CAREERS IN NURSING: NURSE NAVIGATOR

NURSE NAVIGATOR – ADVOCATE FOR PATIENTS

by Vickie Jenkins – Writer/Photographer

The Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma is the only freestanding pediatric hospital solely dedicated to the treatment of children.
On the fourth floor of The Children’s Hospital, you will find Labor and Delivery; full of exceptional doctors and nurses, eager to welcome new little bundles of joy into the world.
Working in Labor and Delivery is a very special nurse, Anna Carpenter, RNC. Anna’s main responsibility is to provide patient care to mama and her baby. “I love my job as a nurse. I can’t imagine doing anything else,” she said. “My grandmother was a nurse and I feel like I was predisposed to probably be a nurse. Every day here, is different along with the fact that I meet some of the most interesting people. Plus, I love to come to work so I can hang out with my work family; they are the best,” Anna commented.
Growing up in Norman, OK, Anna attended OU. “When I was in nursing school, I did a rotation in Labor and Delivery and I was fascinated by it so I started working here and I never left. It has been twenty-two years now and I still love everything about it,” Anna said.
“Here, in Labor and Delivery, we welcome about three hundred babies per month, that’s quite a few babies,” Anna said. “To me, this is the perfect job and I love every minute of it,” she added.
When asking Anna what her strengths are, she said that she loves to talk, which she considers a real blessing. “I think a nurse needs to be able to communicate with others and that is a lot of what we do so we can feel comfortable with other people and their cultures; to be able to keep calm in the storm. Sometimes, we take care of some women that have had a heart attack, hypertension or diabetes and that is when we have to be a labor nurse, an OR nurse and an ER nurse all wrapped up into one and when that happens, we keep on moving forward. Even though it looks like one pregnancy, it’s actually a two-piece situation because we are taking care of that baby on the inside too. Sometimes, the baby will misbehave and we take care of that baby. And then, it could be the mama misbehaving which can impact the baby so now there are two patients to deal with. Either way, I know this is the place I was meant to be. Sometimes, a mama can be having the best day of her life or it could be the worse day of her life. We just have to comfort her the best way we can, along with staying positive. Sometimes, a mama just needs a little hug or a smile. Sometimes, they need a box of tissue so they can have a good cry or a shoulder to lean on. Whatever the situation, we are there for them, caring for them in any situation,” Anna explained.
“When I was a little girl, I remember my mom telling me to go to school and be a nurse. I am glad that I listened to her,” Anna commented. “I guess you could say that my mom influenced me to be a nurse,” she added.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to go into nursing, particularly labor and delivery? “I would tell them to sit still for a second and really think about it. Some nurses are overwhelmed at first. Personally, I feel like it takes at least two years to feel confident working through the patient’s anxiety. I think that applies to almost any area of the hospital,” Anna said.
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Anna and her husband, Byron have two children, a son who is seventeen and a daughter who is thirteen. “Two teenagers now,” Anna said. “They are both really good kids but right now, our son gets a little annoyed when we breathe his air,” Anna said with a laugh. “My daughter is already thinking that she wants to be a nurse when she grows up and that makes me happy.”
In Anna’s spare time, her hobbies include spending time working out, running, selling things on eBay and reading books. Now that I am out of nursing school, it is nice to choose any book to read just for the fun of it,” she said with a laugh.
When asking Anna to describe her life in one word, she said, “exciting.”