BSN Reflective Essay

BSNReflective Essay I

1.Demonstrate caring relationships through the personal integration of the core values of Mercy while performing the roles of leader/manager, teacher, professional and provider of care.

I strive to provide the best individualized care to patients. I strongly believe nursing is a caring profession. Nursing encompasses giving to others, promoting health, protecting, enhancing, and teaching abilities to prevent illness. On the daily bases, I aim to demonstrate mercy core values of knowledge, reverence, integrity, compassion, and excellence.Integrating these values in nursing practice strengthens a positive behavior and constantly empowers nursing guide and meaning to caring. Though these values, I can devote my leadership role respectfully identify my patients’ values and their relation to their illness. Having personal values to guide you through the nursing profession is an ideal promotion of healing with dignity.

2. Accept each client as an individual, holistic being with an integrated body, mind, and spirit possessing internal and external factors that affect health.

Holistic care is a nursing tradition approach, healing through body, mind, soul, entails treating patients emotionally, psychologically, spiritually and, physically. I personally believe holistic care is also an attitude and philosophy that I use in my practice. It requires me as a nurse to integrate self-reflection and set my priorities and responsibilities straight during cares. Through holistic care I can articulate and explore the patient’s needs, wants, belief, and goals. I try to connect with my patients by asking more questions and listening and watching for the verbal and non-verbal communication.Doing so helps identify a range of factors that could be potential contributor to increased stress. I take advantage of this moment and build the trusting and therapeutic relationship by genuinely showing interest and support and advocate for the patients holistically. Holistic nursing care facilitates maximum healing to body, mind, and soul.

3. Apply theoretical knowledge and principles derived from nursing, liberal arts, and sciences that serve as a foundation for providing therapeutic nursing interventions in the holistic are of diverse clients.

Interpersonal theory by Peplau entails the roles and methods of building the therapeutic relationships with patients. I chose Peplau’s theory because, I strongly believe in caring for my patients showing respect, professional intimacy, empathy. As a nurse, I learned how therapeutic listening and responding to patient’s emotion affect the patient to nurse relationship. I believe we are responsible to build a respectful and trusting relationship with our patients. Trust is essential in building therapeutic relationship. Trusting relationship increases the chances of participation.Teamwork makes the dream work. Personal interaction with the patient encourages patient to be more active on their own care and it fosters a constructive growth towards recovery.

Peplau suggest nurses to adopt roles to move the relationship forward. Nursing roles as a teacher, resources, leader, counselor, surrogate and technical expert.As a leader, it is my responsibility to guide and get them involve in their cares. I educate them to enhance their knowledge, aiming for better outcomes. I continually serve my patients by being resourceful, answering their questions and help them learn from their own experiences. The main goal is to help the patients fulfill their needs. I use the surrogacy role to help my patients identify their strengths to determine their independency to fulfill their goals.

4.Utilize communication skills effectively while implementing the roles of the professional nurse.

Communication is of great importance in the healthcare profession. Effective communication promotes continuity and clarity of patient care.Nurses are the central point of contact and concerns. We work on bedside with the patients and we are responsible to exchange and relay information, with other disciplinaries. SBAR Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) is a tool usedby most nurses framing and outlining the important information to share with the physician or collaborators. This facilitates prompt and appropriate communication amongst healthcare providers. As nurses, are responsible to convey changes in patient status, assessment findings, interventions performed, and patient and family concerns and needs. Nurses share clear and concise communication during shift changes.It is important to ensure the key information is precisely communicated. We also share information with the team during huddles. This time nurses and management communicate and share the daily concerns, changes, and clinical workload. Nurses get a chance to have a face to face communicate with the team, sometimes including the doctors. The benefits of huddles are that we get immediate response to address the concerns and better teamwork. Continuous communication promotes great patient outcomes and patient safety.

5.Utilize a variety of processes when caring for the unique needs of diverse individuals to promote, achieve, and/or maintain their optimal health and preserve dignity in the dying process.

Nurses have the responsibility to provide cultural congruent care for our diverse patients. As nurses, we need to understand the importance of using cultural knowledge to treat our patients. It helps us learn the ways patients culture and beliefs shape their outlook on illness and death. As a nurse, I care for a very diverse group of paints, some are actively dying patients. Throughout my nursing experience, I learned that they all have unique wishes, belief, rituals they abide by. Patients and families handle the process of dying and grieving differently and that is okay. It is critical for me as the nurse to show genuine compassion, empathy, listen and find out “How can I help to meet their needs”.The goal to support the patient and the family. At times it’s it can be emotionally uncomfortable, we are not sure what to do or say to the family. Being there for them and being supportive meeting, their needs is all they want.

6.Utilize leadership/management strategies to effect change for the improvement of nursing care in structured and other settings.

Leadership and management strategies, I use to improve nursing care include mentoring, coaching, listening to concerns and supporting employees to embody nursing vision. I strongly believe in promoting teamwork. Leading by example is the key of becoming successful leader. As a leader, it is importing to get to know your employees on a personal level to maximize their strengths. Coach them and listen to their ideas and values. Support the new nurses and show them future opportunities for growth. Create a positive supportive culture on the unit. Set your profession expectations and celebrate and reward great performance. A leader should be willing to go above and beyond to make sure the staff and patients are taken care of.Creating an environment that s welcoming leads to successful teamwork.

7.Evaluate research for the applicability of finding to improve current and future nursing practice.

Research is vital to the evolving nursing profession.It helps improve patient care, patient safety and addresses the complex challenges the healthcare faces. The is a lot of information on the internet about nursing, some resources are credible, and others are biased. Research aids the healthcare professionals to search and study credible evidence based practice, journals, and studies before implementing into nursing care. Research class has taught me approaches and skills to be able to deploy studies in my professional life.As nurses, we use research daily to shape policies and procedures in the hospitals. Nurses can come up with theories, collect studies and evidence to improve patient care. Current nursing practice is greatly impacted by the research transformation efforts.

8.Demonstrate accountability by incorporating ethical, social, legal, political, and economic principles and professional standards into nursing practice decisions, with individuals, groups, and communities.

As nurses, we are obligated, and duty bound to abide by the code of nursing ethics. In my opinion, these are basic ethical principle that everyone should live by.All caregivers should be morally accountable in everything they do.Protecting and maintaining patient ‘s confidentiality and privacy is a law and healthcare provides are bound to respect it.It is mandatory for us nurses to be aware and understand the ethical, social, legal, political and professional standards to provide optimal care.We must be aware of the people we are serving and understand our accountability in the process. Every community is faced with different issues. We as nurses are to learn the law and the rules and restriction of the community we serve. For example, in our community we have a severe need on mental health inpatient care. Most patients with mental health struggling with range end up in the hospitals or in jail.

9.Value the need for life-long learning, service to the community and commitment to the improvement of the profession and the health care system.

Continuing nursing education is encouraged, and is a requirement of the nursing profession. Healthcare is forever evolving. To provide safe and improve quality of care nurses must stay current. The interventions we provide need to be suitable to the population of patients we are serving. Therefore, engaging and learning about the community we serve will serve the purpose of improving their healthcare services. Getting the insight of the community needs will help nurses meet the community needs. A lifelong learning helps us commit to the improvement of the healthcare system and better patient care.

Nurses with BSN degree are more marketable because they have advanced knowledge on management strategies, research, theories, critical thinking skills, and better communication skill. There is a possibility they may offer better patient care with all the knowledge. Furt