Carol A. Bush chose to become a nurse because of her desire to help people who were ill and who could benefit from her help. Initially, she did not plan to work in the administrative field of nursing, but she trained to be a leader, and her work facilitating the ability of others to do superior nursing has given her many management opportunities and much satisfaction.
Upon her graduation from BYU's nursing program in 1965, Bush was hired as a clinical instructor for BYU undergraduate students and LPN nurses. She also worked at Utah Valley Hospital on the medical, surgical, and OB/GYN floors. After earning a master's degree in 1969 in nursing administration from the University of Colorado, she became a leader, first as assistant, then director of nursing at LDS Hospital.
Significant leadership followed: corporate director of nursing for Intermountain Health Care, assistant vice president of nursing for IHC, chair of the Utah Board of Nursing, and president of the Utah Organization of Nurse Executives.
Bush continues to serve her alma mater as an adjunct professor, a college representative for the BYU Alumni Board and chair of the BYU Nursing Alumni Board. She has also taught at the University of Utah.
She sees the education she received as invaluable. "By earning my nursing degree at BYU", she says, "I received not only an excellent scientific education, but I also gained, at the same time, an awareness of the spiritual component so important in the nursing profession. As my career has played out, I feel that the imp0act of that spiritual component has not only guided me, but has also helped me make decisions in the best interest of those with whom I have associated."