Why become a patient care associate

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Erin Fagin: My name is Erin Fagin. I'm a patient care associate at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. I am essentially a nurse aide, so I assist the nurses with patient care. I can't give medicines, but I can help people to the bathroom. I can assist them with eating, bathing, any kind of activity of daily living.

In terms of education to get here, it doesn't require any special degree. I know a lot of people who are in nursing school use this profession as a way to gain more experience and to get more comfortable with the patients.

Sometimes it can be very scary to be in a patient room at first. When you're in your first clinical and you don't know what to do and you're looking at somebody who's going through what may be the worst time of their life and you don't know what to say.

Being a patient care associate really helps you get comfortable with these scenarios. That helps you learn how to interact with these patients in a way that's therapeutic, and it helps you remember the things that you're learning in school at the time.

In terms of the hospital as a whole, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, it's a learning facility. It's a research facility, so there's always something new to learn. There's always questions to ask, and usually you can find somebody who's going to answer them for you because they love to teach.

I finished nursing school. I just graduated last month. I'm taking my NCLEX in two days, and I will be moving on to being a registered nurse hopefully next week. So I'm very excited.

[Text on screen: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center]

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