specialties. If you decide you don't want to be bedside, you can be more behind the scenes, be more in coordination. It's just so versatile, and I absolutely love it. I don't think I could ever get bored in this career, because if I did, I could just switch. But I actually love working at NIH and don't see myself going anywhere else. It's a great environment. The versatility means you have so many opportunities in different directions, so should you ever decide something's not working for you, you have so many other opportunities available.

I think that there continues to be a huge need in nursing, particularly for safe ratios. Where I started my nursing career, it's a rather small hospital, and staffing was an issue. Just making sure that it's safe enough for the patients and the nurses is critical. Where I am now at NIH, I will say the ratios are extremely safe because they want good quality research coming out. I can't be pulled in 6 different directions if I need to get accurate data. I think that a challenge in nursing and healthcare in general would just be to continue to find ways to support healthcare workers and make it safe for them, and then, of course, safe for the people that we're treating, because they're the reason why we're doing what we're doing.

For me, I've just always been a really hard worker. I think that being dependable, being reliable, being somebody that people can count on is really important, both at work and in life. I really try to value my relationships with people and try to make them as good as they possibly can be. When my friends and colleagues are successful, I don't take that as a threat. I'm excited for them, I'm happy for them. I celebrate with them, and if anything, it just motivates me. It's not competition to me. I think that helps, particularly at work, just to foster good relationships with my colleagues.