Reflection
Reflection
What originally brought me into nursing? I was working with animals both in rescue and managing a pet store. I thought I wanted my career to be with animals, but I was wrong. I tried a few different things like pet grooming, once I completed the schooling and started working as I groomer I realized I didn’t enjoy it at all. I had always thought I would become a veterinarian but felt a little too passionately about animals to be able to handle the situations I would be in. Ive always been fascinated by medicine, and science and when my grandma had her first stroke I was terrified. I knew nothing about how to help her and that’s when I decided I would go back to school to become an RPN. My first placement was in a nursing home and I was to help a patient bath and get dressed and I remember thinking I cant do this, keeping my grandma in mind I powered through. I had many memorable moments in all of my placements that made me start to fall in love with nursing
My first job was in a long term care home in Bowmanville. Upon graduation I felt this would be a great place to start to enhance my assessment skills, knowledge of medication, and time management skills and was I ever right. This job was unique as I got to know all of my residents really well and for some saw their life through until the end. This is also where I became familiar with the rights of the residents. (Residents’ Bill of Rights | OARC – Ontario Association of Residents’ Councils, n.d.) I really loved this job and after a couple of years I felt more confident as a nurse , that’s when I decided it was time to venture into something more challenging.
I started on an Acute medicine unit at Lakeridge Health Oshawa in 2014. This job taught me everything I know about nursing. I learned all large variety of skills, about disease processes and interventions and management for them. On big one bring COPD pathways. “COPD is an inflammatory condition involving the airways, lung parenchyma, and pulmonary vasculature.” (Agarwal et al., 2023 pg 1)This job is where I really fell in love with Nursing. I had planned to go back to school to bridge for my RN but I got some comfortable on this unit I stayed put. When I was on my second maternity leave we got the news that our unit was no longer funded and would be switching to ALC unit. I was going to be forced into another unit of the hospital and this was really the time I decided going back to school was the right decision. My dream has always been to work in the NICU and I need to complete my Bachelors of Science in Nursing to obtain that. This is why I am here now, to be able to follow that dream job and hopefully continue there until I retire.
Entering this program after being a practicing RPN for 11 years has been challenging. Nursing is an every changing profession. (Specchia et al., 2021) I have already learned a lot of new things nearing the end of this first semester, one bring leadership is a very large role as an RN, both bedside and management roles as well as teaching and educating. (Astle et al., 2024, pg 177). I feel confident after the completion of this program I will be an educated, more skilled and competent nurse.
References
Residents’ Bill of Rights | OARC – Ontario Association of Residents’ Councils. (n.d.). Www.ontarc.com. https://www.ontarc.com/residents-bill-of-rights.html
Astle, B. J., Duggleby, W., Potter, P. A., Anne Griffin Perry, Stockert, P. A., & Hall, A. (2024). Potter and Perry’s Canadian fundamentals of nursing (7th ed.). Elsevier Health Sciences.
Specchia, M. L., Cozzolino, M. R., Carini, E., Di Pilla, A., Galletti, C., Ricciardi, W., & Damiani, G. (2021). Leadership Styles and Nurses’ Job satisfaction. Results of a Systematic Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041552
Agarwal, A. K., Raja, A., & Brown, B. D. (2023, August 7). Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). National Library of Medicine; StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559281/