Travis "T. C." Michael Parker, BA, BSN, RN

We moved from Spain with my partner, and he went to med school at Florida International University. I knew the school, and I knew the program, so I applied to FIU. I got a bachelor's degree in English literature, and I worked as an English teacher in Spain for seven years. I moved back because my partner is a psychiatrist at Jackson, and I wanted a career change. I got my CAN before I started my career requisite, and I got a phlebotomy license to explore healthcare. I own a business in home healthcare with my mom, so being a registered nurse is helpful to the business. I love education, and I felt like nursing was a good middle ground between the medical and education fields. It was a great mixture of theory learning with practical learning. I was supposed to attend in person, but COVID-19 hit during my time at FIU, so almost all of my experience was online. The accelerator program ran for 14 months, and my pathophysiology instructor was outstanding. I had wonderful clinical instructors who were receptive and understanding of our needs as students. Dr. Flowers advocated for us so other teachers were a bit less demanding. Our lecturers were committed to their subject, and they rarely need a textbook because of how comprehensive their presentations were. I did my practicum in the cardiac ICU at Jackson, and that's how I got my job. FIU taught me to carry myself in a professional manner and to be comfortable with all sorts of conversations. It taught me to use the proper chain of command to communicate effectively, and to make sure we met the needs of our patients. I want to go back to FIU for a DMT degree.