MARGIE LANZA INTERVIEW

Margie Lanza Interview Nicole Key University of Cincinnati

Authors Note Nicole Key, Department of Nursing, University of Cincinnati This paper was written for Professor Valerie Grants Introduction to Professional Nursing course at the University of Cincinnati.

MARGIE LANZA INTERVIEW Margie Lanza is a charge nurse at the VA Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. This year will mark her twenty-fourth year of working at VA, and her seventh as a charge nurse. Raising three children, and being a professional is never easy, and I recently had the chance to interview her about what its like to be a professional nurse. In 1987, Margie graduated the Christ Hospital School of Nursing with a Registered Nurse licensure. She was employed at Christ Hospital on the cardiac floor until the spring of 1990. She was then hired to work at the VA Medical Center, first on the cardiac floor, and then

transferred to the mental health floor. In 1996, she received her Bachelors of Science in Nursing from Xavier University. In 2007, she became the charge nurse heading the mental health floor. Recently, she has thought about receiving her Masters of Science in Nursing and a certification in human resources to help with her managerial skills. Because of her experience as a nurse, Margies annual salary is $81,000. As a recently graduated nurse, her salary was closer to $44,800. However, once she gained experience and her Bachelors degree, Margies salary steadily rose to what it is today. To Margie, being a charge nurse is a lot like having the jobs of a clinical nurse and the job of a manager put together. On the clinical nurse side, she accesses patients, administers medication, develops complete care plans with the patients, responds to medical emergencies, confers and assists the patients and their families, and makes daily rounds to visit patients. On the human resources or managerial side, she maintains clinical files and documentation, completes incident reports and follow-up investigation, informs patients of the activities and services available to them, has accountability for all medication and controlled substances, supports the medical supply system, documentation on federal regulations and forms, clarifies physician orders and communicates the status of the patient with the physician. All in all,

MARGIE LANZA INTERVIEW Margie feels that she is never bored and always has something to keep her busy. There are positives and negatives to every job; however, Margie feels that the positives outweigh the negatives. She likes being a leader while still being able to use her clinical

training. She enjoys the pace of the work, and the creativity and flexibility that come along with it. On the negative side, she feels overwhelmed at times. She sometimes feels that she wont be able to complete all of her tasks. When this happens, she takes a minute to sort out her thoughts, and is then able to finish everything she needs to do for the day. On a daily basis, Margie interacts with several other hospital professionals, as well as the patients and their families. On any given day, Margie can interact with the other registered nurses on the floor, the physicians, the radiology technicians, and the pharmacy technicians. She considers her job as a charge nurse interdisciplinary, simply due to all of the different aspects of her job-human resources, management, and clinical nursing. As a professional nurse, Margie feels that there are several important characteristics to abide by at all times. Confidentiality is what she feels the most important, because every patient has a right to have their private information kept private. She also feels that communication and positivity are important, because hospitals can be scary, confusing places, and a little bit of good communication and a smile can go a long way. Organization was another thing she found important, especially from a managerial side. When youre in charge of other peoples health, one mistake or lost paper can make for a huge, huge, problem. It was such an honor to interview Margie, and to see what its like to be a professional nurse in this day and age. She is such an inspiration and just an all-around good person. I am so blessed to know her and to have had the chance to interview her!