Twenty-Four Seven August 10, 2006, 10:49AM EST

From Wharton to Intensive Care

Lots of finance graduates think their jobs deal with matters of life or death. But this one really does

by Oliver Chu

It may seem strange for a person who majored in finance to share more similarities with Gaylord Focker than Gordon Gekko. Like Ben Stiller's character in the movie Meet the Parents, I am a male nurse. I first opened my eyes to the field of nursing after my father passed away following years of fighting cancer. The nurses who took care of him were unceasing in their care and compassion, and this inspired me to follow their example.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Health Care Management Program with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the Wharton School (for a slide show, click here), concentrating in finance and health-care management, and a BS in nursing from Penn's School of Nursing, I began a job at UCLA's Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit. I knew I wanted a job where I could serve people. After considering options with my economics degree, I decided that bedside was where I wanted to begin.

	Oliver Chu Nurse UCLA Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit BS Class of 2005, University of Pennsylvania Wharton School and School of Nursing

Starting off in the ICU straight out of undergraduate school is no cakewalk, especially at UCLA's CTICU, which does lung transplants, a wide array of pediatric and adult open-heart procedures, and—in general—the highest number of heart transplants in the country. Life in the CTICU is fast-paced. Even though I've been here a year, I am constantly learning. One thing I have found is that no day is quite the same when working in the CTICU. Here's my day:

4:00 p.m.—My alarm goes off. I stay in bed a bit and slowly come to my senses and get ready for the night. I check my e-mail, read a little bit of the news, do a light workout with the dumbbells in my room, put on my scrubs, and start getting ready for work. The good thing about being a nurse is that I don't have to think about what to wear.

6:20 p.m.—After a big "breakfast," I get in my car and drive to work. My commute is about 25 minutes, and I don't have to get on a freeway, which is great since L.A. traffic is atrocious.

6:45 p.m.—I arrive at work and start getting ready for my evening. I look on the work board and see that I will be taking the patient in Bed 3.

7:00 p.m.—I get a report from the day-shift nurse. The patient I will be receiving had a bilateral lung transplant a few days ago. I've had this patient for the last few days, and we've developed a good relationship.

7:30 p.m.—After getting a glimpse of what happened during the day, I give the O.K. for the day-shift nurse to leave.

8:00 p.m.—After doing an assessment, I begin to plan my day. Lung-transplant patients receive a huge amount of medication. I give the patient his eight-o'clock medications.

8:10 p.m.—The bed across the way from me is empty, but a patient who is having heart surgery will be coming up. The first few hours after returning from the operating room is often the most critical. The nurse who will be caring for him asks me to help her out upon admission. I agree. We also get word that two heart transplants may arrive later in the night.

8:20 p.m.—The surgeon who performed the lung transplant comes in. I give him a sketch of all the pertinent information and what the current situation is. If the surgeon wants more details about a certain situation, he will ask. After updating him on the progress of the patient, he gives me a few standing orders for the night to help me plan my care.

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