Meet Kim Darpoh, RN! She graduated from Nursing school in May 2017 and now works as an RN in the Emergency Department at a hospital in Atlanta. She may be a novice nurse with just 9 months on her stethoscope but she’s a brand ambassador at Your Nurse Connection, a social media maven, and chock full of positivity and inspiration. We picked her brain and got gems of advice, insight, and her own experience!
Inspiration from a New Grad Nurse
As a young girl I remember just always having a caring and nurturing personality. So, I just felt that being a nurse would be the best career for me and once I recognized that I never steered from it. My BSN is my first degree and I cherish it greatly.
My advice for someone considering doing nursing is to believe in yourself and NEVER give up. No matter how challenging the program gets (and it will) or even if you fail a class like I did just continue to press forward! You CAN do it!
I personally think it’s great to build both a personal and professional brand in the nursing profession. The reason being is that I think nurses voices should be heard more often when it comes to health related issues. We hold a lot of knowledge that can be vital in improving healthcare for the better of everyone. I feel that currently I’m building a personal brand in nursing through my instagram page @nursekimdarpoh, because I use it as a platform to encourage, educate, and inspire those in the nursing field.
And thus far I feel it's been very rewarding. I just find it so amazing to literally reach people all over the world and show others not only the challenges of nursing, but also the side of nursing that warms your heart too.
Knowing that I have an opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life and the fact that I want to make my family proud is what gets me out of bed every morning. I get energy from my faith in Christ. There are many days where I barely have motivation to get up but my faith gives me resilience to do so anyway. “For me, putting a smile on one of my patient’s faces is a constant reminder as to one of the many reasons I chose nursing.”
The most difficult part of nursing is sometimes being under appreciated by your patients. There are days when trying your hardest and going above and beyond for a patient won’t be enough for them. While it can be disappointing I leaned to not take it personal. And just know that every patient that doesn’t appreciate what you do for them there are many more that do.
I think it is important to identify with other aspects of life besides nursing. We all have a life outside of nursing. Besides being a nurse I’m a wife and a mother. So, when I’m not working I try to spend as much time with my family and just enjoy being in their presence. I believe its important to have a good work and personal life balance. When they are balanced well I think it helps you to be an even more efficient nurse.
“I wish that the world knew that in nursing you make many sacrifices in order to take the best care of our patients. Sometimes it’s even at our own expense.”
I think the future of nursing is and always will be promising. I’m looking for the nursing practice to continue to advance and for those in the nursing field to continue to grow and share our knowledge. Especially when it comes to novice nurses since I am one myself. As for my nursing career, I plan to eventually go back to school to get my Masters and become a Nurse Practitioner.
Fast facts!
Healthiest habit for work days: is to relax the first day before your shift starts. It helps kind of put my mind at ease and just prepare me for work the next day. I also, always make sure to have my uniform ready to go ahead of time. This way I don’t waste any unnecessary time getting ready on the day of for work.
My work mornings start with: eating breakfast!
Go-to meal that I pack for work: whatever leftovers I have cooked from the meal I prepared.
Favorite thing to do on a day off…sleep in. Which for me means waking up at 9 am or 10 am instead of at 6 am LOL.
Favorite app:Instagram, because I love staying connected to all of my followers (over 6k over them!).
Sneakers or clogs? Sneakers hands down! Personally my favorite brand is Nikes.
If I wasn’t a nurse I’d probably be... a news reporter. I’ve always thought that was just an interesting job and it seemed like something that would suit me well.
Compression stockings, compression socks, or neither? Compression socks are the best! They really make a difference in how my feet feel after my 12 hour shift.
Puke, poop, sputum, IV starts in babies, we’ve all got our aversion, what’s yours? I really dislike poop and puke. I’m used to seeing it a lot, but its one of things things I just rather not if I had a choice lol.
Go-to choice of caffeine? Believe it or not I’m really not an avid coffee drinker. But, when I do I prefer iced coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts or a caramel frappe from Starbucks.
Sarah is a Pediatric Clinical Nurse III at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital and a UCSF 2017 Evidence Based Practice Fellow. A New Jersey native, Sarah graduated from Penn Nursing and has been living in San Francisco ever since. She's been an athlete her whole life and continues to be passionate about health, fitness, and making the most of all opportunities. She continues to harness her passion for innovation and process improvement in her role as Founding Clinician at Trusted Health.
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