In May of this year, Mark Hill, RN, patient care manager of the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit and Ambulatory Surgery Service at Norwalk Hospital, will celebrate his 25th year in the nursing profession. "Yet, it feels like just yesterday that I took my first blood pressure on a 'real' patient," he said.
Highly respected by his co-workers, Mr. Hill has a very successful and fulfilling career in nursing. And it all came about because he took the time to explore a job shadowing experience in high school.
"I really got into nursing in a round-about way. I had no clue as to which career I could see myself in, so when my high school offered a health occupations course I thought 'why not see what it is about'?" The course provided students with the opportunity to rotate through different areas of the local hospital so that they could learn about health careers from the health care professionals themselves. This experience was so beneficial to Mr. Hill that when Norwalk Hospital held a job shadowing day with Wilton High School recently, he was the first to volunteer to have a student shadow him.
And because of the value of learning about careers from the people in them, Norwalk Hospital is offering a "Clinical Career Fair" for the general public on Tuesday, October 14, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Patio Room. All are welcome to attend to explore opportunities in nursing and other clinical roles.
To Mark Hill, learning about different health careers was enlightening and beneficial. "I still recall spending several days in the Emergency Department following the nurses and then spending a day with a physician. I also had the opportunity to follow the radiology technologist in the Department of Radiology and spend time in the Physical Therapy Department, Mr. Hill recalls. He even spent a few days observing the hospital dietician. The most fascinating experience from Mark's perspective, was observing the Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA). Although he was restricted from going into the Operating Room, he was very impressed by the role of the CRNA.
This experience profoundly impacted his career path. "I went to my high school guidance counselor and told her that I wanted to go to college to be a CRNA. She advised that I could either go to Medical School to become a medical doctor and specialize in Anesthesia, which could take 10 years of study, or go to college to become a Registered Nurse, and then specialize in Anesthesia, which would be about 5 years.
"Nursing school seemed like the better option for me so I went to a three year nursing program which was a diploma program. While going through nursing school, I worked as a nurse's assistant in the Intensive Care Unit at the affiliated hospital. I developed a real love for critical care nursing, and had many very good mentors. After working in the ICU for one year, I decided to continue on my career path and obtain my bachelors of science degree in nursing," Mr. Hill continued.
Then, he moved to Saint Louis, Missouri and attended St. Louis University part-time, while working full time in the medical coronary care unit at The Jewish Hospital of St. Louis. He completed his BSN in three years, but loved being a nurse so much that he did not pursue going to CRNA School.
"After seven years working in the CCU, I had the opportunity to transfer to the Arrhythmia Service Department, which specialized in electrical disturbances within the heart. In his role as Coordinator for the Electrophysiology Lab, he worked side by side with the electrophysiolgists. He eventually decided to go back to the bedside and focus on Critical Care Nursing.
"In July of 2006, I made a very difficult decision to leave the bedside and become the Patient Care Manager of the 14 bed Post Anesthesia Recovery Room (an area in which I had been working at the bedside for the previous two years) and a 26 bed Pre and Post Operative Ambulatory Care Unit. Since taking on this new role, I have seen a number of changes in the hospital and in health care.
"My career path has taken many turns in the past 25 years, and I still feel that there are a few paths that I still may travel down," Mr. Hill added.
There are always new opportunities. If you are interested in exploring fulfilling and rewarding careers in nursing or in other clinical professions, the Norwalk Hospital's Clinical Career Fair on Tuesday, October 14, could lead you down a new path too. Call (203) 852-2672 for more information.
