“Whoa-oa-oa! I feel good, I knew that I would now. I feel good….”. My “I feel good” ringtone woke me up from the depths of slumber during my first night call in internal medicine rotation. My supervising intern instructed me to come to the 4th floor for a patient in distress. Within moments, I scuttled through the hospital hallways and on to the stairs finally arriving short of breath at the nurses’ station. Mr. “Smith”, a 60 year old male with a past medical history of COPD was in respiratory distress. He had been bed bound for the past week due to his severe arthritis and had undergone a right knee replacement surgery the day before. During evening rounds earlier, he had no signs of distress. However, now at 2 AM in the morning, only hours later since rounds, he was minimally responsive. My intern and I quickly obtained the patient’s ABG measurements and subsequently initiated a trial of BIPAP. This resolved Mr. Smith’s respiratory distress and abnormal ABG values. To rule out serious causes of dyspnea, a stat chest x-ray and CT were obtained. Thankfully, both studies came back normal. …show more content…
Although I did not realize at that time, but experiences like these have led me to applying for residency in internal medicine.
I like problem solving and the challenge of being faced with a set of symptoms to figure out the diagnosis. With my preceptors, I experienced the intricate thought processes involved in managing patients with multiple co-morbidities. Going to my clerkship everyday was exciting in not knowing what I will encounter; it can be an acute or chronic condition or a combination involving any system of the body. At times, I also observed my preceptor play an initial role of a specialist such as a cardiologist or nephrologist. I respect the vast knowledge internists possess and their integration into practice. During my clerkship, I felt like every day was an adventure of problem solving which is appealing to me as a
career. While it can be intellectually stimulating seeing a wide variety of patients and diseases, I also like building relationships. I enjoy conversing with patients, listening to their stories, and attending to their concerns. While working with my internal medicine preceptor in his outpatient clinic, I observed patient centered care. Patients kept coming back to him even though there was a long wait to see him. In the short time, I observed a correlation of better outcomes and fewer hospitalizations for the sickest of his patients. His personal relationship led to patients who were more satisfied, more enabled, and had a lower symptom burden. During that rotation I learned to not only know my patients medical history well but also know who they are as a person, which is priceless. The most gratifying part of my interactions with patients is taking part in preventive care. As a primary care physician, I will play a role of first line defense in preventing illnesses. Keeping patients healthy will not only benefit the patient but also decrease their health related costs. For example, Mr. “John” is a 32 year old obese male that had a fasting glucose of 128 with a family history of diabetes. He was well on his way of being a diabetic. I counseled him about diabetes and made a plan of eating healthier and exercising. We made a weekly goal of weight loss and I have followed up with him weekly during my rotation to hold him accountable. Within a month, not only did he lose 8 pounds but his fasting glucose dropped by 10 points. Instead of starting on medications we continued on his diet to prevent diabetes. It was satisfying to make a profound impact on Mr John in preventing life long complications of diabetes. Through my experiences of living in underserved areas for many years, I have seen significant inequalities in disease burden and mortality. I believe it is important to give back and I plan to work in these areas to close the gap in health care services. At a young age, I have persevered through marriage, fatherhood and the financial responsibilities it entails while finishing medical school. Having such experiences gives me a unique perspective and an ability to empathize with the psychosocial factors some patients face. I spent large portions of my medical career traveling throughout the country and the world. This exposure has given me a unique vantage point into understanding different cultures. My life experiences have prepared me to provide culturally competent care and serve underserved areas. Residency is a stepping stone for a career in internal medicine that fosters lifelong learning. I am looking for a program that will invest in my growth as a physician through mentoring, teamwork, and opportunities for advancements. My career goals are to work with underserved population and possibly further my education in gastroenterology. I want to be part of a program that will assist me in becoming a competent and a confident physician. I am earnest in my training and use of evidence-based medicine. In return for this invaluable training, I will devote myself wholeheartedly in the exceptional care of my patients and uphold the values of your residency program.
The view of nursing is now more in depth and well rounded than before attending this class. Also, I now have a better understanding that scientific knowledge has a huge impact on nursing. Before taking these specific classes this semester I did not realize how much of a role science played in the nursing career. This quarter has really shown me that a nurse is not a "task monkey." The most surprising thing that I learned this semester was the abundance of knowledge that a nurse has to have in variety of areas such as assessment, legal, risk prevention, and educator just to name a few. As I make my journey through nursing school to expert nurse, I will always remember my instructors and dean continuously repeating that I must choose
“The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival” (Aristotle, n.d.)
To grow with the greater demands of modern health consumers, nursing can attain ways to distil stagnation while advancing with the constant flow of healthcare, providing ever increasing care.
Adult nursing is a subject I am passionate about. In my opinion, there is nothing more important than the health, safety and security of one’s self and others. I aspire to achieve these attributes for individuals in everyday life and this course will help me to do so. I find helping people rewarding and adult nursing provides a professional platform to achieve this target. It also helps me to progress to a stable job that is solely concentrated on making a positive difference in someone’s life. For this reason, I would feel privileged to be accepted on to this course.
I was assigned in gastrointestinal surgery ward. During this placement, I have gained sufficient knowledge and skills that helped me developed my professional learning experience. Using Gibbs reflective cycle, it enabled me to reflect on my clinical experience. It made me aware of the things that I could do better in the future. My patient requires highly complex surgery and postoperative wound care; he has bellovac drains and nasogastric tube (NGT). My buddy nurse told me to remove his NGT and bellovac drain. At first, I was very hesitant about the procedure since it was my first time to remove an NGT and bellovac drain. While I was preparing my equipment, I was also preparing myself and building some confidence. Then, I asked permission from
In this lecture Monika Tyler the course leader of bachelor of nursing came in and spoke to us about what its like being a nurse what you are require to do in order to become a nurse. Monika spoke about the type of people nursing is right for and reasons to do and not a Nursing degree. Monika also explained and defined nursing and then specifically explained what a Registered nurse is. This lecture also highlighted emerging new roles for nurses, pathways into the bachelor at Victoria University and touched on the difference between the amount of males and females who are are currently working as a nurse.
I feel as though I am ready to practice medicine in a multicultural society because I have been living and working in environments overflowing with diversity. While growing up in Haiti, the healthcare was, and still is, very poor due to a number of reasons such as: low doctor to patient ratios, lack of sanitation and unaffordable healthcare. As a nurse in Haiti, my mother spent most of her career specializing in preventive care. She traveled around the world to Brazil and countries in Africa teaching others about maintaining proper hygiene, sustaining a healthy lifestyle, breast-feeding, avoiding viruses and more.
According to Bulman (2008), reflection is described as “reviewing experience from practice so that it may be described, analyzed, evaluated, and consequently used to inform and change the future practice”. I believe that reflection is a process that helps one to have a better understanding of a situation, which leads to better management in the future. Through this reflection exercise, I hope to have a better understanding on communication with patients, with a focus on stroke patients. Communication barrier affects the patient care. Effective communication with patients is fundamental to good health care (Borthwick, 2012).
Where nursing is concerned, there will always be needs or opportunities for a job. It seems like there are never enough nurses out there, because there is always a need for them. Maximum staffing is needed because there are so many sick people that you will need to care for everyday. There are about 439,300 jobs available.
This week I got the opportunity to experience a different side to nursing. Endo was an area of nursing that included a fairly straightforward routine with moderate client interaction. While, OR included very little client interaction with the exception of escorting the client to the operating room. It also included a routine in regards to procedure, but it became evident that these routines doesn’t always go as planned, forcing the surgeon to take another route. It was eye opening to see what the role of the RN was in both of these settings, and although Endo didn’t seem to strike an interest in me, the OR made me want to know more.
The first time I entered the nursing area I sensed an environment of calmness. The room was clean and well designed. The temperature was perfect, neither cold, nor hot. The area was well lighted, but no bright. The cribs were aligned around a center that had two rocking chairs, a carpet, boppy pillows on the floor, and some toys. An area separated by a screen was assigned to mothers who wanted to breastfeed their babies in a private space. In the background soft low volume music, was playing at a times. The caregiver had some babies sleeping in the cribs and others awake on the floor on boppy pillows. She used a kind, soft voice, and told a baby that she would pick her up to change her diaper. As the caregiver walked to the changing table, she smiled to the infant and talked to her. Later on, around 11 am the young mothers entered to the nursery room to check on their babies. By this hour, the caregiver had already feed them (at least one time) and changed their diapers. Some of them approached to their infant’s crib and caress its baby while were sleeping. Others picked them up from the cribs and carried them around.
There once was a person with a legacy of hurting others in his past and let many people down. After which, he went through a life changing program, and ended up becoming a nurse and righting the wrongs that he caused in his past. He then became a very caring person that many people know of, but don’t know personally. He didn’t want to be recognized by name or by awards for which he received for his part in helping others. He hurt many people and he felt like he needed to make up for that. He went through life not caring about who he hurt as long as he got what he wanted, and what he wanted was for people to let him be by himself. He knew this would never happen due to his behaviors and being in foster care. He felt like if
Caring for people is a prerequisite for becoming a nurse. This can often be effortless and second nature but then there are other times where caring for someone is not always the easiest thing to do. You see it in the frustrated mom of the two-year-old who is throwing a temper tantrum in Target. Or the nurse of a patient who presses his call light frequently for seemingly insignificant things. Caring takes patience. With nursing, in particular, you need to feel called to the profession. You need to feel as though nursing is something you desperately have to do. As if you would be disobeying or cheating if you did not become a nurse. This calling can come from many different places or people, but for me, it comes from the Holy Spirit. Throughout my life, I would get so excited going to the doctor’s office or the hospital. I longed to stay and discover parts of the hospital I had not had the pleasure of finding yet. I felt called to
Reflection allows us to think about an action or incident that would enable us to consider what was positive or challenging and if right, plan how it might be improved or done differently in the future. The Royal College of Nursing. (2017). Throughout this essay I will be reflecting upon my role as a student in higher education and as a future healthcare practitioner I will be using Gibbs (1988) model of reflection to reflect on my experiences so far as a student nurse. I will end the essay with an action plan to show the learning outcomes and activities that are required to meet these aims.
I believe it's becoming tough for the upcoming college graduates like myself to find work with nothing but a college degree in their hands. A degree that students have worked so hard for, however, most companies look for the actual experience when hiring. The best way to get that experience is through an Internship. Internships offer work experience in a particular profession to people who are new to the field. The advantage of obtaining an Internship under your belt is, it strengthens the resumes by giving students visible work experience. As an intern, they should evaluate and examine their internship programs carefully, to see if those programs offer the training they need or want for their potential future