Nursing was not my first choice when I started college at the University of California, Los Angeles. My main focus was football, and I transitioned into my political science major seamlessly. It wasn’t until halfway through my junior year and after completing a couple of internships that I realized I didn’t have a passion for political science or any other business major.
I like to say that nursing discovered me. I attended a few career fairs, and the one career that stuck out the most to me was nursing. It fit me and the lifestyle that I wanted to live while helping others. So, I dove right in and finished my prerequisites and political science degree as I finished my football career. Luckily, all the hard work paid off and soon after my UCLA football pro day (where the National Football League and Canadian Football League scouts or coaches come to watch you perform on the field), I was accepted into the Masters Entry Clinical Nurse program at UCLA to pursue my MSN. Looking back now, I see so many correlations between my football and nursing career. These lessons learned on the field have proven to be a recipe for my continued success as a pediatric ICU nurse:
1. Teamwork - Sports taught me how to be a team player and to work well with others in ANY setting. One person alone can’t win the game. In the hospital, you work with respiratory therapists, doctors, nurses, radiology techs, pharmacists, etc., from all walks of life. You have to put any personal egos and feelings aside and work together as a team to achieve the common goal: a healthy patient. Ultimately, this involves communication, and good communication allows for transparency and helps bring good results. In football, we had to communicate effectively all game long to win. For me as a nurse, that win now is a patient recovering and being able to go home healthy again.
2. Be coachable - You have to be open to change, understanding different concepts, and ways to better yourself for the team. It’s also imperative to take constructive criticism gracefully and not take things personally. For example, my charge nurses and other nurses with more experience have corrected something I’ve done or taught me something vital to better myself as a nurse. These are important lessons because you learn newer things that can possibly improve patient care and outcomes.
3. Never give up - Football taught me that you can't win all the time. If you get knocked down, you have to get up and try again. Nurses have tough days, and I understand feeling overwhelmed and wanting to give up. But I learned that sometimes you have to take a step back, take a deep breath, and try again because anything is possible. There is usually more than one way to achieve a goal!
4. Time management - In football, it's very important to stay organized and to always be on time with everything. There is zero tolerance for being late. In nursing, it is imperative to be organized and to deliver care and medications in a timely fashion. Time management is important to not only the patient and family but to your coworkers that may need your assistance with something.
5. Endurance - Football is without a doubt a high endurance sport. I had to be in the best shape of my life to be competitive. Off the field, though, I need the physical and mental ability to remain active for long periods of time. Endurance is crucial for nurses as we strive to be as vigilant and ready as possible so that we can give the best timely care to our patients. Similar to sports, having endurance gives you that upper edge to perform well and achieve the goal.
Looking at it holistically, I love that football taught me to see the big picture—not just what’s in a play or in the hospital unit—but in life. By seeing the big picture, you can react, create, learn, and then teach.
Roosevelt Davis, MSN, RN, is a pediatric cardiovascular ICU nurse at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County in California. He is a member of Sigma’s Gamma Tau at-Large Chapter at the University of California, Los Angeles.