Personal Narrative: My Clinical Skills As A New Graduate Nurse

Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, once said, “I attribute my success to this:—I never gave or took an excuse.” That is an outlook on life I try to live up to. I have had a few set backs in my college career to keep me from achieving my goal of becoming a Registered Nurse. I could have easily given up on my dream but I took those hardships and turned them into fuel to keep going. My father suffered a massive heart attack and went into cardiac arrest when I first started college. It completely flipped by life upside down. I spent weeks at a time in the hospital with him. Seeing him go in and out the hospital for years reaffirmed my need to become a nurse and help others like how those nurses took care of my father. Once I

In five years my life will be completely different than it is now. I'll be around twenty three years old just starting my job as an RN nurse probably in the emergency department, hopefully for the kids. To get here, though I would need my bachelors in science and nursing not an associate since, associate degrees aren't as common in nursing anymore then like they are used to be. The jobs along the way will not be fun for the first couple years is going to be nothing but pushing dead bodies around, probably butt wiping people who can't anymore, and from my dad caring body parts that fell off from whatever. I'll hate most of it, but to get where I want i will endure all of the pain and suck it up because I am going to one day be a pediatrician.

Initially I was very apprehensive in sharing the truth behind what ultimately made me decide to return to school to become a nurse. This would entail reliving both joyful and painful memories of my life which I believe to have mapped out the path that I was meant to follow. I was a young, stay at home mom for many years. being the full time primary care giver to my three children was the most rewarding experience of my life. reflecting back I have found remarkable similarities in the traits and skills of mothers and nurses. many of these characteristics are utilized by nurses with each and every patient they encounter . These include but are not limited to compassion , empathy, prioritization, dedication, understanding nonverbal communication.

When every girl in your family becomes a nurse, choosing a career can be quite pressuring, especially when you can never imagine yourself becoming a nurse. Nurses remind me of blood, and I am definitely not the type of person to be working with blood. Therefore, I am not very interested in becoming a nurse. Nurses are here to aid people when they are sick. There are tons of different types of nurses. Two specific ones are RN and BSN. A RN is a registered nurse while a BSN is a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Although both jobs will take part in treating a patient, the BSN will have a leader role while the RN helps.

It was very challenging to do much of anything because my body was so weak from the hit and from being on medication. I was not put on a catheter, so anytime I needed to use the restroom I had to wait for a nurse to come to my room and put a bedpan under me. It was a very uncomfortable situation because I don’t even change or use the restroom in front of my dog and now these people, who are complete strangers, are watching me while I use the restroom. My last day at the hospital was very hard. I had to go to physical therapy, where I had to hop up several steps only using my left leg and railing to help me. It may not seem like it was hard but when your body is so weak it is. When the nurses brought in the crutches for me to use I was so weak

Throughout my time as a registered nurse I have experienced many obstacles and heavy workloads.

I’ve been through a lot of changes throughout these years. My hair has changed from curly to straight and it’s color has changed multiple times, I have got braces and teeth have gotten straighter. I have gotten more mature over the years and my body has grown. What I want to do in the future has changed too. When I was younger I wanted to be a doctor. Then I wanted to work with animals, and wanted to go into the army. Now I’m set on becoming a nurse. I am going to be going to college for this. I will learn everything I need to know about being a nurse, get whatever degrees I need to get, and just go from there to become a nurse.

I have demonstrated the ability to follow the nursing process, including assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation during my first-year clinical placement and outside medical care facility settings. I applied the skill of nursing process when taking care of my family members. When my family was packing up our stuff and ready for home from camping at the Nitmiluk National park, my cousin who had always appeared healthy suddenly did not feel good. She said she had a terrible headache, chills and feeble. She was getting more stressed when everyone was panicking, crowding around her and asked how she was. As someone who had more understanding of medical care than the rest, I decided to step forward and used the knowledge to give care for her accordingly with the nursing process.

I sit here, thinking about my life and all of my memories, looking at a blank page, wondering where to begin.

Having strong leadership sets the stage for nurse development; starts in the clinical learning environment during your nursing program, with your preceptor. During one of my medical-surgical rotations in nursing school, my preceptor gave me three patients. Meanwhile, my classmates had only two patients. All three of my patients had numerous IV medications. My preceptor new that, IV administration was my nemesis. I had to decide if I was going to sink or swim. I decided that I was going to go for the gold. My preceptor gave me the autonomy to make decisions, but, if she felt that I was making an unsafe decision. She would lead me in the correct direction, by asking me questions. Making me think critically about the situation. Helped me see the

As I am a domestic student in my final trimester of my Bachelor of Nursing from Griffith University, I would like to apply for Queensland Health Graduate Nurse and Midwife Program 2018 intake. I am a highly motivated and enthusiastic candidate with all the skills necessary to join this program and contribute to holistic patient care.

As I progress through my clinical, I am feeling more confident interacting with patients as I conduct history taking and assessments. I am getting quicker and my history taking and assessment have improved. The process of adhering to, learning from, and following the guidelines will help me as I transition to practice as a nurse practitioner.

The nurse gestured for me to come closer. I took a few steps forward and she leaned towards me and whispered, “Try holding her hand. You’ll help her feel more at ease.” I was a little hesitant but I did as I was told and took the patient’s hand. I felt her hand mold into a strong grip around mine without hesitation. While the patient’s grip never lessened on my hand, sometimes it would clench up for a moment before slowly relaxing again. The rest of the staff was busy following the surgeon’s directions, moving quickly around the room. I felt uncomfortable being the only one standing still, doing nothing. So I glanced at the patient. She was breathing hard with her eyes closed, her hand still securely around mine. My hand was starting to hurt, so I tried to ease it out of her grip. But as the patient winced in pain, she grabbed my hand even more strongly.

It took all that I had not to empty my stomach onto the floor right then and there. I knew what I was getting into, volunteering to be a nurse in this war. I knew all the hardships a nurse could face. I knew I had the possibility of seeing friends and family members in the hospital tents. What I didn’t know was how much I would see the first day. I’m not a squeamish person, but then again, I’ve never been around this much of the crimson liquid that flows through our veins. I’ve also never been around this many people. It was a wonder that all these tents could fit up to one thousand beds. It was even more tragic that all of the beds were filled every day.

Before entering the Lehman College Nursing program., my motives for becoming a nurse wasn’t always been as set in place as they are now. Knowing full well that my decision to enter the nursing field was one I was not entirely certain of, I decided to embark on the journey nonetheless. During my first year of study at Lehman College I was kept very busy trying to juggle all of my courses and at the same time decide if this was indeed the program for me. When I entered the Lehman College nursing program, after getting to know my teachers, their expectations of me, as well as starting into the clinical experience, I discovered that I seemed to fit in very well into the program. Not only was I doing well in the academic aspect of the nursing program