Nursing

Join us on our career chat with Bonnie Varahram & her journey on becoming an ambulatory nurse!

- She has been a registered nurse for over 25 years

- Works at Keyser Hospital as an ambulatory surgeon

Many roles
Has different responsibilities: overlooks 15-16 other nurses, 18 technicians and different operating rooms
When interacting with her patient: weighs them, admits them in the hospital, asks about medical history, what medications they're on, etc.
Biggest surgeries she has performed- transgender surgeries, eye surgery, foot surgery.

Check room for equipment
See patient/verify consent for surgery
Timeout: when everyone stops what they're doing, the circulatory nurse goes over consent, to see if they have the right patient.

Although she became a nurse, she originally wanted to be a psychiatrist when she was a high school student; deep inside, she has always wanted to do something hands-on as well as science based. She was also very social and studious throughout high school.
Due to financial issues, she worked a job as well as volunteered at a hospital.
Other volunteer work: at West Hills hospital: transferred patients down.
Volunteering at hospitals helped Bonnie a lot, both financially and career-wise.
Went to community college for 2 years at Pierce college, and transferred to CalState Long Beach. She did her masters in clinical psychology, but realized this isn't meant for her.
Went from BA to BSN- some of the courses she took were: anatomy, physiology, microbiology, and statistics.
After volunteering at West Hills hospital: her college nursing programs were paid for by the hospital.
Bonnie became a labor and delivery nurse after her program, as well as got a part time job at a psychiatric hospital.

RN license, BLS, advanced cardiac life support, be certified for pediatric advanced life support, critical care experience, to be able to recover patients after anesthesia.
Can also get certificates from different departments, and this leads to better pay

A lot of physical challenges, moving a lot of equipment, handling anesthesia patients.
A lot of multitasking.
Emotional involvement.
Exposure to illnesses and chemicals (COVID is an example) : Nurses are the first to get exposed to these substances.

"What are some volunteer positions at this hospital?"
Helping admit patients, doing height and weight, putting on monitors, a lot of patient work.
"What persuaded you from being a clinical psychiatrist?"
This wasn't what she truly wanted, she went into psychology because all her friends did it.
"What is recommended for students who are starting out with a nursing major?"
- Getting a bachelors, not just associate degree, all jobs want you to have a BSM and above.
- Take classes ASAP, apply to every school you can imagine that includes good nursing programs, since a lot of hospitals are now placing new graduate programs.
- Do excellent in your prerequisites.
- Volunteer as much as you can- you really indulge into the field and get a better picture.
- Partake in extracurricular activities
-have a good GPA, since there is a very long waitlist for nursing schools.
"What was your first-time experience of witnessing a patient lose their life?"
After Bonnie had just become a nurse, she was taking care of a 95 year old french-speaking lady named Rose. Since Bonnie knew a little bit of French, she was taking care of her. All of a sudden CPR was being performed on Rose. Bonnie was very scared and emotional, and Rose wasn't able to be revived. She sang Rose a french song after her passing. She then realized, this is how life is.