I truly enjoy my interactions with patients, and believe that I can help make their hospital stay easier. I have also learned how adaptable I am in this past year. Every five weeks I was at a new clinical placement, learning where things were and the nursing role. Through working with many great nurses I have developed my own organization format, learned how to prioritize my patients needs. In addition, I pay close attention to detail, and am constantly improving my assessment skills. I also know when I need help with a situation, and am quickly able to find support staff whom I can ask for assistance. I have also found that curiosity can be a real strength in nursing, for it helps me probe into questions until I truly understand the answer. .
4. Who would you identify as a nursing leader or mentor that has influenced your development in nursing, and how will this influence impact you professional nursing career?.
My first ever day of clinical I was petrified as I walked on to the Labor and Delivery floor at PSL. Once I met Vanessa my clinical instructor I was much more at ease. She was very calm, and yet knew an amazing amount about the human body. Vanessa asked us questions that forced us to think things through, and kept probing until we were able to decipher the underlying reason for our answer. Looking back I realize how little I knew, and how scared I was to interact with the patients. Yet, Vanessa was constantly apprising all of us, letting us know that we were too hard on ourselves. I strongly believe that she understood the power she had over us, and how disastrous it would have been had we received harsh criticism. .
I believe that nurses have similar power to help of patients heal. When we show that we care about them as a person and give them respect it has been shown to help improve healing times. Furthermore we have to help them think for themselves, by education about their health problems, and creating plans that will work for them to help improve their health.