In this past year, I have faced many challenges and learned a great deal during this pandemic. I would have to say that I had struggled with my personal experiences more than I ever had before. After first learning that school was changed to remote and I would have to quarantine at home with my family, I was nervous. I had never taken a class online and I was worried about how this would affect my learning. Facing this challenge helped me to understand how important accountability and resilience are when it comes to learning. Not only did I have to take my own initiative on my learning, it was no one’s fault but my own if my assignments did not get done. Because of this, I learned that resilience and accountability go hand in hand.
Throughout this pandemic, I really explored the importance of caring and compassion. At first, living at home again was a challenge. This was my third year in college, and I was not used to living at home for long periods of time. I love my family and we get along fairly well, but it is hard not having the same independence as I was used to being on my own. I am also the youngest in my house, and I felt like I was not treated as if I were an adult. This led to conflict with my family when it came to regulations of the quarantine. I was adamant about not having anyone over for safety reasons. However, it is not my house so I can not dictate what my parents can do. I got into the biggest fight I ever had with my mom about how I thought she was disregarding our safety, which was my number one priority. It was a challenge moving past that and trying to understand my mother’s point of view. I learned that by letting our family members come inside, that was her form of compassion. I look back at this experience a lot and realize that compassion can come in different forms for different people. As a nurse, it is important to understand that your caring intentions may not come off that way to a patient. Through compassion, accountability, and resilience, it is possible to provide the best patient care and ensure their safety.
When talking about this pandemic, not only does it have an impact on my personal experiences, but it also affects my development as a student. It is obvious that learning has changed since Covid started and adapting to remote learning has not been easy. By watching and living through this pandemic, I have learned a lot. I always knew healthcare workers were important but seeing their impact on this disease still astonishes me. These workers had a lot on their plate and held a great deal of responsibility for the wellbeing of many people. Nurses have stepped up and shown how much of a leadership role they can have in the care of patients and prevention of spread. As a nursing student, the standards are set high on the ability to adapt to any situation. This has been a struggle dealing with the constant changes and not being informed until last minute. Even though it has been difficult, it is a great learning opportunity to apply to my future career as a nurse.
When I think about my future in nursing, the first thing I always imagine is helping people. After seeing the healthcare workers and nurses in this pandemic, I have learned that it is so much more than that. First, the dedication that these people have to their jobs is unmatched. Many of them could have quit when it got tough, but they persevered. Second is the ability of sacrifice that these workers had to make to be able to care for these people. So many workers could not go home to their families, worked multiple shifts in a row, and barely got any sleep. The last quality that I admire is their strength. To be able to put on a brave face even if they were scared is a quality that I look up to. These people really risked their lives to help others because they believed it was their duty to do so. My view on what it means to be a nurse has changed dramatically. It is overwhelming to think about how high the expectations will be when I become a nurse. Sometimes I wonder if I am not prepared or good enough to reach these expectations. I try to stay vigilant to reach and go beyond these expectations.
I have talked about the impact of the pandemic on myself and on healthcare workers. It is also important to discuss the impact on our community as a whole. The idea that the future will return to “normal” is bleak for many people. A big learning point from this pandemic is that any one person’s actions can have an effect on someone they may not even know. The topic of community spread of viruses was surprisingly not well known to people. I believe that education on this topic is necessary for the future safety of our community. I foresee nurses taking over this role of education of safety and other preventive topics. Nursing is continuously ranked one of the most trusting professions, so I believe that people may be more likely to listen to them. By having a population that is more educated on this topic, it is likely that the safety of the community will be more likely to be ensured.
The last topic that I think is important to acknowledge regarding this pandemic is mental health. Mental illness is a serious concern, especially during this pandemic. The number of cases involving mental health have steadily increased since this pandemic started. The problem is that mental health issues have been stigmatized for many years. This causes people to not reach out for the help that they may need. I see education by nurses in this topic becoming a pressing matter soon. One of the best ways to end stigmatism about mental health is through accurate education, and I believe that nurses will soon be strong advocators in spreading the importance of correct information.
