I Didn’t Find Nursing, Nursing Found Me ~ Julie Mogbo

My name is Julie Mogbo, a Registered Nurse with the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria. I am the CEO of JulieMo International Limited, a Family Focused Healthcare Company, the Premier Trainer of Family Bond Systems, the Family Health Director of LeadNurse Africa International Foundation and the Country Representative of International Family Nurses Association, Canada. She is a public speaker, and the head of medical team for Banky Wellington political campaign.

In this interview with Fellow Nurses, she describes her journey into Nursing, the challenges and the future of Nigerian nursing profession.

Enjoy.

FNA: Please introduce yourself

Julie Mogbo: My name is Julie Mogbo, a Registered Nurse with the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria. I am the CEO of JulieMo International Limited, a Family Focused Healthcare Company, the Premier Trainer of Family Bond Systems, the Family Health Director of LeadNurse Africa International Foundation and the Country Representative of International Family Nurses Association, Canada.

FNA: Your educational background?
Julie Mogbo: I attended Plateau Private School, Jos, Plateau State. Upon my father’s death, I was moved to the western part of Nigeria where I had my secondary school education in Sango Ota High School, Sango Ota, Ogun State.

My Nursing education was in FCT School of Nursing, Abuja. I went on to undertake a course in Applied Psychology called Neurolinguistic Programming of which I’m a Master Practitioner.

FNA: What inspired you to be a nurse?
Julie Mogbo: Well, I wouldn’t say I became a Nurse. Rather, I would say, I evolved into a professional Nurse.

Caring is the core of who I am. But the death of my father inspired me to pursue nursing professionally. So, the thought of caring for people professionally started about 20 years ago and I became a Registered Nurse 10 years ago.

In simple words, I didn’t find nursing, I think nursing found me. ?

FNA: How would you describe your experience in this nursing career?
Julie Mogbo: My Nursing experience has been altogether challenging in many positive ways.

I have a knack for seeing the positive side of things, so challenges within the nursing space present opportunities for growth and advancement for me and those within my sphere of influence.

FNA: How do you balance entrepreneurship and your career as a whole?
Julie Mogbo: It’s very simple. I don’t get neck deep into what isn’t directly or indirectly related to healthcare, wellness or well-being of Families.

My mantra is my passion fuels my profession.

My passion is caring for individuals and families in any setting by empowering them with knowledge and skills to live healthier and fulfilled lives. This aligns with one of the broad objectives of nursing. So, my career and enterprise are nicely integrated.

FNA: How did you start your company and what inspired you to establish it?

Julie Mogbo: I figured out early in life that I’m not cut out for the strict employment work schedule.

The fact that my desire has always been to work from home and meet up with scheduled appointments made me think up profitable ways to go about living my purpose in life.

So, about 12 years ago, I registered my first company. Julie Mo International was registered in 2012.

FNA: A lot of nurses think the nursing license does not permit them to follow their dreams?
What do you say to that?
Julie Mogbo: A Nurse is conditioned by the boundaries of his or her thinking.

A number of Nurses I have come in contact with are just beginning to realize that nursing is beyond the bedside.

The first question a Nurse should ask him/herself is “what is my calling as a person? ”

Secondly, “how can this calling find expression?”

Since this is an interview and not a training session, I would implore nurses who find themselves in this situation to attend personal development programs and network with visionary people. That way, their awareness can be expanded to accommodate opportunities they never envisaged.

FNA: What is your take on quackery in Nigeria, and how should our government curb quackery?
Julie Mogbo: This is a critical question and my response may not go down well with some people.

I would ask the stakeholders to study global best practices and find away to integrate auxiliaries into Nursing as a cadre.

And to all Nurses, I will say that ancillaries won’t face out just because we see them as quacks. But they will face out once we as professional nurses continuously evolve professionally and make room for them. That way, they won’t be our enemies but our colleagues at the base of the professional pyramid.

It’s high time nurses stopped being defensive. Let’s be more open minded and embrace global best practices.

FNA: If you have the opportunity to change anything in nursing, what will it be?
Julie Mogbo: The bane of a nation is in the quality of resources churned out daily from our academic institutions.

Given the opportunity to change one thing in nursing profession, I would do a total overhaul of our educational system.

We need to constantly produce confident, competent and globally relevant nurses in Nigeria. For this to be achieved, our educational systems and curriculum need to be reviewed and redesigned.

FNA: Several young nurses are worried about the future of nursing in Nigeria, based on the educational background. A lot of them need to know the difference between a school of nursing and university.
Is the first inferior to the other?
Julie Mogbo: Rather than getting worried, I think younger nurses should aspire to be the best in their field. They should press to become experts and the go to person in their area of expertise.

Younger nurses have no business playing the blame game when they’ve got the strength and youthful advantage.

I strongly advice nurses to look beyond their academic background and hunt for their inner treasures,then seek ways to harness them and if pursuing a higher degree is the way, they should push for it. Otherwise, they can work with what’s available to them at the moment while still aiming for higher education.

FNA: What will you advice young nurses who plan to go into entrepreneurship?
Julie Mogbo: Please and please, we need to beware of how we go about be coming entrepreneurs.

Be sure it is what you want to do and how just because one motivational speaker said you could sack your employer… Don’t be deceived.

It’s sad that the quick fix syndrome is eating deep into the very fabric of our youthfulness. Many don’t want to learn the ropes anymore! Things don’t happen lime that.

If you want to become an entrepreneur, please seek knowledge and skills and be ready to pay whatever price has to be paid in order to become a successful business person.

FNA: Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
Julie Mogbo: The journey of my next five years have already begun.

So, at the end of it, I would have visited a minimum of five countries, attended at least 5 International Conferences, authored at least ten audio, video and printed books and added more professional feathers to my academic hat. I like keeping my goals simple… Lol… I might achieve all these and more before the set time though..

FNA: What has been your greatest challenges in your nursing career?
Julie Mogbo: Getting nurses to believe and pay for their professional and personal development. Like I said earlier, challenges for me are opportunities. So, this and more are already being tackled.

FNA: How do you manage media and digital space for your business?
Julie Mogbo: For now, I update my status with some of my work… I must say it’s not been easy.

However, identifying my audience on each social media platform has been helpful. I am considering getting a digital assistant to help me with that… Lol.. I need to have time for myself and family..

FNA: Where do you see nursing in Nigeria in the next 5 years?
Julie Mogbo: Ten years ago, I saw nursing where it is now.

So in the next five years, nurse who still run with a fixated mindset might have a lot of regrets. While the open minded nurses would be thankful for it.

I see nursing advancing in many areas: nurses would become more tech savvy, there will be more nurse speakers, our training and academic curricula would change for better and the investment in nursing would increase.

I foresee the Nigerians valuing nursing and nurses more than before.

FNA: What would you advice nurses as regarding thus forthcoming election?
Julie Mogbo: Nurses shouldn’t just fold their hands thinking their votes won’t count. They must act!
If a Nurse doesn’t have a PVC, he or she should influence voters to vote right.

Nursing should get more involved in the healthcare development of the people especially at the grassroots level. If our healthcare policies must improve and be sustainable, then Nurses must desire to take up political assignments.

FNA: How do you think nurses can curb the stereotypical attitude the media attribute to us?
Julie Mogbo: In order to change the public perception of Nurses and their functions, nurses need to show them their worth!
Who do we expect to educate the public about us if not ourselves?
We can’t keep living in history when nurses don’t appear in lime light. Those days are gone and buried! Nurses need to constantly be in the eye of the people, that way we inform and educate the public on our competence, functions and capabilities.

What stops a Nurse from utilizing social media to give periodic health talks or run a live video show? Let us make use of technology to project a positive image of the profession and see the outcome in no distant future.

FNA: How do you create time for your family?
A lot of men complain that female nurses are always busy with work, how do you balance your work with your family?
Julie Mogbo: First of all, men and women need to understand what family is. The Family is meant to be tended to be both man and woman and not just the woman alone.

Generally, I advise couples to sit and design what works for them because there’s no blanket response to the above question.

Being busy isn’t exclusive to female Nurses. No family person, man or woman, nurse or not should be too busy for the family.

There is a reason there are two main people in the family, that’s because they have their individual essence to bring to bear. Please, this has nothing to do with the money being brought to the table.

As for me, I have a highly supportive family. Also, I designed a systems which empowers my children to take responsibility that’s Age appropriate.

In addition to my response above, I chose my line of work in order to have time for family because I am passionate about families which shows in my profession as well.

I would counsel families to sit down and work with the strengths and weaknesses inherent in that circle in order to avoid lack of fulfillment and care fatigue.

FNA: Your final words
Julie Mogbo: Nursing is the most lucrative profession I know.

It has enough wings to take you to any desired destination. Our dear profession is like an eagle meant for the skies, let’s not cage her with complexes, rigidity and myopic thought processes. Let’s not make nursing seem like a mediocre profession by not building capacity, becoming visible and taking responsibility.

Did you enjoy your read?

Remember to vote wisely this election.

Olayemi Adeola,

FNA News Correspondent.