Her Story
About Taffy
I work 12-hour shifts at Houston Methodist Hospital, typically three shifts a week, caring for patients on the medical surgical floor. On a typical day, I arrive at 6:20 AM and start reading about my patients by 6:45 AM, reviewing their history, what brought them to the hospital, labs, imaging, and anything that will help get them safely discharged home. I usually care for about 5 patients per shift, managing everything from pain management to helping patients get stronger for the next phase of recovery. Yesterday I had a rapid response where a patient was deteriorating, and our team jumped in together to stabilize them with imaging and labs. As a virtual nurse, I also pivot to desk work where I focus on admissions, discharges, and attending multidisciplinary rounds with physicians and case management to coordinate care. My key goal is always trying to do whatever I need to do as a nurse to get patients safely home to their loved ones. The work is emotionally and physically challenging and stressful, but I can't show that in front of my patients because they're looking to me to provide a safety zone for them. Education is a huge part of my role, making sure patients understand their care plan. I was nominated for a Nurse Samaritan Excellence award by my peers, which was a proud achievement. I'm also a mom of 5 kids and just finished my first year of nurse practitioner school at Texas Women's University, so I'm halfway to becoming an acute care geriatric nurse practitioner.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Taffy
01What do you attribute your success to?
I definitely have to give credit to my parents for always supporting me. A lot of my coworkers or friends don't have that support because daycare is so expensive, but I was lucky enough that my parents retired and helped me try to succeed in everything. I think for me, facing the challenges of adversity as a teen mom, I've gone through some stuff and put in the work for that, so I think that's a strength I have within myself that keeps me going. If I love something, I just keep continuing on. It's just this drive that I have. I think just seeing my dad wake up every single morning at 5 AM, putting his hard work into something because they were first immigrants coming over to the country, and just seeing how hard they work, I think I have no absolute excuse. Knowing my kids are watching me too, I hope they see me doing that. It's that drive that I have, and lucky enough, I found something that I really do enjoy.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I say give yourself grace. Once we start off with something, we're new to it, and everything is trainable. Just basically believe in yourself and take it one step at a time. You're not gonna know everything within a day. You're just gonna learn along the way, along the path. So just believe in yourself and your intuition on why you started this path in the first place.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest opportunities for us nurses is that we love to do what we love to do, but our patients are getting sicker. The healthcare system is a big beast because there's so many things in play, whether it's short staffing or budget cuts. Those are things that are kind of making nurses want to turn away from the field because it's difficult and very stressful. But basically, at the end of the shift, we just know that as long as our patients are safe, we're good at the end of the day. Those are some of the challenges we deal with on a day-to-day basis.
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