The nurses in, NURSES If Florence Could See Us, have so many qualities that I hope to possess as I advance my career as a nurse. They have clinical knowledge, but just as importantly, they have compassion and the drive to better peoples’ lives. They have confidence in their care taking abilities and they change lives for the better. I am in school to learn all that I can, but that will certainty not stop when I start practicing as an RN. To have the knowledge and skills like some of these nurses, I need to take every learning opportunity given to me. I will only grow my skill set by practice and continued education. In school, we have also spent time learning about compassion and empathy. Although I believe some of this is innate, I do believe that you can work on becoming even more compassionate in your care and checking yourself for compassion fatigue. I also realize that I need to work on my confidence and believe in myself more. I hope that some of that comes with more experience in the nursing profession, but I can start building it in my schoolwork as well.
Angie works in the public health realm with Native Americans apart of the Navajo Nation. I don’t have experience working in the public health domain and I have not worked with a Native American patient. Some of the barriers are language, beliefs, culture, and location. Angie can speak Navajo and ask them about beliefs and share her knowledge, but ultimately, she realizes that they decide what care they want or not. This shows cultural humility and basing your care on the population that you’re serving. She also faces travelling many miles into a rural area to care for these patients with very limited resources. I look up to Angie for the work she does, and I would love to learn and be more like her. Ultimately, I have a passion for justice and equity for all people. I am very interested in continuing to learn about people with different backgrounds than me and finding improved ways to care for them. I want to communicate openly, learn what I can, and work to serve all people regardless of where they came from, what they believe in, or anything else.
I have already applied for a job, and I had to complete a 1-way interview. Before that I made sure to research the organizations values and specific needs for the position. I wanted to be able to touch on certain aspects and understand what the hospital stood for to ensure my values aligned. I will continue that, but add on practicing certain questions, preparing a more focused brand of myself, and thinking of questions to ask the employer. I can explain some of my strengths and how my opportunities at UNE have helped. I have been able to hold leadership positions here and have many clinical experiences that have strengthened my skills. There is a lot to go into here and I feel ready to explain all the good UNE has done for me. On a different note, I have had to answer questions about my weaknesses and what I do to address them for many scholarship applications. I have a good idea of what to bring up and what I do to address it, because I deal with these struggles throughout life and school.
