Nursing Experience: My Clinical Experience

About 14 years ago, I had transferred from OR nursing to bedside medical surgical nursing. Using Benner’s level of nursing experience (2013), I felt that I had gone from an expert OR nurse to an advanced beginner medical surgical nurse. A seasoned nurse who was my preceptor had shown little affection for teaching me anything. She felt that I should know everything. A 57-year-old patient arrived on our floor after being admitted for a thoracentesis planned for the next day. She was also a dialysis patient with a new AV fistula that appeared infected as the site was very red, warm and edematous.

Nurses play a critical role on patient’s health; the relationship that a nurse and patient develop can in some cases be life altering. Applying these characteristics and being a servant leader to patients establishes life long impressions and makes critical difference in treatment allowing for optimal care to be received. Always listen to patients concerns, be empathetic in their concerns, and help while committing to their personal growth, one never knows whom they are actually a leader for. Some individuals look up to nurses and count

As a nurse, I feel that at many times I am placed in a situation, where I need to use my leadership skills in order to provide efficient care by managing the limited time. According to CNO guideline, leadership is a process of influencing people to achieve common goals. It requires self-awareness and commitment towards profession, ability to delegate, manage time and to communicate effectively within the health care professionals.

This week’s clinical days was very impacted me personally. My first clinical day for this week was the anniversary day that my mother passed away seven years ago. I knew working in a hospital setting will reminded me greatly about my mother’s last stage of her life. I am very much closed to my mother; therefore, it hurts me tremendously thinking about the saddest time of my life spending in the hospital with my ill mother. But at the same time, I knew I have to put my personal feeling aside if I wanted to become a professional nurse. I started my first clinical day with sadness and hoping that I can make a difference in someone else’s life; after all, my mother’s illness journey is the reason that I wanted to become the best nurse I can be;

When I first decided to come to college for nursing after staying in university for three years, I had an argument with my parents because they were not happy with my decision. My parents just wanted me to finish rest of my degree and they thought that it did not make sense to go to college for diploma, and not complete the university degree. However, I just wanted to complete my nursing diploma in the same amount of time that I can finish my degree in the university because I always wanted to be a nurse.

Over the past few decades, the necessity for this relationship between patient and nurse has increased immensely. In recent years, the health-care industry has emphasized on the provision of patient-centered care to generate effective care, to furthermore increase the satisfaction of the patient. The capability to convey patient centered care is recognized as a fundamental characteristic of expert nursing.

I have been a Certified Nurse’s Aide (CNA) for over three years, and through my work experience I thought I knew what a nurse was, and what was expected of them. As I learned more about nursing throughout the semester, I realized that I only had a superficial understanding of all the layers and dynamics that a nurse must routinely practice and consider. Nursing is an unique profession that encompasses many different facets and has changed over time. My understanding and appreciation of the career has increased, and I have learned to dismiss the stereotypes that I unknowingly subscribed to. I no longer say that I want to be “just” a nurse, because I have learned to recognize and admire the professionalism and identity that nursing embodies.

My philosophy of nursing is based on Erickson’s Theory of Modeling and Role-Modeling, which allows me to incorporate the patients’ needs into my plan of care. In order to have an effective and thorough plan of care, I must take the time to get to know the patient. Once I have built a rapport and trusting relationship, I can help meet the patients’ needs by implementing a plan of care with reachable goals. These reachable goals will be set and agreed upon by the nurse and patient. Not only is it important for the nurse and patient to establish individualized reachable goals, but it is important for the nurse to also have goals. The nurse may have personal and professional goals. My goals are to continually find, propose, and implement ways to make the

It takes a while to get to know yourself before you are able to care for another person. Studying oneself is challenging because it allows reflection of one’s inner self, exposing your strengths, weaknesses, vulnerabilities, interests, habits, defenses, and values. On the same note, it allows a person to be more familiar with the challenges he or she faces, how they might respond to certain situations, and offers an opportunity for learning and growth. Throughout this paper, I will discuss the various pieces of myself. I will consider my personal and professional life as a nurse, what I might employ as my mental model, which may limit my frame of thinking, how it has shaped me so far in my education, and how I relate to others.

Nurses need to be educated on meeting the needs of patients more efficiently. Leaders must initiate the Orlando nursing theory model within the unit. When using Orlando’s nursing theory as a framework, nurses can identify their own perceptions, thoughts and feelings about the patient’s behaviors, and validate them with the patient (Potter & Tinker, 2010, p. 41). Leaders must provide staff with confidence and skills needed to identify patient’s immediate needs. Leaders can hold individual conferences with nurses and listen to their opinions and concerns within the unit. Educate staff on meeting the patient’s needs and the nursing process. Listening to the bedside nurses and creating an action plan can help promote patient satisfaction which can propel the unit towards the right

For the duration of this clinical experiences my intentions are to gain experience in leadership and develop those skills by establishing a partnership with R.K. She is currently teaching a leadership development course which I would like to develop a partnership with her and complete a community project.

What is nursing? This a major question that one must consider before dedicating one’s time, money, blood, sweat, and tears. The definition of nursing is different for everyone. Some believe nursing is strictly caring for the patient’s physical injuries. Some people believe that nursing is caring for the patient’s mental health. However, most would agree that nursing is about caring for the patient’s physical, mental, and emotional needs. Due to the fact that everyone as their own opinions, we as a profession must open our minds, explore different nursing theories, and define our own definitions of what nursing is and means to each health care professional.

86-89). According to McCormack & McCance (2010), nurses are within their professional care capacities to deliver patient-centered or person-centered processes. The main components of an effective process include the following: “working with patient’s beliefs and values; engagement; having sympathetic presence; sharing decision-making and providing for physical needs” (p. 89). Since nurses are at the forefront of engagement with the patients in a continuous basis, they are in the best position to address and shape policies not only within their organizations, but also at the national level. However, values in the healthcare industry, relative to guidelines and policies, will only be formed through intelligible advocacy, discussion, debate, collaboration, and influence. Therefore, advancing the nurses’ professional care expertise through interdisciplinary collaboration across the healthcare profession, opportunity for advanced educational programs, and promotion to executive position within an organization is of the best interest in addressing and improving the healthcare system. The intended outcomes will result to a cost-effective, quality, and safer patients’ clinical care.