Developing as a Future Professional Nurse
What kind of nurse am I becoming? When did I feel most confident? When did I feel least confident? How did I practice integrity and accountability today? What ethical considerations did I notice? What leadership qualities did I observe that stood out to me?
I am working towards becoming a nurse confident in the care I provide while prioritizing client comfort and support. With a background in mental health I feel strongly about continuing my compassion towards each client and their background, feelings, and care in general. While I understand why burnout is so common in nursing careers, I hope to always be able to reflect on what I want to offer clients when I care for them, which is to leave them feeling like someone cared enough about their well-being to truly listen to their concerns, get to know them, and truly understand what they are experiencing.
Today and in general on clinic days throughout our trip I felt most confident when interacting and entertaining the children. I have always enjoyed working with and supporting children so this felt natural, even when I could not always fully understand them.
Today I felt least confident at the beginning of the day. I think this was common for me during this trip as I felt unsure of what the day would hold. Today I was a part of the triage team, which meant I spent the day collecting vital signs for each of the clients who came through clinic. I am confident in my ability to collect vital signs, but with being newer to the healthcare field than many of my peers I was concerned with my ability to keep up with the number of people we needed to get through. As time went on this improved quickly. I realized that even with the language barrier I was able to communicate to the clients enough to complete many vital signs and help our team complete our tasks. Once I was done in triage I was able to spend time with the children from the community of Toza and it was a refreshing change in my day.
I think I practiced integrity and accountability today by continuing to help throughout our clinic once my group was complete with our tasks. I remained active and tried to offer assistance as much as possible. I also asked questions if I had concerns at all, like when I had very high blood pressure readings.
Some ethical considerations I noticed today include how the children reacted to conversations and items they saw today. Many of the children were more social today with lots of curiosity about our lives, habits, and items. Each and every time they got so excited about learning something new, seeing, or trying something new it was yet another reminder that the lives they live vary so much from ours. Especially in terms of materialistic items, the children here are used to living with only necessities. At home, it is not uncommon to see children carrying around electronics and gadgets of their own while they have overflowing toy boxes at home full of toys that are rarely touched. I also think it was interesting noticing that they have different ranges when looking for hypertension, and just the difference in their outlook on general health in what they should be concerned about and what they seem to not be concerned with.
A leadership quality I noticed today was growth. Our group as a whole showed growth in our knowledge and abilities to set up and provide the clinic for the community. I also specifically saw growth in myself through confidence and growth in many of my peers as we navigated challenges, completed work outside of our comfort zones, and completed impactful work alongside one another.
You all did amazing this day interacting with the kids and answering their questions, they loved that you tried hard and even used the google translate to help when needed. I can see you have an empathetic heart and it will serve you well in nursing.
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