My nursing career began 7 years ago at SSM on Medical Oncology Unit. I was certified in Chemotherapy and Wound Care. Although there were thirty staff nurses, only two of us were certified in wound care and five were chemotherapy certified. Besides caring for my medical-surgical patients, I was also responsible for administering chemotherapy and monitoring cancer patients as well as assessing, documenting, and recommend the appropriate treatments for different types of types of wounds, including surgical openings, ulcers, bed sores, feeding tube sites, and abscesses. I gained a diverse range of clinical skills in Emergency Department, Cardiology, Neurosurgery, and Orthopedic Surgery as floating was a staff nurse's requirement. Every nursing …show more content…
I have been restlessly questioning if our team has done everything possible to produce a long-lasting outcome for our patient population. I have been making many positive impacts on individual levels but how can I expand my spheres of influences to a population level? I find this question is intellectually challenging and pursuing the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) will be the pragmatic solution. As PMHNP, I will be equipped to bring a more holistic approach to prove the best comprehensive care rather than addressing a " current primary complaint" of a more complex problem. On a personal and professional level, I fiercely believed that mental illness and addiction are family's disease. One suffers, the rest suffer and I am motivated to cultivate a better understanding of mental health and to embrace a culture of kindness and empathy for those who suffer and their loved ones. The autonomy, prescriptive authority, diagnostic ability and psychotherapy skills that I gain from Maryville's Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner program will empower me to bring compassion and empathy back to the art of
Never has it been more critical to provide high quality care in the hospital while being cost effective. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2005) has created the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) role to introduce lateral integration of care for specified groups by creatively and intentionally using a variety of health care resources (AACN, 2005). The CNL’s purpose is to aid in various departments of the health care system including the psychiatric department. Although there is continuous tension between medical care and psychiatric care and choosing which is more important for a patient, the Clinical Nurse Leader is intended to bridge the gap between the two.
Stuart, G. W. (2009). Principles and Practice of Psychiatric Nursing (9th ed. pp 561). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Mosby.
Approximately 15% of all physicians will be impaired at some time in their careers and will be unable to meet professional responsibilities because of mental illness, alcoholism or drug dependency (Boisaubin and Levine, 2001). Thus, the issue of addressing physician burnout, depression and suicide is even more pressing. Physicians do not need to suffer silently. In fact, physician-patients may be more effective and competent caregivers and healers if they recognize their own vulnerabilities. Only then will they be able to truly emphasize with their patients’ suffering.
These children had the worst histories I have seen in mental health nursing. The opportunity to work with this population was the most difficult and honorable thing I have done in my life. Part of my goal as a nurse practitioner will be to work with the underserved and difficult populations that others are not willing to work with. The next four years I spent floating around seven different units at CenterPointe Hospital. Some of the units include adult detox unit, geriatrics, acute adult, chemical dependency residential programs, and adolescent units. Child and adolescents are my passion but working with dual diagnosis, acute adults and geriatric/dementia populations gave me a well-rounded experience. I have also worked the last 3 years PRN as an eating disorder nurse. This vast experience working with every psychiatric population has taught me much about psychiatric disorders and provided me with balanced work history. In addition, I have worked as charge nurse of these units and gained leadership skills. I intent to use the experience and knowledge from my nursing career to help me assess, diagnose and treat, as a nurse
Hinkle, Janice L, Cheever, Kerry H. (2014). Brunner &Suddarth’s textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing. Philadelphia: Wolters Kuwer/Lippincott Williams &Wilkins.
This article was written by several well educated professionals in the nursing field. The article appears in a peer reviewed nursing journal that covers topics in psychiatric and mental health nursing that has a 37-year history. The sources history, along with the use of various references from other professional sources establish the journal entries
This lecture is beneficial for students interested in a career in health care. Patients with mental and substance abuse disorders may die sooner than the average person from untreated and preventable chronic illnesses. Patients can benefit from integrated care. It’s considered the most effective approach to caring for people with multiple healthcare needs. From Dr. Rodriguez’s lecture, I learned the different levels of care. I learned that the need of the patient will determine their individual level of care. I also learned that integrated care basically means that our community must have behavioral health services within primary care settings. Clinical psychologists like Dr. Rodriguez, usually don’t work alone. They work alongside other behavioral and medical fields. Working together as a team is crucial. I also learned some of the body reactions when experiencing a high level of stress. During a stressful event, a person may have an increase of blood pressure, and muscle tension. Soon after a stressful event, a person’s pulse will start to
During her early career she has practiced as a psychiatric nurse in acute care and in community settings. She is faculty member in department of Nursing at the California State University at Los Angeles, professor
I joined the unit council and I’ve participated in the clinical ladder program at my facility. I believe all of these accomplishments will aid in progressing to the next level. I strive to have several experiences under my belt and I would like to be viewed as a hot commodity within the nursing field so in addition to hospital setting nursing I work part-time at a prison and a nursing home. The extra money helps pay for school and I plan to continue my education ever further. In addition to basic life support I am also certified in advance cardiovascular life support. I believe that I have some qualities of a proficient level nurse already. When caring for my patients I always go with my instinct. There have been numerous times that I’ve assessed patients and I couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong but I utilized my resources for a second opinion. I would have my charge nurse or department based educator step in to assess and give me their opinion as well. These patients were slowly deteriorating and I was able to get them the adequate help they
As a medical / surgical RN, I provided care for the elderly, the infirm, the mentally challenged, the young, and the psychologically disturbed. The wide variety of patients exposed me to the effects of life style choices, health care choices, and the resulting impacts to the patient as well as to the family of the patient. This experience has fully matured my view of the awesome responsibility that we, as health care professionals, have been charged with, and it has furthered my desire to obtain the skills necessary to provide more advanced care for my patients. In addition to exposure, maturity and experience, my career as a medical / surgical RN has also sharpened my critical thinking abilities and provided insight on observing signs and symptoms that a patient may be unware of. Furthermore, as a charge nurse I learned the importance of collaborating with other health care professionals in order to provide the highest level of care available. In summary, my career as an RN has provided valuable experience, maturity, exposure to impact and outcome, enhanced my critical thinking abilities, and improved my collaboration
The opportunity to expand and refine my nursing knowledge has always equated to me attending the University of Alabama School of Nursing’s masters program. With their master’s degree programs earning the number one spot for Top 50 Best Value, the quality of the programs is undeniable. I selected to apply to the psychiatric mental health track because during my undergraduate studies, I realized this was a career worthy study. My brother was diagnosed with bipolar/schizophrenia at fifteen, and I always questioned his lack of motivation and self-care abilities. It was not until taking the Concepts of Behavioral Health Nursing, that I realized the existence of positive and negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia, and that apathy and learning disabilities were just as much a part of my brother’s illness as hallucinations or delusions. According to Akiko (2004) “Severity of negative symptoms was significantly associated with worse performance on attention/working memory,”(p. 750). With this
I am interested in pursuing the DNP program because I believe it will give me autonomy in my practice and professional fulfillment that comes from achieving one’s set goals academically. I also currently believe an unprecedented need for professional psychiatry/mental health nurse practitioners exists in our society today. This essay will touch on three different experiences drawing from previous nursing coursework, experience as a practicing nurse and experiences that demonstrate my greatest strengths.
Ever since I was in middle school I dreamed of working in the medical field. I realized nursing was the profession for me when my grandfather became terribly sick with lung cancer during my freshman year of high school. It puzzled me that one of the healthiest and most physically active people I knew could be afflicted by such a damaging disease. After watching my grandfather’s suffering and the pain my entire family felt from his death, I knew I wanted to go into a field to help others that are facing the same challenges. This is when I discovered all of the opportunities that a career in nursing could offer me.
Davenport, Joan M., Stacy Estridge, and Dolores M. Zygmont. Medical-surgical nursing. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008, 66-88.
The medical field is filled with many rewarding jobs and one of those jobs is being a nurse: the job of taking care of people who are sick, injured, or old. Seems like a pretty easy task doesn’t it? Nursing takes time and skill to learn, but a lifetime to perfect it to the best ability anyone can. Being a nurse is one of the