What Pushed This PACU Nurse To Become An NP

How this nurse's travel assignment inspired her to get her NP to serve her community

Welcome to Nurse Ascent, a twice-weekly newsletter created by nurses for nurses. This week, one nurse shares her journey from a new RN, to travel nurse, and now new NP with a clear goal of serving her local underserved community. We also discuss the first two deaths from measles this year, a new mpox case, and a large recall of Clear Eye drops.

But first, that feeling when...

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Locum Nurse Practitioner (NP) - Urgent Care

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Rochester, NY

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Assistant Nurse Manager - Trauma, Providence Alaska Medical Center - Anchorage

Anchorage, AK

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Nurse Spotlight: Melissa Collins MSN, RN, FNP,-C, CPAN

What I do for work

I’m currently a night shift PACU nurse at a large medical center. In our unit, there are two RNs overnight and we take all surgical patients except for open hearts and lung/liver/heart transplant patients. During the day there are multiple specialty PACUs, but over night all remaining or emergency surgeries are funneled to our PACU. Right now, I work as a charge RN & preceptor and I was most recently on our narcotic waste management project that worked to get our PACU within policy-driven goals for waste and return management. I’m also on the On-Call Committee and actively participate in educational opportunities in the unit such as teaching at our annual PACU bootcamp .

How I got here

My senior year of high school, we interned in various fields for the entire year. I interned with both an occupational therapy office and with a medical-surgical nurse, where I immediately gravitated towards nursing. I loved the critical thinking, constant motion, and the chaos of it all while making a difference in people’s lives. In nursing school, I did one shadow day in the PACU and just knew that was my future. The fast pace, incredible variety of surgeries, critical thinking, only having patients for a few hours, and the gratification of providing patients with immediate comfort and relief was just what I wanted. Within 3 years at my first RN job, I was the lead RN chair of the peri-op EBP council, a charge RN, and preceptor.

I then did travel nursing with my roommate in Boston, Reno/Tahoe, Sedona, Seattle, and Philly. In Philly, my friend and I both decided to stay full time. This location was actually declared the epicenter of the opioid epidemic on the east coast at the time and it really opened my eyes up how to the effects on the city. That, on top of witnessing in PACU just how many patients needed surgery for illnesses that could have been prevented or controlled with adequate primary care made me decide to go to NP school.

Headlines in Healthcare

Two first measles related deaths this year

Two unvaccinated people in Pennsylvania have died of measles as the outbreak there approaches 400 cases. These are the first US deaths from measles in 2026 and the first in Pennsylvania in 35 years. According to CNN, Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen shared, “As a physician, I want to make sure that people understand that the MMR vaccine is safe and provides the best protection we have against measles." About 20% of measles cases in Pennsylvania this year have required hospitalization.

Mpox case confirmed in San Diego

Last week, California public health officials confirmed that a San Diego County resident has contracted Clade I mpox, a more severe variant of the virus formerly known as monkey pox. Clade I mpox has been linked to Central Africa and has become more common in Eastern parts of the continent as well as other parts of the world, the county said in its news release. According to Fox 5 News, county health officials say symptoms of mpox may include a painful rash, fever or swollen lymph nodes & that the virus may spread through close physical contact or sharing items with an infected person.

Clear Eye drops recalled

Nearly 40,000 bottles of a Clear Eyes brand eye drops, Maximum Itchy Eye Relief, are being pulled from shelves nationwide because the maker cannot guarantee the product is sterile. Only one lot is involved: lot 2552A, with an expiration date of Sept. 30, 2027. According to US News, this is the second large sterility-related eye drop recall this year following a California recall of more than 3 million bottles of artificial tears, lubricating drops and redness relievers sold under store labels in March.

More on Melissa

A day in my life

On night shift work days I get home, make a smoothie, walk my dog, shower, do a face mask, and then sleep. When I wake up, I walk my dog again while listening to an audiobook or podcast before heading to work to start it all again. In my normal day-to-day life, I wake up early for my cycle class, walk my dog, and then go to my apartment’s pool to read and have a mid-morning nap after waking up so early. I also try to complete a couple hours of FNP CEUs to continue my studies while applying to jobs. I thrive on hiking and the outdoors, but day-to-day living, I need the city. I’ll walk my dog around town, grab a coffee or smoothie at a cafe, and just explore different neighborhoods. My fiancé and I are always trying new restaurants. Living here has been amazing with endless multicultural food options.

My self-care routine

Ever since I studied abroad in college, traveling is always on the forefront of my mind. I’ve traveled to 6 continents so far (only Antarctica left!). For a while my mentality was saving money to spend on traveling. Every job I’ve had has made it so easy to take time off by stacking shifts and I just can’t imagine having a job without that flexibility. Moving away from my best friends and my family was really hard, because even though it’s a short flight, I miss being able see to see everyone regularly. But, that’s why nursing is so amazing. I have the flexibility to go visit people, which is a mental health game changer. In my free time, I’m always looking for the next trip whether to explore or visit people. My parents just moved so I’m stoked that visiting them also means a simultaneous beach trip. I still try to plan two adventure trips a year. This past March, I went to Patagonia with my fiancé and brother and it was absolutely epic.

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An image of author Katie Scoggins is pictured.

Meet the author:
Katie Scoggins
(RN, BSN & Health Writer)

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