All About Nursing School

As I had mentioned before, I am a first year nursing student at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT). When first applying to nursing school I wasn’t sure what to expect or if I even wanted to become a nurse! Of course I had some inspiration behind me and thought nursing might just work for me but I wasn’t positive. Some of the things that attracted me to nursing in the first place are that it is easy to travel with, you can get days off because you are working twelve hour shifts (of course there are some downfalls to that too), you get to help people, and the biggest attraction - you can get a job guaranteed right out of school. After my first semester here at school I have realized that there are many aspects to becoming a nurse that I had never thought about. I had expected to be taking almost strictly science based courses such as chemistry and biology first semester but the only class close to this is anatomy and physiology. The other courses that we have are all directly nursing courses. The truth is that we need to learn how to write properly, we need to learn how to care, and we need to know all of the aspects behind being healthy. Of course on top of this, we have learned some basic nursing skills such as making a bed, giving a bed bath, and doing oral hygiene. Nursing school is stressful with something always being due or waiting for marks back from past papers, it’s hard to believe it actually went by fast! With clinical next semester and many more skills waiting to be learned in the future I have much to look forward to. Although it is stressful, and is bound to get even more so, I’m sure it will all be worth it in the end.

What It Takes To Be A Nurse

Nursing; what does this word mean to you? The truth is that there is no specific definition out there that could fully describe everything nurses do. To be a nurse it takes someone special. Not everyone will have the ability to become a great nurse. Nursing takes someone who is willing to open up to another person and genuinely listen to that person. Nurses must be patient, understanding, and compassionate. The most important part is that you put your all into every shift so that both you and the patient can get the most out of it. As quoted by Mother Theresa "It is not how much you do, but how much love you put in the doing." Nursing can be such a rewarding job and can be just as important to saving a person’s life as a major operation if you put your heart into every action you perform each day.

Nursing Shortage

An ongoing issue in nursing that will affect me in the future is the nursing shortage. Not only will this shortage affect me in terms of feeling rushed and under pressure, but it will also affect the care I am able to provide for my patients. This is a major issue that needs to be of high priority in the health care system. Nurses should be granted more respect than they are now being given so that more people will be interested in pursuing it as their career of choice. If you think about it, nothing in the world of health care would work without the help of nurses; it’s all about team work! If this issue isn’t resolved to some extent soon, health care itself might be in jeopardy.

Technology in Health Care

Communication, especially in the hospital setting is very important. It is vital because patients need to be able to communicate their needs and concerns with their nurses and care providers. Not only is communication important for nurse to patient interactions but also for between healthcare providers. Technology is providing easier and more efficient ways to communicate between one another. Language barriers for example, can be overcome through the use of technology. Through the use of consoles nurses can connect to an interpreter within 40 seconds. Through the use of computers and hand-held computing devices healthcare providers can communicate more easily between each other and therefore provide better patient care. Therefore, in my opinion I believe technology is health care is overall beneficial and helpful.