The Journey To Becoming A Nurse Nursing Essay

The Journey To Becoming A Nurse Nursing Essay My intellectual interests, academic and, professional objectives encouraged me to pick my field of study in healthcare, to be specific, the profession of nursing. During adolescence, children are encouraged to consider various majors and future career options. Some mature fast and realize their goals during early adolescence, some realize it mid-adolescence and, others late. I was uncertain about my career path during my early stages. However, my passion for the medical field was and still is firm. I come from a family made up physicians, pharmacists, nurses, laboratory technicians, and physician assistants; this, of course, influenced my familiarity with science majors.   With such an interest in mind, I began volunteering in hospitals at a young age, where I was surrounded by patients who approached me for assistance. I was able to assist the patients to the doctors office and always tried to have a conversation with the patient. In such an occurrence, I embraced the feeling of n eed and comfort from those whom I have helped. One notable experience that I have had was caring for my grandmother, who was difficult to cope with due to her massive mood swings and impatience. I knew she trusted and depended on me as she clutched my hands for guidance. At that time I knew I want to definitely take part in medical field. Therefore, I decided to take up field in health care profession after undergraduate studies. Passion, determination, and patience are important key terms to succeed in a health care profession: these characteristics work to my advantage. During my academic life, I continued exploring majors that would fit my goal. After much discussion with my college advisors, I came across Letters, Arts and Sciences at Abington College. As I researched further into the degree, I was sure I wanted to do LASAB. This is my chance to challenge myself by creating my own major that will help me fulfill my requirements for post- graduate studies, in nursing career. This academic helped me to find the way to the right career path that will introduce me to the healthcare world where it ______ me to earn a masters degree after finishing my bachelors. Over the course of my undergraduate studies, I have taken many courses that have helped me grasp the phenomena of science and patient care. College opened a new chapter in my life, a chapter filled with science. I comprehend with the facts and theories of the human body and admire the discoveries of new cause of illness and treatments which becomes a great advantage to the world as a whole. College life has made a great input in my life by helping me enter adulthood and gradually learning to cope with stress, manage time, and make responsible decisions for myself. The four core areas of the Letters, Arts, and Sciences major are Research Methods/ Projects Critical Analysis Communication Skills Theory/ Application Skills The courses that I have chosen to apply to these core requirements will fulfill the requirement for this degree and will benefit me in my planner Nursing career. The skills I gained from these courses are fundamental to becoming successful in a health care profession. Research is a process of study or examination of a subject from different points of view.  I have selected Microbiology 107; Elementary Microbiology Laboratory, and Chemistry 111 and 113; Experimental Chemistry to the Research Methods/ Projects to fulfill the core requirement. Microbiology 107: Elementary Microbiology Laboratory gave me an introduction about microbes. I learned the importance and the proper handling of microorganisms through demonstrations and working on each experiment. The lab has also helped me to identify and count bacteria, effects of chemical and physical agents on microorganisms. This course has helped me learn the importance of controlling microbial growth on peoples bodies and how failure to do so can lead to the spread of disease, especially in the hospital setting. Chemistry 111 and 113: Experimental Chemistry introduced me to chemicals and challenging experiments. It helped me better understand how to interpret data about various experiments that dealt with introductory chemistry. I learned to write a formal laboratory report, interpretation of data using statistics, and an appreciation for what instruments can do. Each of these courses will help me focus on areas that are relevant in the medical field. International Studies 100 fulfills to the Critical Analysis core requirement.  I believe it is important to be able to understand people and their background/culture, especially when working in the health-care profession. There is a great chance of meeting people from different diversity in my field. As a health care professional, I must learn and know about patients cultures while I treat them. This course has given me a basic understanding of the many cultures and their global issues, such as financial crisis, racism, health issues, and human rights issues. This course helped me to connect with different cultures, their domestic issues, and responses to human rights violations. In a hospital setting, health care professionals are faced with patients that have many different issues and one main issue would be race. Health-care professionals must understand that all come from different culture with different issues; therefore, we should not be judged by the race because we are all humans. We must treat people equally. We will be able to connect to patients better and help them deal with their illnesses better if we are knowledgeable about their culture. The course will help me to understand everyone better.   I apply INART001, Integrative Arts into the core requirement of communications skills. This course helped me to develop critical perception, knowledge, and judgments through examining the basic arts through communication. Communication is very important and this course helped me to communicate in both art and non- art situations. When one thinks of the health care, a complex array of professions come into mind. In order for all these professions to provide the best possible care for their patients, communication between them is vital. For example, suppose a patient has a penicillin allergy and the doctor ordered a medication that is a penicillin derivative. In that case, the pharmacist calls the doctor and a new medication is prescribed. This course helped me communicate in simple way that others will understand and gave me more confident. During my internship at the hospital, I noticed that communication is very important and presenting a simple communication will help the patie nt understand the nurse better. On the other side, Integrative arts such as art, music, dance or drama introduced as Art therapy in health care. This therapy was used to help child survivors of Hurricane Katrina overcome mental traumas and people with schizophrenia BBC news.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I place Anthropology 45, Cultural anthropology to the core requirement of Theory/Application skills. As I mentioned earlier, it is important to be able to understand people when working in the health-care profession. All societies have rules, standards, conventions and beliefs. Studying anthropology allowed me to understand how social culture work. As a health care professional, it is important to understand the society, government, religion and their culture. This course focused on human culture; I learned to appreciate cultural diversity. An in-depth knowledge into the human culture is especially important in todays health care, especially in a diverse country like the United States. Take, for example, the culture of Jehovahs Witnesses. This denomination prohibits blood transfusions for their believers. Respecting their wishes, hospitals now have bloodless surgeries where newer techniques have been developed that do not require blood transfusions, even for m ajor invasive surgeries like coronary artery bypass graft. Also in this day, a healthcare provider sees patients from various countries and various cultures. Something considered elementary in a culture might be considered taboo in another. For example, in the American society women have the same rights as men and considered capable to make their own decisions, as where in some cultures, its the man who makes the decisions in the family. In cases like this a healthcare provider must respect the differences and work with their patient to provide what is the best possible care for their female patients. Therefore, I must understand the rules and beliefs of other cultures so I can understand the patients better.   Everyday people face many different types of problems. It could be physical, emotional or mental stress. As a health care professional, it is important to understand the reasons for those problems and assisting the exact treatment Psychology is the science that enables me to connect to an individual through the mind to understand and deal with the mental processes and behavior of individual human beings. I have chosen five 400 level courses from three areas that relate to my theme. Those are Kinesiology 445: Alcohol and Drug Education, Psychology 470: Abnormal Psychology, Psychology 424: Applied Social psychology, Counselor Education 401: Foundations of Chemical Dependency Counseling, and Biology 495. Kinesiology 445: Alcohol and Drug Education helped me to understand and learn more about many types of drugs and alcohol uses not only in the American society but worldwide. Moreover, it has taught the drug physiology, drug-related health effects and issues related to social and psychological effects of drug use and abuse. Alcohol and Drug can affect peoples lives so fast. I did a research paper about Alcohol and drug, as part of the research I surveyed twenty neighbors and 80% of them addicted to alcohol and drugs. Most of them were addicted due to stress but some of them started out as a fun hobby. Many people find Alcohol and Drug as a solution to their problems. Therefore, I will definitely come across many patients that are addicted to alcohol and drugs. I am sure I am able to use the fundamental information from this course and apply it to the patients I might come across in my professional field. Another challenging course was Psychology 470: Abnormal Psychology has taught me the understanding of types of abnormal experience and behavior personality, as well as mental and psychotic disorders that impact multiple areas of a human life that might not be able to be diagnosed on a personal basis.  The most common disorders are Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Eating disorder, Autistic Disorder, Borderline personality disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. This course is mostly focused on the identification, treatment and understanding of abnormal behavior and psychopathology. It taught me the different diagnoses of types of behaviors, and it will definitely help me in my health profession, especially if I decided work on psychiatric department. Psychology 424: Applied Social psychology, gave me an overview of social psychological theories and research methods to field settings and to the study of social issues. It taught me how to conduct a survey and analyze a report based on a study. It has also helped me to understand the social life and how psychology applied to social life every day. Especially in health care settings, I must apply social psychology to understand social and practical problems thats happening around us. I must be motivated , making sense of my co-workers, social perceptions, and understanding the bias order for me to perform a satisfaction job that will draws a general impression for my characteristic such as intelligence. Counselor Education 401: Foundations of Chemical Dependency Counseling introduced me to the concept related to drug and alcohol dependency, diagnosis and assessment, its prevention, counseling and treatment of dependencies. It has helped me to understand how to deal with that are addicted to various types of drugs like cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines. A person becomes chemically dependent due to several factors such as environment, psychological, or genetic. Health care provide residential, outpatient, extended, and aftercare treatments for someone who is chemically dependent. On the other side, Twelve-Step meetings are available for those who interested in self-help recovery. I was assigned to attend a Twelve-Step meeting for Alcoholics Anonymous(AA). The stores that I heard during the meetings were depressing because they were so addicted to alcohol and regret their past. This meeting is part of the treatment to be sober. Chemical dependency is chronic and can be fatal. Somet imes, chemical dependency affects health care professionals and co-workers are aware of the signs and symptoms. I have selected Nutrition 251, Sociology 035, and Biology 110 to full fill the humanities and the social science area. Nutrition 251, Introductory Principles of Nutrition, is a course that gave me more knowledge on principles of nutrition. This course broadens my knowledge about the physiological functions and food sources that related to human growth. It helped me to focus on my nutrition better and stay healthier. Especially in healthcare, it is important to make sure the patient is getting the right amount of nutrition. If the patients nutrition is imbalanced, it can cause diarrhea and risk of infection. Therefore all the knowledge that I learned from this class about nutrition will help me to provide a better nutrition life style to my patients. Sociology 035, is the study of aging in older people. The common beliefs, aspects of aging, how economy and family influence the aging process. The course helped me to be more kind, warm and practical with people .A nurse must be kind, sympathetic and compassionate because when I work with patients it will give me better knowledge on how to deal with everyone. I have compared facts that I learned from this class with my parents and grandparents behavior, which helped me understand them better. For example, as my grandparent get old, the chances of them listening to their kids are rare. Even if they are right or wrong , they want the kids to accept it. Once the kids get married and leave the house, the parents starting a new life where they are bonding more to each other. Thats something I have noticed in my grandparents life. All the knowledge that I acquired from this course will help me understand older peoples relation to others and how they would accept the world to live their li fe. Biology 110, Basic Concepts and Biodiversity, taught me the foundation of the basic concept of evolution. It gave me an understanding of living organisms, how genetic processes provide continuity between generations and how evolutionary processes take place. This course includes both lecture and lab. It is the study of living organisms; all life depends on certain physiological and chemical functions. To work in healthcare you must have a basic understanding of the underlying principles of life. These courses that I have listed above are important in my future education that I plan on focusing on after graduation. In health care, it is critical that students understand any individuals different characteristics and behaviors before I respond to patients symptoms. As a capstone course: BIOL 495, I have an internship, at Temples Jeanes Hospital in North East Philadelphia a. As an intern at the hospital, I have been assigned to the same day surgery unit department with patients. This opportunity will also allow me to work with professional staff and patients. It is my duty to go to each patient to check on them to make sure they are doing great because they are recovering from the surgery. Sometimes they would ask juice/water and some of them might need to use the rest room so it is my responsibility to take care of them. Meanwhile, I go with the nurses to each patients room when they go over the surgery procedures and learn how pre admission is done on a patient. I will be attending to the needs of patients that are undergoing different procedures and an opportunity to interact with surgeons, physician assistants, and nurses. It also will be hands on experience with all the skills and materials that I have learned in the courses that I have lis ted in this proposal   In conclusion, I feel that my education has shaped my life to what is today and these courses listed have gave me a better understanding about medical issues happening in this world. Health care profession is not a relaxing profession but demanding and stressful occupation, yet I am ready to face the various situations I may be in and become stronger and wiser in my profession and as a person. It is also a profession where every day I am guaranteed to touch a life or be touched by the lives of others. Letters, Arts, and Sciences at Abington will help me reach my goals after my undergraduate education is complete.