Nursing Reflective Essay

As seen in the story above communication is vital to a successful nurse, and as a result the skills of communication requires lifelong development. Nurses are responsible for communicating to patients of all ages along with their families, licensed nursing assistants, and physicians, as well as the other multidisciplinary teams associated with nursing. This can be extremely challenging at times, but also rewarding when it leads to patient success. Communication is a skill that I have worked hardest on to develop over the past four years. I have always struggled with getting my thoughts and ideas across to others clearly, and in the beginning of my career as a student nurse, I was hesitant to speaking up because of this. My lack of knowledge

I began to feel like more of an asset to the team, rather than an observer. As I gained the confidence and ability to incorporate and integrate the knowledge that I was learning in class, I was able to develop the ability to deliver care on a higher competency level. This translated to higher quality care, safer practice and further incorporation of evidence-based practice into my care. As a result, my ability to advocate for my patients became more effective as I was able to formulate phone calls that were clear and concise as well as page multidisciplinary teams as necessary. During the summer student nurse externship experience at DHMC, I learned how to communicate effectively through progress notes and care plans. This was the first occasion that I was able to practice and develop the skills of writing and communicating through progress notes and care plans. At first, I found this to be difficult and tasking to formulate concise reports of information that should be included in these end of day reports to ensure the congruency of care between the healthcare providers was