Home Care Redefined Health Care for One Infusion Nurse
For Patrick Collins, the road to a nursing career has been an evolving journey that started in his childhood and has brought him to where he is today – an infusion nurse with Pediatric Home Service.
“My bedtime in elementary school was at 9:00,” remembers Patrick. “At the time, my family stayed up to watch the show ER and I was allowed to join every once in awhile. Because of that show and being allowed to stay up late, it made me think about going into that type of career. I then went on to enjoy science, I still love math and my senior year of high school I spent half of the day at Century College taking EMT classes which ended up getting me into the field.”
While nursing was always his end goal, Patrick enjoyed the process of getting there as he spent three years as an EMT and five years as a medic while working toward his nursing degree (have you heard about our partnership with EMS services?). He has been a nurse since 2014, moving from the home care division to the infusion department in 2016.
“I enjoy being well rounded in the field, and my time as an EMT and medic allowed me to see a side of the healthcare profession that not many people get to experience,” said Patrick.
A Home Care Journey
After a friend mentioned how much they enjoyed working for Pediatric Home Service, Patrick got a job as a home care nurse – a role he hadn’t envisioned for himself in the healthcare field.
“PHS redefined what health care was for me,” mentioned Patrick. “I always thought the part of classes about holistic care was the part to skim by, and my career would be in an ER. Then I got this job, where you really connect with patients and care about their whole being. It just completely changed my concept of what providing care means.”
Patrick knows that home care is where he was meant to be a nurse – one where you’re able to have daily patient interaction with children whose journey you follow. When he made the decision to switch roles and become an office-based nurse, he knew it was an opportunity to expand his skill set and work with a new population of PHS kiddos.
As an infusion nurse, he still gets to see the patients he follows on a regular basis – watching them succeed in school while receiving infusion therapy, reach major milestones, and in some cases graduate from infusion services altogether.
Tips, Tricks, and Facts
With his background as a home care nurse, Patrick has seen the benefits of having worked with patients for an extended period of time each day – he picked up some tips and tricks for providing care that he can pass along to parents.
Patrick is excited for his role ahead as he continues down his path as infusion nurse, and looks forward to seeing the future of home care as a whole.
“I think home care is going in a very exciting direction, and I can’t wait to see it evolve,” he added.
Want to learn a few other facts about Patrick? We asked him to share some of his interests, hobbies, and history in this “know the nurses” blog, where we learned he’s a Patriot’s fan.
Originally published: March 21, 2017