When choosing a career, you typically think about doing something that will make you happy. You think about excitement, passion, and something to really keep you engaged. At least, that’s what I thought about before choosing my career in the healthcare field. I thought about how it will be exciting to work in a hospital where you get to see traumas, take care of babies, and treat people’s diseases. I thought about how rewarding it will be to solve a medical mystery or catch an illness that not many could detect. Yes, all of this things are true, but now that I actually work in the hospital, I see so many other things that are so much more important than the “excitement” of it all.

I work as a certified nursing assistant in the hospital, and when I first started, my main goal was to learn as much as I possibly could from the doctors and nurses taking care of patients. I wanted to know how every procedure was done, what kind of tests they run, and everything they do to try and diagnose a patient. I was like a hungry wolf just searching for something to learn about to prepare me for medical school. I have learned so much from this experience, but it was a different kind of material than what I was first expecting.

Instead of learning how to take care of a patient physically, I was learning how to take care of them emotionally. I learned how to look into the situation deeper, and find out what kind of person they were. I learned that a patient is more than just a sick person. They are someone’s loved one, someone’s coworker, and someone’s neighbor. They have feelings and values that we should uphold and respect. I learned how to comfort them, and assure them that we are doing everything we can to help them. Most of the time, I was the person that they had to talk to when they were in pain or needed something, and I needed their trust.

I came into the hospital thinking that I would be learning from the doctors and nurses, but in reality, I learned so much more from my patients. They taught me about true compassion, and how to look deeper into every situation. They showed me that the healthcare field is more than just physically helping them, but also helping them mentally.

I am thankful to have been able to work in the healthcare field because I learned how to care for people as a whole. I think twice before saying or doing something to someone, and I care about people’s feelings even more than I did before. It turned me into a better person, and that is why I love it so much. I will forever be grateful to have found something that I truly care about, and be able to care for people at the same time.