2025 Student Spotlights - Cristina Falabella - Nursing
When she first graduated high school, Class of 2025 School of Nursing graduate Cristina Falabella didn’t know exactly what career path to take, though it was probably inevitable that she’d end up wanting to pursue nursing. After all, her mother was a nurse and her dad is a doctor, yet she started out community college taking her general education requirements and not really thinking about becoming a healthcare professional like her parents before her. Perhaps she needed to find the path for herself.
“I just found myself kind of slipping into taking anatomy, physiology and microbiology, and realized that I was kind of going into this pre-med track already,” Cristina says.
“So when I sat back and reflected more on it – and I did talk with my mom about it too – nursing was what I wanted to pursue after all.”
Among the reasons she enjoys the nursing field, Cristina says, is the critical thinking aspect of it, and working with the patient at the bedside.
“We are kind of like a highway in the hospital,” Cristina says. “If we get a critical lab value, it’s our role to notify the provider and take part in the necessary interventions. I really like the team effort that comes with nursing.”
For Cristina, it’s about the little things nurses can provide to patients that make all the difference. Cristina talks about a particular patient she helped treat while undergoing her preceptorship as a nursing student. She was treating a patient in the step-down unit (the unit known as the in-between of the intensive care unit and general medical-surgical floor) who had sustained a gunshot wound.
“During surgery the patient lost his voice, so we communicated with him a lot of the times by just writing out letters in the palm of our hands. That is a bridge to meet that person halfway, and give that special care they need.”
Cristina herself has in turn experienced the kindness and generosity of spirit that comes from the little things. Like when one of her nursing professors donated clothes to Cristina and her community after Cristina’s family home was destroyed in the Eaton Fires.
“It has been a challenge, but it was amazing to see how the LA community has bound together and also how even my Long Beach classmates and teachers came together to support me.”
“There’s always room to rebuild, and life comes in chapters and seasons, and [losing our home] is obviously going to be an unforgettable one, but it is just about owning strength and being grateful and helping others with the little things.”
