Elizabeth Vansickle's Role In Health Care

Something most people struggle while they’re in college or even in everyday life is pursuing something that will make them happy. Elizabeth Vansickle, Lead RN at Torrance Memorial, is someone who has found this great aspect in achieving a life goal many want. Although Elizabeth Vansickle comes from a rough past, her persistence has driven her to become such a strong women. Her background, experience, and views on how things are handled in the medical field has become a fundamental in why nursing is such an interesting career. Mrs. Vansickle, who frequently goes by Lisa, has a kind look on her face, it seems as her face is always relaxed. She is almost fifty years old but does not look like it at all. She takes her hair down from a pony tail …show more content…
Mrs. Vansickle states, “It was very hard trying to keep up with everything, everything was thrown at me so fast and most things I couldn’t stomach, but I knew this is what I wanted to do and these patients needed my help” (Vansickle 2017). Nursing shortages are very crucial to the health care system. In an economic analysis of the nursing shortage, The Heritage Foundation says, “the new demand for medical services for the millions who are expected to enroll in Medicaid and the federal and state insurance exchanges, could cause workforces shortages to become catastrophic” (Snavley). Even if people sign up for their medical insurance it could be a possibility that it could not be an adequate visit to the hospital because their might not be enough nurses to help them with their needs. After a while, she began to adapt to her surrounding and the fast paced world of nursing. Subsequently, after working at the same hospital for a period of time the administration of the hospital decided that she had spent enough time there and that she was ready to become a Lead Nurse. Just a few years before this promotion she went back to school to get her Bachelors. Luckily, after being a Lead Nurse for about a year, the hospital became a Magnet Hospital and everyone there had …show more content…
Vansickle’s theory of nursing is, “80% psychosocial- dealing with the families, the social going on, and 20% science” (Vansickle 2017). After a few seconds of trying to sum up what nursing is to her, she laughed. Throughout her 24 years of nursing she believes that she has used her skills of interacting and working in the environment more than actually doing any of the whole science part. Mrs. Vansickle can become mentally exhausted some days and brings it home to her family. Luckily, she has a husband that is a doctor so he understands the whole social part of the medical field and dealing with patients can be quite stressful. But even before she married, she explained with a shaky, emotional toned voice, “my kids are not in the medical field but they have always been supportive” (Vansickle 2017). Her youngest son was outside sitting with us and he hugged her. According to the Bali Medical Journal, “Nurses will be more exposed to the negative outcomes of work-life imbalance than other groups of employees, so paying attention to managing the demands of work and family aimed at improving the nurses’ quality of life, has specific importance” (Zeynab). Having a balance is important and having a support system in the work place and at home is a tremendous help in the life of a nurse. Being a nurse is such a special thing to her and has enhanced who she was all along, “I don’t think nursing has changed me as a person, because I think nursing is a calling like you need that