Education and Professional Background My name is Florence Nightingale and I want to start by giving you some insight into my personal life. I currently reside in Orange County, California, where the military has placed my family. I am an army wife, an associate degree nurse, and a mother of two boys. From a small town in Virginia, my only opportunity to obtain a higher education degree was to attend a local college that offered a two-year degree in nursing. I had an opportunity to begin my chosen profession early, having a family, and never have to worry about finding employment. I always knew I wanted to increase my knowledge and do more. Year after year it seemed impossible to go back to school in the traditional way, since raising small children and moving interfered with finishing a degree. Nursing has been the most rewarding career. It is not a job to me but my life. My formal education began in 1989 at a branch of Kent State University. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) in 1993. Working and going to school full-time put a strain on my grade point average (GPA), but the experience helped me grow both professionally and personally to an independent self-motivated practitioner. Currently, I work in an endoscopy department where I developed many standard operating procedure guidelines which are being utilized throughout the hospital. I am also planning to obtain my Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates (SGNA) certification this year. Another certification workshop I plan to attend is a nurse management seminar in
Education and Professional Background My name is Florence Nightingale and I want to start by giving you some insight into my personal life. I currently reside in Orange County, California, where the military has placed my family. I am an army wife, an associate degree nurse, and a mother of two boys. From a small town in Virginia, my only opportunity to obtain a higher education degree was to attend a local college that offered a two-year degree in nursing. I had an opportunity to begin my chosen profession early, having a family, and never have to worry about finding employment. I always knew I wanted to increase my knowledge and do more. Year after year it seemed impossible to go back to school in the traditional way, since raising small children and moving interfered with finishing a degree. Nursing has been the most rewarding career. It is not a job to me but my life. My formal education began in 1989 at a branch of Kent State University. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) in 1993. Working and going to school full-time put a strain on my grade point average (GPA), but the experience helped me grow both professionally and personally to an independent self-motivated practitioner. Currently, I work in an endoscopy department where I developed many standard operating procedure guidelines which are being utilized throughout the hospital. I am also planning to obtain my Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates (SGNA) certification this year. Another certification workshop I plan to attend is a nurse management seminar in