Travel Nurse Spotlight: Abigail in Cape Fear, NC
By Jennifer Larson, contributor
Abigail Antwi, RN, is exactly the kind of travel nurse you’d want to find on an oncology unit: kind, patient, with a gentle voice. When a new patient is assigned to her, she begins talking to them calmly as she assesses them, working to help them feel more comfortable in a difficult situation
“I always try to ask them what brought them here, even if I already know,” she said.
Indeed, she’s well-suited to her job, which is a travel nursing position at Cape Fear Medical Center in Fayetteville, NC.
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Abigail originally took a travel nurse assignment at this hospital through another travel nursing agency. It was her first travel nurse assignment outside of her current home state of Virginia. But she kept meeting and talking to travel nurses who were working with American Mobile Healthcare, and eventually her curiosity won out.
It turned out to be an excellent move for her. She decided to stay at Cape Fear, but she switched her contract to work with AMN, and she continues to work with oncology patients on the hospital’s 39-bed oncology unit.
Why She's Serious About Being a Travel Nurse
Abigail is originally from Ghana. She was nearly 18 years old when she moved to the United States, and she’d never seriously considered nursing as a career. In fact, she studied business when she was a student in Ghana. But her dad suggested that she look into nursing.
A stint as a C.N.A. was just the beginning. She cared for a patient with Alzheimer’s disease who made a big impact on her. “She won me into nursing,” said Abigail, who got her start as a registered nurse in med-surg nursing.
Her current travel nurse job was actually her first foray into oncology nursing. And Abigail acknowledges that it can be challenging. It is hard work, and the acuity level of the patients can be daunting.
Sometimes patients have been receiving treatment for their cancer for a long time. Sometimes she’ll have a patient who refuses to even really admit that they have cancer. And some patients on the unit are so young--people in their 20s, like Abigail herself, who is just 27 years old.
But no matter the circumstances, she does her best to relate to them so they know she cares about them.
“When they share their stories with me, it’s like they’re comfortable,” she said. “They trust me, and that’s why they’re sharing that moment with me. They trust me, and that makes me happy.”
And when patients don’t want to talk, she respects their wishes, too.
Abigail said she’s learned a lot on her current travel nurse assignment. When she first walked onto the oncology unit on her first day, she was very uncertain about it. But her manager was persistent and convinced her that she would be fine--and even worked closely with her to set up the best work schedule for her.
“My manager never made me feel like a traveler,” she said. “She included me in everything. She is an awesome person. And when she asked me to renew, I couldn’t say no.”
Abigail met other nurses, who welcomed her and helped her get up to speed on the charting system, and slowly but surely, she began to feel more comfortable herself.
“I’ve learned that I can be open to trying new stuff,” she said.
Abigail’s advice to any travel nurses who may follow in her footsteps: “Take it day by day.” You will get acclimated and find your way. You will learn how things function in your new facility, and you will gradually feel more and more at home.
Another word of advice: Find someone on the staff who can help you and turn to them with questions. She herself found a nurse named Eun with a great deal of knowledge from her decades of experience that she was always willing to share. “Put her number on speed dial and call her!” said Abigail.
And one more lesson: “And if you don’t know the computer system, it’s okay. You will learn it,” she said.
American Mobile is one of TravelNursing.com's partners and the nation's leading travel nurse company. To learn more about starting a travel nurse assignment with them, please click here.