As thousands of pandemic-stressed nurses consider quitting the profession, PNW nursing students can’t wait to get their careers started.

“I am kind of excited to graduate after this and be able to get into a field like that,” said sophomore Ivana Farkic, a Nursing major. “I have been thinking about going into critical care and working in the ICU (intensive care unit). 

“There are definitely COVID-19 patients there and it is not something that I am necessarily afraid of because you put yourself at risk like that when you’re going to work like that every day anyway,” she said.

That is a break with findings of a study of 6,000 critical care nurses. About 66% said they are thinking of quitting nursing because of the pressures of caring for COVID-19 patients. The study was released by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses this fall. 

Sophomore Ariel Spore doesn’t let it change her mind.

“I think that there will always be some kind of a disease or an illness where we always have to take precautions,” said the Nursing major. “Working with COVID, of course, was stressful, and going to nursing school was stressful.  But it didn’t change my mindset of becoming a nurse.” 

Some nursing students suspect that nurses’ stress is compounded by a lack of recognition for the work they do.

“I think that people treat nurses … like they treat service workers, ” said sophomore Claire Dumbauld, a Nursing major. “They think that nurses maybe aren’t as intelligent as the doctor or maybe a specialist. 

“We are probably the ones providing the best care for them in the hospital,” she said. “I think that [patients] feel like they can talk down to us because they don’t feel like we are as high up as other people in the hospital.”

Jacob Brazzale believes the public can demonstrate respect for what nurses do by taking proper precautions to keep themselves safe. 

“It’s still a big problem because people aren’t doing what they have to,” said senior Brazzale, a Nursing major. “People are just fighting that so much to the point where they are getting in fistfights over wearing a mask or getting the vaccine. 

“Seeing people not wanting to wear a mask or get the vaccine is aggravating,” he said. “Nurses in hospitals see more and more people die every day and more and more hospitals get filled up every day.”

Despite the stresses, some students just want to make a difference in people’s lives – however they can.

“Both of my parents are nurses so that is what originally sparked my interest, said Alyssa Dejong. “There are a lot of opportunities and different ways to choose a nursing career. 

As for the risk, she thinks you just need to deal with it.

“It comes with the job,” she said. “You are always going to be putting yourself at risk and your family at risk for certain things. I grew up with that.”