[ somber music playing ]
Nurses are always taught that one of their biggest jobs as an advocate and
and definitely with critical care and once you've been in the field for a
couple of years, it's your job, it's your responsibility to make sure
that patient, that marine, that family member, that they are getting the best care.
That's the integrity that we bring to the table as critical care nurses and as
Navy nurses. My name is Lieutenant Dana Flieger I'm a critical care nurse in
United States Navy. I work at first medical Italian Camp Pendleton and my
role here right now I work in S3 training. I'm co-director of the flight
program. Starting off as a nurse in the military there's a lot to learn on both
ends of it. So, I feel like it's helped me develop and push myself in
that aspect. To become better as both a nurse and as a leader, we're put in
charge of corpsman, other junior nurses, and were expected to maintain this high
standard for them. So, I feel like I've grown completely they give you tasks as
just a junior nurse and you're expected to perform. I think that
added pressure and people looking at you and expecting you to do well
especially the people that you're in charge of it, makes you realize
that you're in a position to make a difference and be a role model for the
people that you work with. My name is Caitlin Workman, I'm a Lieutenant
Commander Nurse Corps. So, the Navy challenges you. I came from
a civilian sector as a nurse and a lot of the nurses I had worked with had been
there for you know years and years in their same role but the Navy really
pushes you to take on roles that you would necessarily sign up for be
comfortable with. So, as a navy nurse I have been a pediatric nurse, a pediatric
intensive care nurse, outpatient nurse, and ambulatory care. I've done
adults, I've done recruit medicine, I've been on board ships, I've been in
helicopters. I've done such various amount of things which you don't get
those opportunities and I think the Navy it pushes you outside your comfort zone
and because of that you know you have to rise to the challenge. If you are a
critical care nurse and you're assigned to the hospital you come in you do your
nursing shifts. So, for here in the Balboa's ICU we work from 5:45 in the
morning to about 6:15 in the evening or if you're on night shift you rotate.
We're scheduled about 7 shifts every 14 days which is very comparable to
civilian sector but then in addition to that you've got whatever collateral
duties that you're responsible for and those are more your naval officer
responsibilities. I'm part of the fleet surgical team. I operate both in the
hospital, teach classes here, I also, work on the floor and then I'm
responsible for the ship. So, within the ship we have an inpatient section, we
have 14 bed ICU, and over 40 beds for inpatient medical-surgical and my job is
to make sure that we're ready for any kind of deployment or any kind of
missions. So, I actually was deployed on the USNS Mercy. I went out in 2010 and
worked in pediatrics at the time and it was a great mission. We did a lot of
surgical care for patients. As a nurse, we were mainly stationed on the ship. So,
they would bring the patients to us, they would have already been screened
for surgery, bring them up maybe prepped for surgery, send them off to surgery,
and then we recover and care for them in their post
surgical care. My name is lieutenant Jonathan Tranquillo, I'm a critical care
nurse in the US Navy Reserves. So, my job in the civilian world is a civilian
contractor at Walter Reed. I actually work in the neonatal intensive care unit.
So, I originally joined the Navy Reserves after coming off of active duty after
seven and a half years. I wanted to sort of pursue an avenue that I was still
able to serve my country but also create more time for my family and also pursue
a higher education and I would stay Navy Reserves because of the opportunities
that it continues to afford me and also the added benefits at the Naval Reserve
affords my family. In 2012 I deployed to Role 3 in Kandahar Afghanistan. We
got casualties, right from the point of injury. They were medevac to us within 15
minutes of actually having the injury and we were the first people they saw.
It was very rewarding and fulfilling for me to be able to provide care for them
especially in that immediate state to stabilize them and then to try to get
them to definitive surgical care and get them home to their families and loved
ones. So, the Navy is very technologically advanced we have the latest and greatest
of everything especially when we deployed downrange. Everything that we
had when I was deployed at the Role 3 in Afghanistan was by far equivalent or
better to any Level 1 trauma center that you can see in the United States.
The military trauma system, we sort of make these advances and then the civilian
world kind of catches up 10 years down the line. So, my name is Lieutenant Brian
Bonzo. I'm a critical care nurse in the United States Navy. To be successful with
critical care nurse, you have to always think everything about your patients.
What can you do to better provide for their care and what can go wrong? I always try
to think at least two things that can go wrong and prepare for the worst and we
always try to be proactive. We also try to get our certification under
the ASEAN for CCRN critical care nurse and that also provides you a lot of
information and more rational and helps you with provide a better care. We handle
a lot of multi-drips managing a patient's blood pressure. On the plus
side, I can always ask my coworker and they'll always have my back and that's
why I love working with my fellow Navy nurses. Recently, I went to they call JECC,
J-E-E-C - Joint En route Care Course, where they train you how to a medevac a patient
from different - Hilo or fixed-wing platform. That's a
challenge for the Navy now, if you have to medevac patient especially if
you have a mass casualty but they really train you to be a better nurse and to be
to function as a nurse in a different environment. So, you have to be flexible
and I met a lot of outstanding nurses out there that they taught me a lot
they shared with me their experience and they provided some good
insights about how nursing in the Navy is. Helping people and saving them
and providing their quality of life, it's the best reward I can ever get.
Over here I love taking care of my patients and seeing them get better or
seeing their mom pleased with what they achieve, getting them to their
baseline, it's very fulfilling. Especially when I see my patient stop by
and say hi to us, it's no words can explain to it.
[somber music playing]