At Medely, we’ve helped over 300,000 nurses and health professionals create a career that works for them. One of these nurses is Carmen Cossio, RN. Carmen wanted more flexibility in her schedule so that she could travel more, and with Medely, she’s been able to create her own schedule and achieve her goal of exploring the world. We sat down with Carmen to learn more about why she took the leap with Medely, how she makes a difference in her nursing career, and how she’s been able to pursue her dream life.
Carmen’s healthcare journey
Carmen’s journey to becoming a nurse began with her love for understanding the human body. Combined with her passion for helping others, she knew that nursing would be the perfect career for her. “I think that I’ve always had a fascination for the human body and the biological sciences. But, I also think that I have a big heart, so I needed to find some type of career that involved those two,” Carmen shares.
Carmen’s passion for helping people allows her to be the best nurse possible, leaving her patients feeling seen, heard, and cared for the entire time they’re in her care. Every time Carmen steps foot in a facility, she continues to get confirmation that she’s in the right place. “It does feel nice to have a patient acknowledge that you made them feel cared about. You listened to them. You made them feel like not just a number,” Carmen shares. “When someone tells me that I made them feel cared about or they felt safe in my hands or I was one of the few people that acknowledged their pain or their suffering the way that they would have preferred, that’s a big deal. Just knowing that I made a difference and that someone actually had a good outcome because of me.”
Why Carmen joined Medely
After Carmen started getting tired of the monotony of staying at the same facility, she decided it was time to leave her full-time position to give something else a try. “I’ve been a nurse for a long time. I’ve been a nurse for over 20 years. But, there was a point in my career where I felt like I was just going through the motions and working in a hospital full-time as a staff member. It’s great, but there are so many other things that interfere with your love of your job that make you not want to do that type of work,” Carmen shares. “So, long story short, I made a decision to leave full-time, one-place employment and try my luck in working at different hospitals and just working when I want to work.”
Carmen wanted the freedom to be able to pick up shifts when she wanted, leaving her more time to travel, so picking up per diem shifts with Medely was the perfect option for her. Thanks to Medely’s simple sign up process, she was able to easily start a profile and start picking up shifts on the app without any extra hassle.
“There were not a lot of middle middlemen. It’s just really easy. I remember thinking, ‘is this it? That’s all I have to do?’ It felt strange. You really become autonomous in many ways.”
Thanks to the autonomy that Medely offers her, she’s been able to make time for her true passion: traveling. “I love traveling the world and love exploring new cities. I needed some type of job or job situation where I could literally work in different states if I wanted to still make money and have access to work wherever I am. I just felt stagnant, and it helped me get out of that little stagnant bubble and explore nursing in different ways and in different places,” Carmen says.
For Carmen, this has helped her immensely in taking back ownership of her nursing career and her schedule. “It has helped me a lot. I’ve been able to just make my own schedule, come and go as I please, take a trip to a foreign country for a month, and come back and know I still can pick up shifts whenever I want. I don’t have a boss telling me, ‘when are you coming back?’ It’s freedom, honestly.”
Find freedom with Medely
Ready to find freedom in your nursing career? Check out per diem shifts, local assignments, or travel assignments through Medely. Take five minutes today to start your free profile and be on your way to living life on your terms.
