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The First Clinical Experience Of A Nurse Essay

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The First Clinical Experience
On an early morning in April, my friends and I arrived 45 minutes early to our long term care facility in Scottsdale, Arizona. The three of us anxiously awaited stepping foot into the care facility as we had no idea what was to come. I began to wonder what the patients would be like and how I would care for them. Consequently, I could feel my heart pounding as I was afraid of hurting the residents and not promoting healing from their ailments. I didn’t know what illnesses or diseases would place individuals in the healthcare unit in the facility. That terrified me. I wanted to know everything I could about the residents prior to stepping foot in the building, but that knowledge wasn’t attainable. While trying to process my fears, I was thinking of the quote from Maya Angelou that says, “As a nurse, we have the opportunity to heal the heart, mind, soul and body of our patients, their families and ourselves. They may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” This lack of knowledge scared me; however, I knew that regardless of what placed the residents on the unit, I would care for them with respect and compassion.
Eventually the time rolled around to walk in the front door, and I was shaking with nerves. My learning community of ten students and our instructor walked into the building, through many hallways, and onto the unit—our first nursing unit. We quietly walked through the center room, which intersected the four

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