Nursing Interview One of the remarkable things about the nursing profession is the wide variety of work opportunities available to nurses. This paper highlights information about a unique nursing career. Jenny J. is a nurse who works for NASA at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. In her career as a nurse working for NASA, Jenny's work experience may seem to be outside of the realm that one traditionally associates with a nurse. In the time that I have known her, Jenny has participated in flight training programs, been able to experience zero-gravity exposure, and has routine contact with astronauts who continue to go into space, despite the limitations in the current U.S. space program. However, Jenny's work experience makes it clear that the skills that are most critical in the performance of her job are her nursing skills. She provides ground support and technical training for astronauts, in order to prepare them for any illnesses or injuries that they might encounter while in-space and unable to access routine healthcare facilities. She also participates in their healthcare management while they are on the ground, so as to best prepare them for their trips into space. I chose to interview Jenny because she has the most interesting healthcare career of any nurse with whom I have ever spoken.

Overview of Career

Jenny knew that she wanted to be a nurse from a young age. She attended the University of Texas at Houston School of Nursing in order to obtain her BSN. Initially, she believed that she would only receive her BSN degree, and she began working as a nurse in a doctor's office. However, she found the work in a doctor's office to be fairly routine, though she enjoyed the nursing profession. Furthermore, the office employed a family nurse practitioner, who saw many of her own patients and had a higher degree of involvement in patient care. Jenny initially believed that she might want to follow in those footsteps, and began to look into the possibility of obtaining a MSN with an emphasis as a family nurse practitioner. It was at that time that Jenny found a job opportunity at NASA as part of their healthcare team. The...

She had a fellow nurse friend who participated in blood draws for driving while intoxicated checkpoints during holiday seasons and decided to investigate whether that would be a good way to supplement her income. Jenny has worked with the Harris County Sheriff's Department, the Houston Police Department, and several smaller departments in surrounding counties and municipalities. On weekends when rates of intoxicated drivers are expected to be elevated, these police departments coordinate checkpoints. Drivers suspected of being intoxicated are arrested and charged, and, incident to their arrest, their blood is taken for analysis. Jenny is one of the nurses who draw the blood. Not only has she found these evenings lucrative, because she makes $200 an hour while participating in them, she has also found them to be very interesting.
Graduate Education

Living and working in the Houston area, Jenny knew that she would pursue her MSN in Houston at the University of Texas at Houston School of Nursing. The UT school of nursing offers six different concentrations for students seeking a MSN: adult gerontology acute care, adult gerontology primary care, family nurse practitioner, nurse anesthesia, nursing education, and nursing leadership and administration in health systems. The job at NASA that Jenny desired simply required an MSN without specifying a concentration. However, because Jenny knew that the job she desired would require her to teach nursing skills to astronauts in order to enable them to provide one another with basic rudimentary healthcare skills while in space, Jenny chose to concentrate on nursing education. She felt that this would give her not only the appropriate medical background, but also the appropriate theoretical background to enable her to perform in her desired position. However, she also took a substantial number of courses that overlapped with the nursing leadership and administration in health systems concentration because she…