Jessica Tucci is a young, newer nurse who is also a newlywed, a newer resident of Ohio and a relatively new member of ONA.  One thing that is NOT new to her, though, is writing – her pastime and creative outlet since she was a girl. Jessica wrote a beautiful blog post during Nurses Week that was viewed over 1,600 times and highly shared on Facebook. Thankfully, Jessica volunteered to continue to write for ONA’s blog with her next post titled “Five Things Nurses Should be Caring About Right Now.” I have no doubt that she is an emerging nurse leader, and I’m happy ONA was able to provide an outlet where she can combine 2 areas she loves: writing and nursing.

M: I was looking your ONAConnect profile. You’re a newer nurse. Why become a nurse and was it a second Career?

J: It was actually my first career choice. I’m 25 years old. I’m just a baby!

I wasn’t sure if I always wanted to be a nurse, though I knew I wanted to do something in the medical field. I wanted to do something with people and the science interested me. So, I ended up applying to nursing school.

I started out with associates, and am now working on BSN. Only 2 classes left! Because of my schedule, I am spreading out my final classes between fall and spring.  I’ll officially graduate next summer from Ohio University!

I’m from New Jersey and went to Mercer County Community College, where I got the associates in January 2014.

My plan was to immediately go back to school for my BSN, but we had a few moves we had to make first because of the tough job market in New Jersey. My sister-in-law went to OSU and she told us to come to Ohio, so we did! Ohio has been pretty good to us so far.

M: Does that mean you’re Buckeye fan now?

J: As much as someone from out of town can be!

M: Where do you work?

J: I work the night shift at Riverside Methodist Hospital in the ER. This is my first regular hospital job. I worked at a specialty hospital before this in Columbus.

M: How do you like the working in the ER?

J: I love the ER! I don’t see myself going anywhere for awhile. It’s definitely intense and fast paced. You don’t know what things are going to be one minute to the next. One minute, it’s calm. And the next you’re pulling someone from their car. Work nights

M: What do you see most working in the ER?

J: We get everything from sniffles to people actually dying. You would think working at night it would be different types of patients but it’s not. There’s a lot of people who come in with belly pain. And there are a lot of people who are pretty sick and can’t wait until their doctor’s office opens.

M: Is the ER at Riverside pretty busy?

J:  Yeah, we have 96 beds and have got into the 100’s. We are a Level 2 Trauma Center, so we get those patients. Sometimes there’s a surge in people, and other times it’s super slow!

M: When and why did you join ONA?

J: I’ve been in Ohio since October 2014, so sometime after that! I wanted to be active in a state nurses association and I held off in NJ because I knew we were going to move. Once I realized we were going to stay in Ohio for a bit, I reached out to the district and the state.

When I went to school in NJ, I had a few professors who were pretty involved in their professional association. They taught about the importance of belonging to professional association and all the ways to get involved.

M: I met you at a Council on Practice Meeting. I was talking about the new format of the ONR, where councils and task forces are asked to contribute and give updates, such as nursing practice updates for the Council on Practice. What made you join the COP?

J: It seemed like a really cool topic and way to get involved because you’re looking at the ways things have been done and looking at ways to change or if certain things are working. It’s great to get together with a group of nurses who work in all different settings for different periods of time. I think it’s something that’s really cool to be part of and I like how we work together to make changes. Right now we’re looking at all of ONA’s practice statements and revising those.

M: I remember you said something along the lines of, ‘What if we just want to write something creative?’ and I knew you and I had to talk!  Do you write as a hobby?

J: Yea and it kind of changes.  I’ll blog regularly and then I’ll just be freewriting things that come to my head that no one else really reads. I’ve always written creatively for as long as I can remember.

M: You wrote a blog post for Nurses Week and it was beautiful. It had over 1600 views, and so many shares on Facebook.

J: I didn’t really expect anything out of it! I didn’t think it would be popular. That’s really exciting.

M: Now you’ve volunteered (thank you!) to write more blog posts. What are some of your ideas?

J: A whole bunch of things! Mainly, relevant things that are going on in the nursing world that could impact the profession, like nursing news or nursing inspiration. Whatever is relevant at that moment. I’m open to suggestions!

M: What advice do you have for other new nurse entering the profession??

J: There’s a thousand things I could probably say! For one, just be confident in what you know! But don’t be afraid to ask people things either. Don’t assume you know everything, but you also know what you know and be confident in that.

M: Has anything that surprised you?

J: EVERYTHING!

Really the amount of different situations a nurse could run in to, and not necessarily prepare for. Literally anything could happen in any kind of setting, from difficult families, to dealing with different cultures. Things can be calm one second, and then completely flip the next!

FAST FIVE QUESTIONS

1. Where did  you go to nursing school and what year did you graduate?

   I graduated from Mercer County Community College in New Jersey, in January of 2014.

2.  Where is your dream vacation?

   My ultimate dream vacation is Bora Bora! I’d love to stay in one of those beautiful huts right on the clear water and soak up the gorgeous scenery.

3. What is one thing you cannot live without?

   I can’t live without my dogs! I’ve had dogs my entire life, and now my husband and I have two kids with paws. They bring me so much joy and I cannot imagine my life without them.

4. Are you a morning or night person?

   I’m absolutely a night person. I love working nights, especially in the ER!

5. What is one goal you would like to accomplish?

          My dream goal ever since I was a little girl has been to write and publish a book. I’ve been writing creatively as long as I can remember, and I feel it comes naturally to me.