Author: Bianca

            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. 

While getting ready for this first simulation, I did not feel fully prepared. I was confident in the information that I needed to know, but I was not confident in my therapeutic communication. One of the challenges that I faced prior to the sim was definitely nerves involving these communication techniques. I was not sure what to expect when meeting the actors. Because of this, my group struggled a little bit on how we were supposed to approach the patient and ask the right kinds of questions. The first interview we did was less of a conversation and more of an interrogation. It was hard to establish the flow of conversation and to know appropriate times for certain questions. After having this experience, I know that I need more practice to become more proficient in therapeutic conversation. It was a struggle trying to connect the things we learn in class into speaking with the patient. I do not think I would be quite ready to address mental health problems in a clinical setting. I think I have a good basis of what makes a successful therapeutic conversation, but I do not have enough practice for it to be beneficial. Through this experience, I learned that mental health nursing is difficult. Not only do you have to be knowledgeable in the subject, but you also have to be an effective communicator. I believe that with a lot of practice that I could get to a point where I would feel more comfortable having these types of conversations with patients. I have also learned that mental health nursing happens in all settings. Because of this, I will be able to practice communication techniques often and be able to apply what I learned in this class and simulation to my future practice as a nurse. 

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course explores the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings that inform nursing knowledge relevant to the role of the baccalaureate-prepared nurse. Emphasis is placed on use of the best available evidence, clinical expertise, and patient preferences to improve healthcare quality.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: At the completion of this course, the student will be able to:

1. Apply knowledge from the art and science of nursing, the natural/behavioral sciences and humanities tonursing education, practice and research.
2. Utilize theoretical frameworks as a basis for nursing and interprofessional practice, research, andeducation.
3. Examine the assumptions and conceptual frameworks inherent in nursing’s core values that influencethe quality of health care for individuals and families.
4. Demonstrate knowledge and skill in utilizing research evidence for nursing practice.
5. Recognize the important leadership contributions that each nurse can make to implement EBP topromote quality and safety.
6. Explore the use of theory and evidence based knowledge to guide a systematic approach to nursing care.
7. Analyze and evaluate selected nursing theories for translation into practice, research and nursingeducation.

Mental illness has been stigmatized for many years now. People with mental illnesses are at a higher risk to be ostracized and rejected by members of their society. They are seen as different than their community, and media tends to associate being different with a negative trait. It is common to hear that people with mental illness are violent, unable to care for themselves, and that it is their own fault that they have a mental illness. They hear and read these things that people say about them, and begin to associate themselves with those qualities. This has lead to self-stigmatization in many people who have mental illnesses. In todays culture, labels and stereotypes play a large role on how people think of themselves and others. Through big platforms like social media, it is much easier to express opinions and read what others say.  

Culture and spirituality play a large role in response to mental illness. Things like how the individual responds and copes with mental illness vary for each culture. For some individuals, spirituality is linked with their everyday lives. To them, a disturbance or lack of spirituality can affect their physical health. This includes mental illness. For this individual, the ways they cope with their mental illness may involve prayer or mediation. The important idea to understand is that each person diagnosed with a mental illness will have their own specific response. It is best to make sure that individuality is emphasized when treating patients so they can receive the best care possible. 

As a first semester nursing student, there are limited things that you can do in the hospital. In the first 4 weeks, I struggled to figure out how to help patients. I had put in two straight catheters in patients, but they were not my patients. Those seemed more like in and out tasks, instead of truly helping them out. It was not until the fifth week of my clinical rotation where I felt like I had made a difference with the patient’s care. This last week was the first time I sat down with the patient and got to know their history and why they were in the hospital. I was lucky enough to have the patient’s spouse in the room to help initiate talking about their back story. They had spoken about how immersed in their community they were, and how it had been difficult not being able to be around to help their neighbors. I felt important just as someone to have therapeutic conversation with them. It was easy to see that they had missed interacting with their community and I was glad to be there for them in rough times. They had spoken about how the patient had restless leg syndrome. This was a diagnosis I was familiar with, but did not have first-hand experience with. When the patient started to have symptoms of the condition, the spouse became worried. Although there was nothing that I could do while the pain medication kicked in, I knew I had to be there for them. It was starting to get to the time where the spouse had to leave, but they did not want to leave their partner in that much pain. This was the first instance where I had to reassure someone that the health care team will do their best to take care of the patient when they are gone. In this moment, I saw the amount of appreciation in the spouse’s eyes. This was the first time I truly felt that I was important in this couple’s well-being, even though I could not do much regarding the physical state of the patient. Emotional well-being can be just as impactful, and I learned that on this day. 

My first wellness goal of this semester was to improve my life balance and satisfaction. To obtain this goal, I created some strategies to try throughout the rest of the year. The first strategy I set was to go to bed at a reasonable time each night. I believe I have been good at sticking with this goal. Getting enough sleep is so important to me, especially during the school year. I know my brain works best with eight and a half hours of sleep, and I usually reach that number every night. During the week, I practically never go to bed later than 10:30pm. The only time I break this habit is on the weekends, but this is partly to achieve another strategy of making time for myself. I tend to get stressed about school and put all of my focus on homework and studying. This semester, I wanted a change in that mindset to allow time for self-care. I have been trying to follow a weekly schedule of homework of Sunday through Thursday, and taking Friday and Saturday to myself, hanging out with friends, or seeing family. I have been able to keep this schedule through most weeks, but sometimes it had to be broken for studying purposes on the weekends. Self-care is important to me because it will be necessary in the future, especially being a nurse. It is best to learn the most favorable ways now as a student, so I can apply them later in my adult life. 

            The second wellness goal I set for myself this semester was to improve my physical health. My first strategy was to meal prep for the week and plan meals in advance. I did a great job doing this at the beginning of the semester, but as I became busier, it was much more difficult. Although I love to cook, it is hard to make time to prepare fresh meals when my school schedule each week is different. This has led to much more snacking than I had planned to do. One of my strategies was to not snack as much during the day. Although I did great with this at the beginning of the semester, I found myself buying more snack foods at the grocery store and eating snacks instead of meals. I did a great job with my other strategy of going on walks. The past few weeks have been less often because of the cold weather, but I try to go when it is not as cold. That is the extent of my exercise for the week. So, I can say I did not achieve my last strategy of doing exercise or cardio at least twice a week. What seems to get in the way of working out most is my motivation. It is hard for me to get started, especially when I have a busy day and all I want to do is relax. Once I get myself going, it is easier from there. 

            When it came to improving my life balance and satisfaction, I was willing to change. I believe my willingness to change was my driving force to achieving my goal. I knew that these changes were necessary for me to be successful in school and in my personal life. I believe I am now in the maintenance stage of change for this goal. My second wellness goal however, I do not believe I was truly ready to start the process of changing. I have contemplated for a long time about changing my physical health, and I have prepared to take the next step to change. It seems that I cannot get past the preparation stage and into the action stage. I think in the future, I should designate specific days to exercise that align with my schedule. This way, I cannot make excuses as to why I cannot do something. I still truthfully think that I am not completely ready for this change. This is a topic I will need to revisit within the next few weeks and decide my plan from there. This can also be applied to patient care because sometimes, you do not have a specific plan or have all the information you need. In this situation, it is okay to take time to revisit and change plans. In nursing, things are constantly changing, and it is important to learn how to adapt. One last thing that is a reminder to myself is that it is okay to ask people for help. This can be applied to my life now, and especially in the future as a nurse.