My Journey to Self-Realization - Essay Sample

Introduction

A nursing career as a profession has been my greatest inspirational journey, which can be traced back to growing up. Frequently, a question was paused to us as children on what we wanted to be when we grow up, I could insist on giving at least three answers. These included being a teacher, pilot, or nurse. At first, it did not seem very clear since I always believed these were the only professions we exist. This was the norm since virtually most of my neighbors at childhood most were nurses, doctors, accountants, teachers, and police officers. Professionally, my father was a banker while my mum was a teacher. This meant that growing up in such a family; my judgment will be biased towards my parents. However, this could not entirely be the case since I could access digital media in advertisements where an Idea of being a pilot cropped. Nevertheless, the idea of being a pilot terrified me since I realized that I am afraid of heights while being a teacher involved working hard, dealing with unruly students with little pay at the end of the month.

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The most defining moment that made me choose to join nursing besides following an experience encountered at a tender age. Having a diabetic uncle was not easy and demanded special care, without which a patient would be susceptible to other diseases like stroke. These special care may include proper diet, exercising as well as blood pressure monitoring. Due to some negligence in the hospital, resulting in a nurses’ strike, I had watched my uncle die of diabetes. Therefore, I could not reconcile his death with what had happened since it is known that diabetes is manageable. Out of the fear of seeing other incidences re-occur and his constant talks about his favorite nurse and how she always took care of him, I thought of discovering more of nursing as a career to save lives in the society. Therefore, I yearned to make a difference and be the one person the patient always remember who made a difference in their lives.

A Calling

Nursing is much more than a job; but a calling for me. It has taken a special kind of compassionate personality beyond vigorous educational training. Over the years in the nursing profession, I have learned how to care about myself and others, be an effective communicator to understand my patients' needs, share the patients’ feelings, make proper record keeping, and medication dosage admiration. Dynamics in nursing has enabled me to solve emerging healthcare problems, respect other individuals, including all patients, families, and coworkers, and raise my self-awareness towards my environment, thus my maximum concentration and performance and developing a sense of curiosity in learning a new method of saving lives.

For several decades, nursing has evolved with some of its roles and responsibilities being redefined since its inceptions. This has been instrumental in the coordination and physical and psychosocial delivery for patients, clients, and families. For instance, midwives play a critical role in disease prevention, health promotion, and maintaining health. In order to provide excellent care, nurses' work can work from the patient’s home, community facilities, and hospitals. Its mains roles have been defined to include assessing individuals' health and social needs, performing evidence-based care, and managing care (De Montfort University, 2020).

Motivation

My motivation towards becoming a nurse has its anchoring in the ability to take care of others, create job satisfaction by making a difference, and constant demand for a specialist in the industry. According to a report by Policy, Politics, and Nursing Practice Journal (NurseJournal, 2020), it has been suggested that nursing as a profession has been projected to grow for more than 15 % with constant replacements as others retire, making it a stable industry to work in. As a nurse, I also can save lives and even go further to volunteer among the less fortunate. Nursing also offers one a chance to get financial aid opportunities to pursue education and choose specialists in physician clinics, work as neonatal nurse practitioners, and even anesthesiology.

Nurses are critical in healthcare service providers, and members of the healthcare system are responsible for giving care to patients and clients based on ethical issues. As Reins College suggested, nurses have a set of beliefs and values that go beyond religion, culture, patient’s race, or economic status to ensure unbiased care ( Regis College, 2020). The recognition of these ethical values helps nurses have a mutual understanding of patient treatment internationally. As a nurse, I have to care and give towards promoting human dignity, adhere to social justice, have autonomy in decision making, take responsibility in caring for patients, build the human relationship, have trust and sympathy towards patients (Shahriari, Mohammadi, Abbaszadeh, & Bahrami, 2013).

Individual and professional competency is a crucial aspect of nursing ethical values. During training a nurse, personal competency and development are acquired through up-to-date knowledge on caregiving, clinical skills, and practical experience during the apprenticeship. These skills help them to grow and develop in the direction of advances in caregiving and new technology. As a nurse, I can easily examine my patient's medical background, thus provide accurate, evidence-based care, and contribute during meetings with other healthcare professionals, thus enhancing the development of my interpersonal and inter-professional skills.

Critical Pillar

Social justice is the critical pillar towards caregiving. As an, I value to focusses on patients’ equal access to health services and to be treated fairly regardless of their economic, social, cultural, or economic status. In other cases, this may include providing exceptional care to victims of assault and domestic, hence ensuring their fundamental right to access health. This means that the natural rights to health are not dependent on the government or cultural laws. Social justice in society ensures there is an adequate distribution of healthcare even for the vulnerable population in the community while supporting the privileged population (Smith, 2019).

Providing precise and accurate care is essential in nursing as it can prevent diseases and promote the patient's health and safety. Precision health involves personalized healthcare on the patients’ unique composition in the context of their lifestyle, cultural, environmental, and social influences as it affects their well-being and optimal health (Thoma et al., 2020). With my knowledge in nursing and clinical skills, I can relieve their pain and suffering by making a routine history risk assessment of either patient and their families to determine the root cause of the health problem they are undergoing, thus promoting patient health. This forms one of my primary ethical values in caring for my patients as a nurse.

Autonomy in decision making is also an essential aspect for a nurse to help sustain and save lives. Knowing precise health can help align the patient's test results to the most appropriate treatment and risks involved, thus enabling them to translate the medical terminology to information understood by patients and their families. As a professional nurse, I can either accept or reject treatment, care, or intervention if I believe it is fit or unfit for my patient. Besides, I can give appropriate advice or information on the subject matter to the patient or their families on diagnosis, treatment, or illness prevention.

Respecting human dignity is the most treasured ethical value in the nursing profession. Individuals such as patients, their families, and society should be respected as stipulated in the nursing ethical value. Respect for dignity refers to respecting patients' beliefs, innate human values, preserving their cultures and privacy when conducting clinical procedures, communicating with the patients and their families, and understanding their needs. For instance, as a nurse, I should practically cover patients’ body parts if exposed when in the wards and keep patients’ records and secrets confidential.

Responsibility

Nurses have a responsibility towards their patients. As a nurse, I commit to performing duties that include conducting physical examinations, recording my patients' medical history and symptoms, monitoring their health, and recording vital signs (Gwynedd Mercy University, 2020). I can also collaborate with other teams in planning their care, operating medical equipment, educating patients on illness management, championing patient rights, and respecting their decisions. Therefore, my ethical values dictate that I will be accountable for my actions and duties and give evidence-based care and clinical care.

Sympathy is a nursing ethical value endowed with understanding patients’ and their families’ needs when giving care. It is an emotional reaction and attachment of pity toward the patient or family's misfortune, especially those who may be suffering unfairly based on honest communication with the nurse. As a nurse, I can show sympathy to the bereaved family's family members in cases where death has occurred. Most healthcare providers have also learned to show empathy to their patients since, more often, a pity-based response may upset the patients (Guerrero, 2019).

Human relationship is the epitome of nursing as a profession. Over time, I have learned to build trust, have mutual respect and reliance while maintaining patient privacy and confidentiality verbally or non-verbally. To develop a human relationship with my patient, I have to be friendly, be honest to develop a mutual understanding, and have empathy.

Conclusion

Our coursework as nurses is usually very intense, with numerous new skills being learned at the workplace. This has allowed us to advance from just being a student to be professionals in the field of nursing since we can transfer our nursing education from hospital-based apprenticeship (Stockhausen, 2004). The clinical experience gained as a student in nursing and caring always shapes us to be better professionals. On my self-reflection journey, I have been using my everyday experiences to learn to be a better nurse. I usually do not dwell on my experience and any other bad experience that occurs as I am practicing but the little or big success stories during my profession. The many opportunities that may prompt my reflection include holding discussions with other clinical staff about critical incidences and lessons from them, having a team meeting, reading nursing, and other related journals, focusing on compliments and complaints from our patients and clients.

References

Regis College. ( 2020). Why nursing values and beliefs are important to achieving career success. https://online.regiscollege.edu/blog/why-nursing-values-and-beliefs-are-important-to-achieving-career-success/

De Montfort University. (2020). Profession: Nursing. http://tiger.library.dmu.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/123456789/52/Profession%20Outline%20Nursing.pdf?sequence=35

Guerrero, J. G. (2019). Nurses towards end-of-lifer situations: Sympathy vs. empathy. Open Journal of Nursing, 278-293.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331714215_Nurses_towards_End-of-Life_Situations_Sympathy_vs_Empathy

Gwynedd Mercy University. (2020). What do nurses do?
https://www.gmercyu.edu/academics/learn/what-do-nurses-do

NurseJournal. (2020). 25 reasons to become a nurse.
https://nursejournal.org/community/25-reasons-to-choose-a-career-in-nursing/Fu, A. l., Kurnat-Thoma, E., Starkweatherd, A., Hendersond, W. A.