Allison Neal

4/1/2020

Job Shadow Reflection

SANE Nursing

For my job shadowing I shadowed my mom, Niccole Neal, who is a former SANE nurse at

Truman Medical Center in downtown KC. She currently works in cardiology, so I also got to get

a taste of what that looked like as well. My mom is the one who sparked my interest in SANE

nursing. I liked hearing the stories of where my mom would have to take pictures of people and

possibly go to court with the information she gathered. I loved the forensic side of it, as well as

people able to help people in those situations. I also feel that I spent my time wisely while at

Truman because I also got to talk to other nurses while I was there, as well as see the

environment I would work in if I proceeded with nursing. While shadowing, it made me want a

career in SANE nursing even more. I thought I had already learned a lot from my mom about

this occupation, but shadowing her opened my eyes to things I didn’t know before.

I already knew that I would need a bachelor's degree in nursing, but I did find out a few

new things from shadowing. I learned that when on call, my mom would check a tracker from

home to see if anyone was checked in under sexual assault. This would help her to get ready to

go in, but it was still at the drop of a hat sometimes because she would be on call. I also learned

that it is not just about caring for your patients, but about caring for yourself as well. It is a very

draining job emotionally because you want to help everyone, and sometimes it doesn’t work

that way. Emotional wounds are a lot harder to heal than physical wounds. They don’t just heal

in a couple of days.
 As a SANE nurse you will mostly work in the night time, that’s when most cases will

come through. You will be on call, so you won’t know exactly when to come in. It is very

grueling for a nurse at times especially with the things SANE nurses have to go through to help

their patients. In order to do their job efficiently, SANE nurses have to have patience,

compassion, and critical thinking skills. As a SANE nurse you are required to go in and help

comfort your patients in their most vulnerable state. You also have to take pictures and use a

SANE kit to gather as much information as you can to be able to take it to court if your patient

wants to press charges on their rapist. Nurses will have to see very emotional things, but will

have to keep their composure the whole time. This is why you will also have to take care of

yourself afterwards.

The things that I liked and disliked about the job are plenty. I really liked the forensic

aspect. Being able to help my patients by taking evidence to court seems like a really rewarding

thing. There are chances where it won’t work out that way though. I mostly love the fact that I

can help other people through their most vulnerable state. The cons of being able to do that

are the emotional pain that I will feel not being able to just fix it up and send them on their way

knowing that they’re going to be ok. It is also hard to know that you can’t make all the bad guys

pay for what they did and get put in jail. Just knowing that I can make a small difference of help

in my patients life is all worth it though.

To start in the direction of helping people, I have to go to school first. I plan on going to

Avila University for nursing school. I don’t know what hospital I would work in, but it would be

nice to work at Truman with my mom, mostly because I know Truman has a SANE program.
After I graduate college and pass my exams I plan on being an RN for at least 2 years before

applying to become a SANE nurse.

Shadowing was very helpful for me in knowing more about SANE nursing. I have had an

interest in SANE nursing for a couple of years now from my mom, so it was nice to dive deeper

into what being a SANE nurse actually means. It was also good to see what my future work

environment will be if I proceed with the nursing career. I am really glad that I got the

opportunity I did while shadowing. It opened my eyes to new things and made me appreciate

the field even more.