Nurses Week Highlight #10

Kristina Hontanosas, is a Registered Nurse, and new to the Ansbach Army Health Clinic and military health community. She hails from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and has been a nurse for 10 years. Her job will be screening patients prior to the provider seeing them, which includes educating the patient on medications they will take, and services offered for their specific needs. “My mom is a nurse, and when she would come home she would talk about the challenges she faced, and it was always the message that if you face a challenge, do it with a good attitude.” She said, Nursing is not just one area, you can build your skills and do emergency room medicine, surgical, clinical and you are always learning something new. Her mother loves being a nurse, and that is why Hontanosas decided to become a nurse as well. “When you see progress with your patients when they come in and especially with wounds or recovering, you feel good because you know what you are doing is good.” She loves teaching and enlightening her patients to something they didn’t know before. The most difficult part of being a nurse she said, is when you regularly care for a patient who has a complicated case and you want them to get better, but know sometimes that may not happen. She deals with the stresses of being a nurse by talking to her coworkers, or other nurses. “If there is a situation, just telling another nurse that has more experience is usually good.” She also said taking a step back and taking a deep breath helps bring perspective. And above all, “Don’t take anything personally, you don’t know what is going on in that person’s life. Leave the stress at work.”