Throughout this course we have learned many things including theories from the humanities and natural behavioral sciences to examine health alterations in the aging adult from a holistic caring framework, how to deliver safe nursing care to the gaining population, ethical moral and legal issues relevant in the care of older adults and more. One of our assignments was to watch a video from an individual’s perspective that has a terminal illness and is going through the dying process. This video and reflection after words was very eye opening to see what many people experience during the end stage of their life.
Throughout this class we learned many changes that occur through the adult life. These changes can be related to sexual changes, physical changes and mental changes. Using these changes that we have learned we can provide a better experience to the elder population. For example, medications have a larger negative effect on the geriatric population. This can be to many difference aspects including decrease in excretion, decrease in absorption, alteration in hormones, decrease elasticity and more. In addition to learning this new knowledge, we learned how to apply this information and how important this knowledge is to conduct a medication reconciliation to help promote safe care to all individuals of the elder population. A medication reconciliation is when a health care provider looks at a list of medications the client is on to determine if the medication has any interactions with other medication or are cause the patient to have adverse reactions.
It was a real eye opener so see how all these physical changes can be so hindering on some individual’s lives while other individuals thrive during this portion of their life. Many people see aging as a negative aspect of life, however through this class it stressed that it is a normal part of life and how nurses can help patients realize this aspect of aging. I was home health aide and took care of many elder patients, in my career, however the class prepared me to take of these patients and help them cope with illness and the natural changes of aging.
Nursing is one of the most trusted professions in the United States and around the world. Watching the documentary Nurses: If Florence Could See Us Now reassured me why I want to become a nurse. I know that being a nurse will be hard and will have its ups and down but it will all be worth it. Just knowing that you have the opportunity to help every patient you come in contact with will be what drives me every day. To have the opportunity to help individuals at their lowest point, if they were just in a motor vehicle accident or educating them on their new medication is why I want to be a nurse. Many people question why I want to specialize in emergency pediatrics, because I could see children die or not wake up but that is not how I see it. The documentary explained it perfectly explaining that nurses may see death and want to forget about those patients, but those patients make you better nurses. We can learn from each individual patient to help future patients.
I unfortunately did not have the same preceptorship experience that my fellow classmates had due to COVID. I had to jump through many hoops and I did my preceptorship online and in person simulations and persevered for my 135 hours. Completing these hours in many different ways has been one of the hardest challenges that I have faced at UNE. I had to miss out of most of my Christmas break to do simulations. I had the great opportunity to volunteer at the student health center as well to fill more of those required hours. I persevered through all those hours and keep my mind focused to have a better future.
I plan to have an appointment with career services at UNE to organize my skills and achievements on a resume. I have had multiple job experiences related to children which is a priority for wanting to specialize in emergency pediatrics. I personally believe that the University of New England had prepared us with many skills such as extracurricular activities, teamwork and communication, through all of our different classes. We have participated in many group projects that taught us teamwork and communication working with classmates. I have also participated in club softball at UNE that has taught me teamwork and time management to balance both school and obligations to the team.
After three and a half years it is unreal to me that we will be graduating. We all have come so far since we started nursing school in 2017. There has been many ups and downs throughout the few years at UNE, COVID being number one. In about four months we will be graduating and the real work begins. I am excited to wake up every day after graduation knowing that as a nurse I will be helping people everyday. Knowing that I could bring hope, help, respect, kindness and much more every day is what I am excited for. But facing the real world is a different story. In high school I only had a class of 86 students and in college only have about 68 people in my nursing class. Knowing that I spent 17 years of my life in school and only knowing 154 people is scary and how many more people we will get to know. There is always the fact of the unknown that every people will have to face, not knowing if you will graduate, not knowing if you will find a job, not knowing where you will end up, which is terrifying and exciting at the same time. After taking the NCLEX and graduation I am already planning a trip across the United States, I am excited to see new places, hike, and see many national parks, but also spending time with friends and family. My celebration will most likely be a small group of my close friends and family but it would have been very different if there was no COVID. I would have had a large party with extended friends and family because my sister is also graduating from high school, and it is my parents 25th wedding anniversary.
I have also been a well organized person in the beginning of the semester. I print out all the calendars in the syllabus, write all the dates in my planner, color code homework for different classes and more, but my problem is keeping up with the organization. On the weekends as well I plan what I want to do in my head to prepare for the coming week, but I seem to get distracted and never complete the amount of work I actually want to. It seems I want to spend time with my roommates due to the fact that I will miss that after we all graduate. To help me stay on track I want to make a SMART goal every day, to evaluate and accomplish what I need to each day. For example; today my goal was to finish this eportfolio post, resubmit my simulation, and an ATI test by 1700. By knowing exactly want I want to accomplish today I know my reward will be handing out with friends and having dinner after 1700 which will help me stay motivated to accomplish my work. In addition by making a SMART goal each day I not overwhelming my self to ensure each goal is achievable.
We completed four NurseLogic 2.0 lessons on ATI which included Knowledge and Clinical Judgement, Nursing Concepts, Priority Setting Frameworks and Testing and Remediation. The one I learned the most form was Testing and Remediation. In this section we learned about preparing for faculty-developed tests, preparing for standardized tests, critically reading test items, test taking strategies and much more. This section helped me a lot because taking tests is what I struggle with the most. I understand the information during class, and how to apply it in a real life situation but when it comes to tests I read too much into the question. When answering multiple choice question on the next exam I plan on trying +,-, and ? strategy. Placing either a +,-, or ? next to the answer provided. + meaning a probable answer, – definitely incorrect, and ? a possible correct answer. This will ensure I eliminate answers to have better odds. This is one of the many tips I learned through these ATI lessons, and I will have to try more of the strategies present.
These two pictures above is the pamphlet Kelly, Emily and I created to discuss the important points related to catheter-associated urinary tract infections. We used Canva a online website that provided a templet for a folding pamphlet. This website also allowed us to all work on in together in different locations. We all worked very well together to complete this project but, it was hard to cut down the information we had in our paper. We wanted to have concise and minimal information to not overwhelm the reader. With the limited about of time nurses have on their shift, we wanted to ensure they got all the important information to prevent CAUTI but we did not want to have a lengthy poster that nurses would just walk by. By providing a pamphlet it also would allow nurses to take them home to read at a later time or at their earliest convenience. Emily did most of the design for the pamphlet, but she wanted have a vibrate format to draw nurses and CNA’s in and want to read this information. By providing background facts, it allowed nurses to gain general information and to increase the awareness of CAUTIs. By giving a few important steps for maintaining the use of catheters it made this pamphlet appropriate for other health care professionals. We all felt it was important to include the steps of the sterile technique due to the fact that contamination is the main cause of CAUTIs. By breaking it down into 8 steps, it will hopefully simplify the sterile technique. This project was very difficult due to COVID. At the end of the semester I was in quarantine and in person class were finished. This presented a problem because we could not talk in person and share our ideas as easy as before. Being in quarantine for two weeks made it very difficult to communicate. I did email the educator but did not receive an answer.
This project design is decrease urinary tract infections due to catheters placed by health care providers. Kelly Aube, Emily Gebow and I choose this education point because being on dialysis and urinary floor we see many catheters to help with urination. By collecting evidence from other resources we plan to inform nursing on our floor on the proper use of the sterile and ways to reduce the occurrence. Before researching this topic I knew that we use the sterile technique to deduce the exposure to bacteria and other microorganisms, but I did not realize the magnitude of the problem. 40% of all hospital-acquired infections are due to urinary tract infection, while 80% of these urinary tract infections are due to indwelling catheters. The three of us have worked well together designing and planing this dissemination project. We all gathered at least one source that would be useful for the discussion and the project we choose to focus on. In addition, we used google docs to allow all of us to edit and add different aspects of the outline. We all divided the work up evenly and we all read each others parts to ensure it was an explain of our hard work. I cannot wait to work with these people moving forward on this project.
Everyone has a different definition for empathy and compassion. The dictionary describes empathy as “the psychological identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts or attitudes of another” (Empathy, 2019). This definition summarizes empathy well, however, I believe empathy is best portrayed through actions. Compassion is said to be, “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering”(Compassion, 2019). Compassion in my eyes is the feeling of misery and/or sympathy towards what an individual is experiencing. Jean Watson describes ten different factors to achieve love/heart-centered care into practice (Cara, 2003). The four factors that stood out to me that demonstrate empathy and compassion where the first, second, fifth and eighth factors.
The first factor is, “practicing loving-kindness and equanimity within context of caring consciousness” (Cara, 2003). Personally, I never thought of having to practice kindness, I assumed it was something an individual was born with. It is apparent that everyone has the capacity to be kind however, you must practice demonstrating it. Practicing acts of kindness can help the nurse and the client connect, creating a bond that can lead to empathy.
The second factor is, “being authentically present and enabling and sustaining the deep belief system and subjective life world of self and one-being cared for” (Cara, 2003). This factor details why you need to know yourself before you put a patient needs in your own hands. In addition, it is important to listen to your patient as well as be there for the client no matter the circumstance. This is a demonstration of compassion because acts of responsiveness and holding steady presence with a client could save a life.
The fifth factor states, “being present to, and supportive of the expression of positive and negative feelings” (Cara,2003). As a nurse you will have been there through good times; like having a healthy baby; or negative times; when a patient gets a difficult diagnosis. No matter the circumstance, good or bad nurses will demonstrate compassion by being present for their client.
In my opinion the eighth factor was the most important one. Stating, “creating healing environment at all levels, whereby wholeness, beauty, comfort, dignity and peace are potentiated” (Cara, 2003). This factor exemplifies both empathy and compassion, it is vital to have a connection with your patient that is wholesome, beautiful, comfortable and peaceful. Linda Aiken explains in, “Effects of Hospital Care Environment on Patient Mortality and Nurse Outcomes”how a positive experience can lower the risks of death and failure in a patient’s outcome. Empathy and compassion are both fundamental factors in leading to a positive experience and a better outcome in any health profession.
Event
Many nurses in today’s society want to get in and out of patients room as fast as possible. The quicker the conversation the less work that has to be done. Nurses have many tasks that they have to accomplish in one shift, some of which include; assessing, planning, implementing the plan, giving medication, etc. For example, for each medication that is order you have to follow it up with three individual checks. The three checks occur once when you check the order, then when you pull the medication out of the drawer and finally one more, before you give it to the patient (Taylor, 2019). Many of these tasks challenge the nurse and patient relationship. This is an experience that has challenged me firsthand. I was given a patient at New England Rehab where my job involved hours of communication with the client. This particular client was receiving a difficult diagnosis of a spinal injury that would result in being restricted by a back brace. Another challenge this patient was facing was the overwhelming of multiple different health professions coming in and out of the room. While many other nurses and certified nursing assistants were busy performing other important tasks, I was left with the opportunity to sit and talk with my client one on one. During our long talk we discussed how she was feeling overwhelmed being in rehab and her diagnosis. We discussed how life in a back brace would be challenging and different from what she had known. We came up with adaptations and created a plan to help ease these challenged when she was home. Throughout this portion of the conversation I did not say much, the client just wanted a friendly ear to listen to her. In order to get her mind off the difficult subject she asked me questions about school and how it was going. After talking about my school life for a while she changed the topic to food, and how she was unhappy with the products in the rehab facility. The patient informed me on how to make spaghetti squash and some of her other favorite recipes. After the conversation went on for a while she had to use the bathroom. I helped her out of her wheelchair and to the bathroom, the next task of the day was dinner. Dinner was unsatisfactory for her but a few minutes later her daughter came in with spaghetti squash and my shift came to an end. These little events of kindness changed the mood of the patient immensely, which would increase her health in the long run This act of lending a friendly ear demonstrates empathy and compassion, by focusing all attention on one client.
Self Reflection
My role for this event was to lend a friendly ear for a patient in distress. Even though she was not in a life threatening event, she was having a difficult time. Personal experience has taught me that if you are in emotional distress, your physical well-being will take longer to improve. Sarah Stweart-Brown, explains in her article that emotional wellbeing is directly linked to physical disease (Stweart-Brown, 1998). One lesson I learned from this experience is that the little things in life are sometimes the ones that matter the most, even in patient healing. Even though work will get hectic at times, it goes a long way to sit and talk to clients. I will incorporate this caring behavior in my everyday clinical care, because lending an ear can teach you a lot. It can teach you what the patient is going through physically and mentally. It can teach you about the patients past experience which will help make a good nurse to patient connection. Making a good nurse to patient connection is one of the most important things to be a successful nurse.
References
Aiken, L. H., Clarke, S. P., Sloane, D. M., Lake, E. T., & Cheney, T. (2008). Effects of hospital
care environment on patient mortality and nurse outcomes. The Journal of nursing
This sculpture is The Vietnam Women’s Memorial on National Mall in Washington DC. This amazing sculpture illustrates three women in uniform helping a wounded soldier during the war. Most of the women in the Vietnam War were nurses. I wanted to focus on this piece of art because I have great respect for the men and women who serviced our country and it is one of the many reasons I want to become a nurse. I want to be there for patients during their greatest time of need. This sculpture also demonstrates how nurses are willing to lay down their life to save someone else. In addition this depicts, how nurses can work and function under pressure no matter the circumstances. This sculpture demonstrates how nurses are kind, willing, smart, courageous, empathetic, everything I strive to be as a person in life. For my carrier I want to focus on emergency nursing, like the emergency room, flight nursing or a nurse in the air force.
Throughout this class we have learned many different strategies for writing. My favorite active reading strategy is to make comments on the readings. I make stars next to all the words I need to look up or do not know. I also make comments that come to mind when reading. Like any self-to-text and text-to-text connections. My favorite brainstorming strategy is to read the prompt and make any comments or ideas I have. After that I enjoy making a list of all the important points I want make in my essay. If there are two texts I have to connect I make a two lists with important topics for each text and draw lines connecting the ideas. My favorite drafting strategy to create a thesis and claim sentences then fill in the rest of the essay. This strategy allows me to make sure all my claim sentences relate to my thesis. My favorite revision strategy is to go back to my list I created during brainstorming, to make sure I was not missing any essential parts of my argument or information. I also think it is helpful to go through my essay and read it out loud so I can pick up any words or sentences that do not sound right. While reading my paper out loud I also try to go through every sentence to make sure it clearly states what I want it to. My favorite polishing strategy is to use the templates from They Say I Say. I really enjoy using a naysayer template to make sure I argue the other side of the argument.
I really enjoyed reading my peering essays and comments it showed me what I should add to my essay. My peers said that my essay had a nice flow and a a well stated thesis. But I have a alot of editing to do with sentence structure. I plain going sentence by sentence and reading it out-loud to make sure each sentence makes sense by it self. I also plain to go back through my outline to make sure I did not miss any important points I wanted in my essay. In addition I failed to mention the video we watched in class called “What is Art For”. I wanted to add a few quotes form the video because it has many good pointing relating my topic. One of my biggest challenges in my essay will be sentence structure to make sure all my sentence make sense and have proper structure. My priority for this paper is to reread the essay my self and highlight any of the sentence that I need to focus on while thinking on where I could add a quote or two for the video that we watched in class. I also plain on adding hyperlinks to my essay and another picture. I am plaining on adding a picture of the murals in the hospital that Liv referring to in her project. I also want to add the hyperlinks to my peers projects and my own so the reader can quickly see what i am referring to in my essay.
Part 1: For my essay I will be including audio, visual, and spatial communication. I plan on using my own personal pictures in the essay to portray what my personal experience is with beauty. I would like to add different quotes form different artists all around the world throughout my paper as well, so I will have a spatial communication form incorporated in it. For my audio portion of my essay I will incorporate the video we watched in class called, What is Art For? because my paper will focus on how art and beauty is helpful and important for human nature.
Part 2:
Intro: Art and beauty are important for human nature because it provides escape and teaches you about humanity.
Art keeps us hopeful and can teach us to look towards the future. I would talk about how many people in the military keep picture of there family to look towards the future of going home, and it keeps them hopeful they will return home. (pictures of the military in this paragraph). Also in this paragraph I will explain about my trip to Nicaragua and how hopeful it made me to see people from the US made a organization to help kids in a different country. (Pictures of my personal experience)
Art connects us, it can connect us to the outside would, to other people, and people in the past. This paragraph is where I would talk about Liv’s presentation, and how the children in the hospital us art as an escape from the pain and treatments they have to endure every day. I would us this quote of Liv’s too “The kids get mesmerized by the beautiful bright colors, allowing art to distract them from the pain they are going through everyday.”
Art helps us appreciate stuff. I would explain and give a picture of Vincent Van Gogh’s painting of oranges and the starry night. Just this painting of oranges is so simple but it is very beautiful to me because it teaches us to appreciate the little things in life. I would also explain Emme’s views and ideas about starry night and how it shows how beautiful and peaceful a night sky can be. (Quote about Vincent Van Gogh from Emme’s Ideas)
Art is propaganda for what really matters. I would explain how society views beauty today. But then I would explain how art can demonstrate what really matters in todays world. Providing pictures of nature and talk about Hannah Little’s presentation. (quote form Hannah’s presentation)
I would explain my idea of beauty and art in this paragraph to provide the reader. I believe true beauty comes from within the heart and it provides emotion, but it doesn’t have to be hopeful or happiness it can be sad and looking for something.
Conclusion: In my conclusion I would restate how all these different ideas connects to human nature and brings us back to peaceful times.
