“You don’t get CPR if I don’t have coffee”

Allison Haggerty a Community Medical Center,RN − a registered nurse− doesn’t have an easy job: Saving and maintaining the lives of patients.

College and many years of school is what Haggerty had in her future after graduating high school.

After majoring in Women’s Studies, Haggerty didn’t know what to do with the major and where to go from there.

“The truth of the matter is that I couldn’t really think of what to do with a major in Women’s Studies” she said with a slight smile.

On a whim, she decided to apply to nursing school in Utah. She didn’t expect to get in but weeks later in the mail came the acceptance letter, and she never regrets the decision to go through with it. When she completed nursing school and got her degree, she realized she wasn’t tied down to one place. She could apply to many different hospitals.

Eventually she applied to Community Medical Center in Missoula and got the RN position. At the time she lived in Hamilton so the commute to Missoula every work day became quite tiring.  Imagine driving an hour each way plus the 12 hour shift that RNs work.

Those 12 hour shifts pack a lot. All starting with a coffee and the drive to work at 6:30 since shift starts at 7. Every day can vary depending on the patients in the unit but getting report from the night nurse always stays the same.

Knowing how your patient is and what their condition is before going to check on them is very important says Haggerty. Around 8, she goes and checks all her patients for the first time that morning. As she’s doing her checks, she forms a list in her head of the labs, meds and tests that need to be given or done.

Another important job of a RN is to check in with the attending physicians of the patients. At 10, all the caretakers of a patient meets and talks about the condition and severity of their problem and how they are going to approach it. This is called a care plan.

Rounds were designed for the absolute best care of the patients that enter the hospital. All angles(nurse, doctor,therapist,etc) are looked at and discussed when going about taking care of the patient.

Not only is the care of ill person important; the family is also crucial. When a patient is sick and the severity of their health condition is high, it can bring out great stress in family members. As an RN, your caring doesn’t just stop at the patient, an RN also needs to care for the family.

“”Feels like the world exploded at the end of the day,” she says with a slight sigh

Family time is very strained when 14 hour days are a normal thing. Kids and spouses start to miss and want you home.

Seeing your family on work days can be quite the challenge and has put strain on her family of 4’s relationship at times. Not only is spending quality time hard, finding a childcare provider for morning and night time care is just as hard. Getting the kids to school and picking and taking care of them after school until her husband gets home.

There is a lot of balance when becoming an RN and actually getting the job.

Throughout the struggles of being an RN, Allison continues to save the lives of patients who walk through the doors of Community Medical Center.