Tatiana Patinos ’11 BSN, RN
Role/Employer: Medical/Surgical nurse in the float pool at GW University Hospital in Washington, DC
“When I got my first job on a Med/Surg/Psych unit, I was overjoyed to learn it was a floor they called a “make it or break it floor”. Needless to say, I spent 4 years there and loved it. I went on into management for a year (management just wasn’t for me, I wanted to be back at the bedside), then I did travel nursing on the West Coast, and eventually ended up back in DC at GW University Hospital where I’ve been since in the float pool. I’ve been graced with a well rounded experience throughout my nursing career: there’s just sooo many directions you can take. I absolutely LOVE what I do and don’t work a day in my life – I hang out with sick people and help them feel better. It’s not always easy, yes I’ve had my days where I’ve left work crying the whole way home (mostly in my earlier days), but the rewards far outweigh the hard days (and you will have tough days, but you push through and put them behind you).
With current events, specifically COVID-19 being healthcare’s greatest struggle, I feel Shenandoah prepared me for this in that they offered the disaster/mass casualty class my last semester. The teachings I learned from that class are very similar to what we need to know now with the Covid patients, and how to appropriately care for and/or escalate their care. I feel we all, the healthcare providers, couldn’t have been fully prepared for what to expect once Covid hit the playing field, but oh, how important critical thinking has played in this time.”