Karla Gonzalez's conversation with Kelly Shouse. 

Kelly’s career goals were to become an ER physician, yet she states she ran out of that realm in College. She was initially studying at her University, but then realized she no longer was interested in the physician route and was working as a traveling musician for a while until she realized she was looking for more stability in her life. She went back to school, got her RN license, and began working as a travel nurse. Her path started in Texas and onto LA, where she ended up in Modesto and found her home. Stating, “ I loved everything about this location, the ER, the wine, ocean, and the community surrounding her”.  She worked there for 10 years and once she began getting closer to 50, she began noticing the dynamics started to change; “ I got tired of the adrenaline life and saw my body starting to react to the different changes, I was thinking about my family and wanted to get out of the ER and help patients in a different way”. Looking for a new way to challenge herself, she began to pursue her NP license. This was something that was primarily due to self-motivation, but her mom definitely inspired the idea. Kelly’s mom had always pushed for her to work in the medical field and motivated her to continue learning and growing. She wanted her daughter to be financially stable as well as be in a career she knew was helping others. From that motivation and her own, Kelly went on to get her FNP license and started a new part of her life. Kelly states that although she loved being an RN, she did not like being held back on the treatment for a patient, she wanted to do more and keep her compassion. Looking back from her RN to NP career , she noted that COVID was one of the most difficult yet rewarding time periods for her. Everything was extremely difficult at that time and it was difficult as a provider to give treatment with such limited resources. Not only that but she states that as a provider, “I felt isolated, patients were becoming more and more demanding, COVID changed the way people saw medicine and as healthcare workers we were each other's support system”. Going through one of the most difficult times in her healthcare career solidified her desire to further her education, this way Kelly had more control over the treatment being provided and could help others. She now has the freedom to provide quality care, stability in her life, the ability to help her family and continue to thrive.