Career Spotlight: Interview w/ a Registered Nurse & Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist

This week,  Dr. Cameron Ricks interviewed Devon Ricks about her career as a nurse. Not only is Devon a nurse, but she is also Dr. Ricks’ sister! Each month, our goal is to share a career journey in healthcare, and we hope you will share it with your students as they explore careers for their future! 

Check out some highlights from our interview, and watch the entire interview for more.

Tell Us About Yourself.

I am a registered nurse and most recently a certified diabetes care and education specialist, and I work for Sutter in Northern California. I have worked with this organization for over 12 years in the home health area and have been a nurse for about 16 years.

What was the career path that led you to where you are today?

Out of high school, I went right to college and honestly had no clue about what I wanted to do. I started my career working in the state parks in environmental education. A family member let me know that making money and job security was very important. He suggested that I look into healthcare and go into nursing because he was a nurse and heading on his way to becoming a doctor. This was some of the best advice I ever received.

I went back to school, and because I already had a science degree I was able to take an accelerated R.N. program to get my degree through the University of Nevada, Reno. Once I got my R.N. license, I began working in ICU. After a few years of working in ICU, I became a travel nurse (watch the video to hear Devon share more about travel nursing) in Colorado for a couple of years and loved that. I moved back to California and was looking for a new position and kept seeing a home health job posting. I hadn’t considered this and didn’t feel very interested in this type of work, but I needed a job. I ended up falling in love with the work as the job was interesting and dynamic.

What does a certified diabetes care and education specialist do?

After having my daughter, I had gestational diabetes, and it never really cleared up, so I have type 2 diabetes. I realized how challenging it is to have diabetes. I worked with patients that had diabetes in the past and didn’t really know what they were going through until I had it. There is so much education patients need to thrive with this disease. I did some research, and my organization needed someone in this area. I studied a lot to become certified, and the test was pretty challenging and passed, thankfully. I think being a  diabetes educator has been the most rewarding part of my career. I feel like I have a profound effect on patients, and the changes that we see due to education are pretty amazing. 

For the most part, I work with some women who have gestational diabetes, but most are older folks who have diabetes. I lived  in Latin America, so I speak Spanish, and this really helps in educating Spanish-speaking patients. I do a combo of diabetes education, as well as home visits as most people with heart failure, also have diabetes.  As part of home care, I do everything (wound care, dressing changes, port care, and so much more) along with education.

A typical day has me starting at home, which is really cool, and we have tablets that have all the charts and the schedule for the day. I call patients to set up the day. I then go out and do home visits, chart in between, and then come home and wrap up my charting. In my life, this works well because it is so flexible. My favorite part is the autonomy and the flexibility.

What is the most challenging part of your job?

The county I am in is a coastal city, and the community is pretty affluent, but sometimes you have to go to a home that is pretty gross. You go in and get it done. This doesn’t happen very often, though. There is such a big impact, so it makes it worth it.

Do you have advice for students?

Consider your personality. In nursing, there are so many directions you can go, so you probably can find something you like. However, at the end of the day, you are working with people, so you need to be compassionate and empathetic. Consider your personality, if you don’t see yourself caring for people, this may not be the right direction for you. Nurses also have to do gross things sometimes, so if you think this is too much, you may also want to reconsider! People who are sick are not always pleasant. But in general, there are different things you can do. 

Resources for learning more about this career:

Becoming a Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist information. 

Learn more about SimRated and schedule a demo with us to help your students prepare for a medical career.