Sophia Loo: Nurse
 Salary: $34,000 - $68,000
“A tiring, stressful job” — this is how Sophia Loo describes the nursing profession. “But don’t get me wrong,” says the 30-year-old graduate from U.C. Davis. “It is very fulfilling to know that you are making a difference in someone else’s life.”
Sophia Loo has been working in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Stanford University Hospital for three years. She spent her childhood in California and completed her bachelor’s degree in Nebraska. For Loo, describing her job is difficult.
“Nurses in the ICU have a multi-disciplinary job,” she says. “Our primary goal is to make sure that a patient who has just come out of surgery can make a recovery and function in the outside world.”
Nurses serve the physical, social and emotional needs of the patient. An ordinary workday for Loo can include many things. “We have to handle two to three patients everyday,” she says. “We check blood pressure, put on catheters, and sometimes stop surprise bleedings. We also maintain order in the ICU and control all the patients. Coming out of surgery, they can be disoriented, confused or violent. From handling patients, to tackling administrative duties, we hardly have time to take a breath.” Many nurses work for three days a week, with each shift lasting 12 hours.
College is the first step to becoming a nurse. Like any other profession, a degree must be earned. Students must complete a two-to-four-year program. Regardless of whichever degree is earned, a national license exam must be passed in order to practice.
Registered nursing is one of the fastest growing occupations, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with openings in the field expected to increase 22 percent from 1998 to 2008. It is also one of the highest-paying occupations among jobs requiring post-secondary training or an associate’s degree. In 1998, the median annual nurse’s salary was $40,700, $49,888 in California.
Still, says Loo: “For the amount of stress and tension we have to put up with, our pay is hardly enough. Our salary is not the same as other jobs that require a similar education and work-ethic.”
Loo says perhaps nurses’ work is devalued because it’s still considered a “women’s profession.”
Her advice to those interested in becoming nurses is to “think seriously.”
“The job is fast-paced and contains a lot of stress,” she says. “You have to be organized, and have to be able to take charge of chaotic situations. When you are 20, you may be able to tackle the job easily, but what about handling the lives of patients when you are 50?” |
