From Caring to Curing: My Interest in Nursing Profession
Nursing as a profession (essay)
To reflect on my interestin nursing profession, in this essay I will recount my experience that sparked my passion for nursing, which began when I stepped into a clinic as an intern, unsure of why I wanted to pursue a career in health care. The doors of the clinic slid open, and I nervously stood outside, uncertain of my decision. A conversation I had with several individuals replayed in my mind as they asked, "Why do you want to pursue a career in health care?" I could only respond with, "I don't know." I almost allowed this previous memory to take control, and I was ready to turn away from my responsibility as an intern. But I decided to step in and take the ultimate step forward. I was asked to take a patient's vitals, and while doing so, I asked the patient, "How are you?" Her enthusiastic response and eagerness to share more about herself touched me. As I prepared to leave, I glanced back at her, and tears welled up in her eyes as she thanked me for asking about her. My question had been meaningful for her, and I realized the importance of the emotional connection in healthcare. Consequently, this experience changed my perception of healthcare and sparked my interest in nursing, a profession that places emphasis on caring for both the physical and emotional well-being of patients.
Previously, I had thought that healthcare providers only had to view their patients through technical lenses which meant applying the necessary knowledge to diagnose and treat one patient quickly to assist numerous other lives. Conversely, this experience conveyed to me that healthcare providers must utilize compassionate lenses as well to gain a better understanding of their patients as unique individuals. By viewing their patients first as individuals, healthcare providers can better assist them since multiple factors in one’s life affect one’s health. Indeed, when healthcare providers meld these two lenses together, they can create a new vision for themselves through which they can view their patients holistically in terms of physical, mental, and social well-being.
Hence, I aspire to become a nurse since it is a profession that treats patients by focusing on them wholeheartedly as individuals. Since nurses spend more time with their patients, they can form collaborative relationships with them; thus, obtaining the entire picture rather than a snapshot of the person they are caring for. Likewise, from my internship experiences and observing the nurses’ interactions with the patients, I have noticed that when we see patients as individuals this creates the opportunity for individualized care and encourages them to become engaged in their own care. Therefore, I hope to one day become a nurse so that by obtaining a holistic understanding of the individual that I am taking care of, I can do more to help improve their health. Nevertheless, I became further drawn to this field when I noticed interesting parallels between nursing and the skills I acquired through my passion for painting. For instance, a splash of an incorrect paint color can misrepresent the effect the artist intended to make. Comparably, in the nursing field, attention to detail is essential to prevent delays in diagnosis and treatment.
Additionally, just as nurses need to be technical when obtaining vitals or providing an IV, artists must use the correct brushes to create the preferred effect. Also, since artwork is painted with an array of details and meanings, it requires the viewer to use their critical thinking skills. It compels the viewer to look beyond what is depicted to analyze the details more closely and thus, form connections and interpretations based on the visual evidence. Likewise, nursing may involve making decisions that will require one to not only rely on their practical skills, but to also analyze the situation, examine several potential outcomes, and provide clear evidence to support their reasoning. I believe though that the experiences that I have encountered have allowed me to cultivate skills that will help me perform effectively as a student and later as a practicing baccalaureate prepared nurse. For instance, my first two years of college, I struggled with the course work until I learned from a questionnaire that I have a multimodal learning preference. Once I began to incorporate examples, diagrams, and a routine of reading and writing my notes daily, my grades improved. Thus, these skills will not only help me succeed as a student, but later as a nurse too as I will be mindful to present information to my patients in various ways to accommodate for their different learning styles.
Moreover, having been an undergraduate geriatric intern has improved my communication skills since I had to keep up with the physician’s schedule and gather patients’ information in a timely manner so that it could be relayed then to the nurses and physicians. As a student these skills will be useful when communicating with my classmates, but also as a nurse when interacting with other members of the interprofessional care team, patients, and patients’ families. In addition, for the past four years being a volunteer Quranic Studies teacher has enhanced my creativity. For example, I have learned that to effectively teach the Arabic letters to kindergarteners, I must utilize the following teaching strategies: writing the letters in different colors, making up stories, coloring, repeating it out loud as a class, or even having contests. Likewise, as a nurse creativity will be helpful since some patients may learn more from engaging in health-related conversations and doing interactive self-care activities rather than learning from a brochure.
Yet, in the future I hope to combine these interests of volunteering, teaching, and nursing so that I can help address and improve global healthcare needs. I believe this is a goal that nurses can achieve since they not only assist in their patients’ treatments, but also serve as their advocates; thus, they can link them to better health resources. However, I believe nurses can accomplish this by shifting the focus more towards health promotion and disease prevention and thereby, encouraging others to look beyond a patient’s physical health. This means considering the other social determinants of health such as living conditions, socioeconomic status, and social support networks and then developing programs to address those determinants. By addressing these basic needs first, people will more likely to change their behaviors to achieve the overall goal of health promotion and disease prevention. Therefore, I hope that one day I can work with other nurses to improve global health by taking on this whole person, patient-centered care approach.
