Career Field Research

For my career field research, I interviewed Teresa Bellmund, a nurse practitioner who currently works at Hartford Hospital with a masters in psychiatric practitioner from Fairfield University. Based on what I have been considering working in the medical field I felt as if it would be best to reach out to her. I was able to have a google meet with her and have a good conversation with her in regards to her career. Through-out the conversation she expressed her enjoyment with being a nurse practitioner. She has mentioned that she has been active as a psychiatric nurse practitioner for four years, with prior experience as a cardiology nurse. As a nurse practitioner she conveys that she loves working with the patients and having interactions with them, as well as getting to see them get better. She also communicates that teamwork is important, being able to collaborate with doctors and other nurses, when needed. On the contrary, the only downside she experiences is in Psychiatry is not being able to go to court, but rather a doctor has to represent her which she found difficult as she feels that her own opinion is not being voiced. Part of her job is to prescribe medications, interview patients and be in the “driver seat” without the supervision of a doctor. Her hours she mentioned were a typical 9 to 5 work day Monday through Friday, with occasional work weekends. A typical salary a nurse practitioner would make would be on average $130,539 a year, and benefits would range from healthcare to time off and access to team building. Teresa also described her work ethic as hardworking, organized and she leads by example. 

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Based upon the conversation I had with Teresa, I found myself more interested in being a nurse practitioner as I found it a way for me to be more hands-on without supervision of a doctor and without the excessive amounts of schooling. Being able to talk with her helps me to be able to narrow down my options to understand what I might want to focus on with my future healthcare career, and possibly the amount of time I want to spend on school and learning.