We recently connected with Catherine Matiasevich and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Catherine thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

My name is Catherine. I knew in 3rd grade that I wanted to be a nurse. I remember sitting at a neighborhood friend’s kitchen table having dinner. Her mother was a nurse practitioner. If anyone got hurt, we called Brenda. She checked all of our bumps and bruises, scrapes and scratches. We were safe with Brenda. I wanted people to be safe with me. To come to me for help. To be able to take care of my kids, if anything were to arise.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was lucky enough to be accepted into the University of Rhode Island. Studying didn’t always come easy to me, but with incredible instructors that showed me how to study and retain the information, I graduated Nursing School in 2005.

Friends are easy to make in college, if you are stuck together – day in and day out – with never ending study sessions, 6am clinical rotations, and seeing other people’s body parts that you’re not used to seeing-regularly. You bond on a different level.

I spent 2 years in college doing the said rotations, medical surgical, OB, Labor and Delivery, nursing homes. Nothing interested me. I questioned my decision, but knew I just needed to be patient. Then we met Jen. A trauma manager at Rhode Island hospital that was getting her masters. Part of receiving that diploma was teaching nursing students. It all clicked. ER. Trauma. Bleeding. Next patient. Yes. This is it. I am going to be an ER. nurse. Once I decided on my field, I aced my classes and never looked back. Jen hired me and a peer of mine to work at RIH, in the ER as a tech. The fast paced, rapid clinical decision making a task oriented field was right up my alley. I craved it. Picked up extra, skipped lunch, charted on paper and didn’t stop moving for 12 hours. I was sold. I graduated college, moved across the country to San Diego with friends from nursing school to pursue my dream – and never looked back.

I worked in SD for a few years worked in different ERs, was a flight nurse, met my now husband while flying, moved to HI for a few years, grew our family and now reside in Orange County where I still work at the bedside as a Trauma nurse, going on 17 years.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

I think what has been so helpful these past 17 years at the bedside has been my ambition. Not having any fear in any given situation can bc a positive thing. Knowing failure is always a possibility, keeps me free. I know that if I DON’T try something-the answer will be no. So, why not try to start a business while working part time, having 3 young kids and a working spouse? What do I have to lose?

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

The training and knowledge I gain every day in the ER and for the years as a flight nurse have served me well. I can recognize illness, act quickly and have multiple differential diagnoses running through my mind within the first minute of meeting you in the the hospital. I have taken care of sick, dying, young and elderly patients. I will never claim to have “seen it all,” but I would say I am pretty close to it. Being able to place a breathing tube in someone who has respiratory arrested from a neck fracture at 6,000 feet, in the clouds is a lot harder than starting an IV on someone’s couch after a “night of drinking.” Listening to the trauma pt whose best friend that was killed in the same vehicle with her, will haunt me for years to come-but realizing there is a healthy version of nursing will help me continue to succeed and want more. Playing defensive medicine is exhausting. I value people that take their health into their own hands and focus on prevention.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ochydrationandaesthetics.com
• Instagram: @ochydrationandaesthetics
• Facebook: OC Hydration and Aesthetics
• Linkedin: Catherine Matiasevich

Image Credits
Courtney Robbins Photography