
Jennifer Zhang, NUR ’25, Atlanta, GA
This summer, I had the opportunity of interning at the Mount Sinai Hospital Main Campus in the Upper East Side of Manhattan as a part of the Medical Intensive Care Unit team. As someone who always seeks growth and challenges, this was by far the most intensive and rigorous job experience I’ve ever had. From a series of back-to-back code calls and unexpected deaths to emergency tracheostomies, I’ve seen people survive and unfortunately pass from sepsis, an inability to breathe, and a variety of other causes of death. It was a humbling experience. Each and every day when I clocked out of work, I was grateful to just be a healthy human who can eat and breathe on my own.
Whenever I share my experience and job description with others, I always get the same response: that must be so sad; you’re doing a tough job/God’s work.
But “sad” is the last thing I could ever describe it as because I feel like this career path and the learning takeaways from this past summer has redefined me and my values I take on for living. I know what it means to be thankful and utterly appreciative of what is right in front of me.
Honestly, it is a lot of pressure to place on an individual when they are the ones taking care of someone’s loved one who is on the cusp of life or death. It’s tough to see the patient’s granddaughter begging for help when she hears her grandmother screaming out of pain. It’s heartbreaking to see the wife, son, and daughter holding on to their father’s hand when there is no signs of recovery and death is overdue (the patient has been unable to breathe on his own for more than 3 months). It’s traumatic to see the patient’s husband pack his lunch everyday to eat exactly at noon while we cleaned his paralyzed wife, especially when their family dynamic reminds me of my own.
After these bustling 10 weeks, I can now say that I am confident I chose a career pathway that is best suitable for me and where I can thrive as a registered nurse. This is a pressure I’ve chosen to take on.
This is part of a series of posts by recipients of the 2024 Career Services Summer Funding Grant. We’ve asked funding recipients to reflect on their summer experiences and talk about the industries in which they spent their summer. You can read the entire series here