Final Reflection

I cannot believe that pinning is just around the corner. It feels so unreal. I cannot believe I will be walking down the line for graduation, my goals are slowly being accomplished. Such an amazing feeling. When I came back to the program after taking a break due certain reasons, I was nervous because there was no time to fool around since I would not be getting a second chance. I knew I had to do well. To be very honest, I was also nervous about going into a new cohort and I knew I would miss my old cohort very much; but, everyone in 2015 are very friendly and I felt like I was part of their cohort. I want to state how lucky I am to have been part of two amazing nursing cohorts (2014 and 2015). I enjoyed the supportive and friendly nature of both cohorts. My motivation to finish this semester strong is my son because I want to be able to provide a future for him.

 

Since I haven’t done patient care for over a year, I knew I had to slowly merge into what it meant to be a nurse again. The first day, I made sure I could handle the care of a patient, documentation, and looking at the patient as a whole. I gained some very valuable experiences during the critical care rotation and when I got into the swing of things again, I knew that nursing is what I am meant to do. Not only was I able to practice my nursing skills such as Foley insertion and IV insertion, but I also wanted to assess other aspects of my patients by providing holistic care even just for a day. One of my patient’s thanked me for listening to his story and for not assuming that he was a chronic smoker. This patient had a permanent tracheostomy and people would always asked if he smoked; which was not the case. This clinical rotation enforced therapeutic communication and the importance of just listening even for 10 or 15 minutes. Also, I always told my patients when I would be back to check on them and I stuck by my word. I think it’s very important to assess the patient’s other needs when their physical needs are being met, or assess the physical needs that are not being met outside the home. Our reaction to our patient’s slight physical chance in vital signs, mental status, or other body system changes really do pave the road of recovery for our patient.

 

The assignments provided for critical care were valuable because it allowed you to dive into how you think and how you process the information. We also got to see how our peers would handle the situation. I want to be the type of nurse that provides safe, effective patient-centered care by focusing on my patient as a whole, looking at aspects on them and being mindful of changes in the patient’s status.

 

Overall, this semester has been a great experience. I am really happy about the path I chose to take and the obstacles I had to overcome; I have no regrets. I will truly miss cohort 2015, but I know we will all flourish and become great nurses. Not only were my peers supportive, but all the instructors who helped us grow as nurses and taught us to follow our own path. I want to take all the instructors because they helped us spread our wings and fly; they did all that they could to help us keep our wings from being damaged along the way. The nursing program has become another family for me that I will truly miss.