Hi! My name is Diana Tran and I’m an RN. I graduated from UC San Diego in 2015 with a BS in Public Health and went on to get my BS in Nursing at Marymount University in 2018. Becoming a nurse was definitely not on my list of dream jobs in kindergarten (although I can’t say I’ve given up my dreams of becoming a unicorn princess just yet). But one year into it, I can’t imagine doing anything else! Especially when it’s a career that can fund my milk tea addiction. Actually, that pretty much sums it up for me: save lives and drink milk tea while doing it.
Q: How long have you been working as a nurse?
A: I’ve been a nurse for 1 year!
Q: What is your favorite part about being a nurse?
A: My favorite part about being a nurse is seeing my patients recover and knowing that I was part of the care team.
Q: What do you feel is the hardest part about your career?
A: I think the hardest part is pain management for my patients. A lot of them come in with different levels of pain & pain tolerance. It’s always difficult to watch a patient not be able to effectively cope with their pain using pharmaceutical/non-pharmaceutical pain relievers. As nurses we really have to advocate for our patients and try different approaches to help them best manage their pain. It’s easy to overlook a patient who has a history of complaints about constant pain but as nurses we have to show compassion and remember that pain is highly subjective. So when our patient tells us their pain is still 10/10 after we gave a pain medication, we work with them to find a better way to manage their pain.
Q: How did you know you wanted to become a nurse?
A: It wasn’t until my 4th year of college that I realized I wanted to be a nurse. I was a public health major and had a nurse guest speaker in one of my classes. She sounded so passionate about being a nurse and being at the bedside of a patient, giving hands on care. Hearing her talk about what it’s like to be a nurse sparked excitement in me to pursue a career that will allow me to help people heal every day.
Q: What were some things you wish before entering nursing school?
A: In terms of nursing school, I wish I figured out my studying technique earlier. I definitely struggled my first semester because I didn’t know how I best learned but after talking to peers about how they studied I made my own system that worked for me. Maybe it’ll work for you: I typed out all my PowerPoints on a google doc prior to class and added to it while the professors elaborated on the topic. Closer to the exam date, I printed out all my notes (it’ll be about 60- 80 pgs of notes per exam) and went over the notes highlighting important points and added side notes on parts I didn’t fully understand. Not going to lie, I did not read a single chapter of my textbooks... the only time I opened my textbook was to fact check but other than that, I felt like reading a whole chapter wasn’t an effective way for me to learn (but don’t tell your teachers I told you that!!).
Q: What advice do you have for any high school students interested in nursing?
A: My advice is to do what you guys are doing right now! Be curious, ask questions! Nursing school will be ROUGH. There are days when I felt defeated (especially after an exam, haha) and didn’t feel “good enough” to be a nurse. But every time I went to clinical and provided hands on care for my patients I remember why I wanted to pursue nursing. It reminded me that I needed to study hard not only for myself but for my patients. As a nurse, there will be good days and bad days but one thing that should remain consistent is the care you provide.
Thank you Diana! Check out her Instagram @thaomyie to keep up with her!
Sincerely,
Laurel and Veronica
0 comments