After graduating from Monmouth, what was your first job?
My first job after graduating was an RN position in the NICU at Monmouth Medical Center. I worked in this NICU throughout college as well as a clerical tech and PCA. Juggling a job, nursing school, and being a student-athlete was definitely a huge challenge but working in the unit gave me the opportunity to get my dream job right from graduation.
How did you get into the current field you are in?
Growing up I always had a dream of attending Johns Hopkins University and becoming a doctor but have also always wanted to work with babies in some way. The only catch was that I could not see myself being in school and residency for the amount of years it requires. I knew I didn't have it in me to devote that much of my life to achieving that goal, realistically. I had an idea of what nursing was and knew that I could still be pursuing my passion of helping others. When I thought of nursing, I thought of either a nurse at a pediatrician's office, because that's all I had mostly experienced with nurses at the time, or general floor nursing with adult patients in hospitals, because that's how I had seen nursing advertised. Neither of those options seemed appealing to me. When my youngest sister was born, she spent some time in the NICU and when I discovered what a NICU nurse was and learned that I could save babies' lives for a living, I knew then exactly what I was going to grow up to be. I was in middle school when I made that decision and never once changed my mind since then. I know that I have found the perfect career for myself and can definitely see myself doing this for the foreseeable future.
How did your career at Monmouth as a student-athlete, playing for Coach Compagni and the rest of his staff prepare you for life as a nurse?
Being a member of the track & field team has taught me an immeasurable amount of life lessons and skills. Being a student-athlete was the best decision I made, and I'll hold onto the memories and qualities I have gained for the rest of my life. Not only did I grow as an individual, I learned so many important skills that most definitely helped prepare me for life as a nurse. I would say time-management and responsibility, teamwork, and compassion are some of the most important of the many skills. Juggling school life, social life, a sport, and a job can be very overwhelming, but my coaches and teammates were always there to help and give advice on how to prioritize and get things done. Being a nurse, time management skills and responsibility are crucial. Teamwork is one of the more obvious traits and I think teamwork is necessary in a lot of fields but when there are tiny lives relying on you, you have to know how to work together and ask for help when needed. Being that T&F is somewhat of an individual sport, asking for help wasn't always easy because it felt like a weakness. Being a new grad nurse, I had a lot of the same feelings at first, but I remembered that asking my peers for help would only make me a better person/teammate/nurse in the end. Coach Abe [Flores] was a key role in my understanding of compassion in life. I have never met anyone with more compassion and dedication to others as him. He had more faith and confidence in us than we did in ourselves and taught us that we could be the best version of us as long as we trusted in ourselves and pursued. There are many times at work when I feel like I don't know as much as I should or lack confidence, but I always remember what he taught us. I advocate for my patients just like he would advocate for us.
What are some of the challenges you are facing right now as a NICU nurse in light of the recent events surrounding COVID-19?
When I graduated and started working as a nurse, I obviously could never in my wildest dreams imagine that I would be facing a pandemic on the front line. Being a NICU nurse, my unit has remained secluded from the bulk of the acuity caused by COVID-19, thankfully. Working in the hospital where this is all happening in real time is definitely extremely stressful and nerve-wracking, but I remember that we chose our career for a reason. Every patient is someone's mother/brother/child/friend, etc. and we're all facing this together. In the NICU, we have had to separate babies from symptomatic mothers at birth, which is absolutely devastating. Our unit becomes temporary home for them, and we become their primary caretaker. We are doing our best to make things right but as we keep saying, there are no good options right now and no true answers. We are making do with what we know, and the unknown is the scariest part.
How much different has the home care side of what do you in the last month?
Surprisingly, not much has changed in the home care field in light of the recent changes other than extra hand washing and wearing masks. We are working with medically fragile infants and are always taking full precautions regardless of the outside world. Some families may not feel comfortable having people in and out of their homes with the risk of exposure, but these are also families who are scared that something is going to happen to their child, god-forbid a nurse wasn't there. I can only imagine how frightening it is for the families requiring nursing care during this time.
What are some things going on in your side of the world (dealing with newborns, infants) that the general public may not have considered during this pandemic?
One of the main changes in my unit has been the visiting policy. If a parent begins to show any symptoms or has been exposed to the virus, they are no longer able to enter the unit to see their baby until they are cleared and well again. These parents don't have the option to just have their baby discharged and bring them home. They are not in control of the situation and are missing out on important bonding time. I can't even imagine how it would feel to be told you cannot see your sick newborn until further notice.
Do you have any advice for people in terms of following CDC guidelines, staying inside, etc. during this time based on what you have been through?
Stay home, stay home, stay home!!!! Although I'm not dealing with critical patients directly, the rest of my hospital has been converted to accommodate the large amount of COVID patients and let me tell you, it is so real!! I hear codes being called overhead way too often and it never gets any easier to hear. That critical patient could be any one of our loved ones in the matter of days if we don't continue to follow CDC guidelines and stay away and stay home. I understand that it isn't easy to stop living the life you're so used to living but if you're not staying home for your own safety, do it for your parent, your grandparent, a medically compromised coworker or friend, anyone!
How important is it to you to be able to help people so near where you went to school and live at Monmouth Medical Center?
Long Branch has been my home for the past 6 years and I have met so many people that live locally. I can only imagine that there is a patient in the hospital somewhere that is a friend or relative of someone I know. It makes you stop and think about each person as a human being and not just a patient. Empathy can easily get lost in the stress or acuity of an assignment of patients during a shift but little reminders like that keep you grounded and caring for everyone like you would for your own. Monmouth has not only brought me friends from T&F but from my nursing cohort as well. We spent many early mornings and long days of clinical at Monmouth Medical Center during our years at MU. Many of my classmates are now working on the frontline and treating COVID-19 patients every shift. They are seeing the true hardships of skin breakdown from masks, shifts with no breaks, the mental exhaustion, and the fear of exposure for themselves and their loved ones at home. I am so proud of everything they are doing.
I want to thank not only all of the nurses treating COVID-19 patients day in and day out but also every other essential worker I see working in the hospital or in the community every day and night! And thank you to everyone staying home and staying healthy! Take care of your loved ones.
Taylor Thrunk is a 2018 graduate of Monmouth University and competed in multiple field events for the Hawks, specifically as a thrower. She won four MAAC indoor and four MAAC outdoor titles in her time at MU.
