Final Analysis

Coming into nursing school was a time full of

anxiety and excitement. Having the little previous
experience helping with my grandmothers care and
working in Assisted Living facilities I knew how to
provide basic care for Activities of Daily Living
(ADL) but no reasoning of why it was done. By my
sophomore year, I was learning more about the
foundations of nursing and had taken extra classes
to become a Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) and
Certified Medication Aide (CMA). It was during this
time that I learned basic knowledge about caring
and medication administration.
When my junior year came, the overwhelming
world of critical thinking as a nurse came flushing
in. I learned the thorough concepts of Adult
Nursing and pathopharmacology, how and what to
assess for, and clinical manifestations related to
common found diseases. With the combination of
my new found knowledge and work experience, I
quickly grasped the clinical skills in which we were
taught in practicum. I was able to not only know
how to perform clinical skills but had the
knowledge to know WHY they were done. By the
end of my first semester junior year, I was able to
look at a patients clinical manifestations and
connect how they were related to their medical
diagnoses. General nursing concepts were
beginning to click. Although my understanding
of the nursing world was growing, I knew I was
nowhere to be done. My confidence in nursing
skills and knowledge was lacking. It was this
semester that my interest in community nursing

also started to excel, as we learned about health

needs globally and locally through the Vulnerable
Populations course.
During my second semester junior year I was
blessed with the opportunity to work in the
Emergency Department as an ER Tech at Richmond
Community Hospital. This position allowed me to
excel in my clinical skills, experience the concepts
in which I had learned in school at a deeper depth,
and further grow my interest in community
nursing. It was this semester that I continued to
learn about Adult Nursing in Critical Care as well as
Pathopharmacology. I was able to understand/
learn more about the body systems, what happens
when systems fails, and how to manage it through
nursing and medications. Although this was very
intimidating for me, it was extremely interesting to
learn. I started to gain confidence in my success in
becoming a nurse, my gain in knowledge and
nursing skills. Through mental health and my
adult nursing practicums I was able to experience
more nursing opportunities in community settings.
My senior year started as one filled with the
knowledge of nursing specialties such as Womens
Health, Geriatrics, and Pediatrics. Through these
classes I was able to further understand the
systems of the body and apply it to a variety of
patient conditions in different developmental
stages of life. I felt that I was finally getting to the
point of becoming a nurse generalist. I was able to
easily apply basic nursing comprehension to
patients of different stages in development.
During clinical and assignments I no longer had to

look information up to find answers, but look

information up to confirm what I had already
known. My confidence had increased even more, I
was no longer apprehensive of what I was going to
face during clinical but intrigued on what I learning
experiences I would have the opportunity to
experience next.
My second semester senior year has had the
largest growth for me. Through my immersion, I
have become clinically confident in my nursing
practice and skill. I have been able to learn and
be able of independently performing many things I
would not have even dreamed of doing prior to
entering nursing school. During clinical and work I
find that I am now confidently able to join
conversations/voice concern about patient medical
conditions with other healthcare staff. At times
during this semester I have surprised myself with
the wealth of knowledge and comprehension I have
attained during my four years at Bon Secours. My
synthesis course has allowed me to gather
knowledge and apply it to a patients condition as a
whole. Servant Leadership has enabled me to see
myself as a leader and prepare to help those
around me become the best they can be.
Although I have grown tremendously since joining
this program, I still have much to learn as nursing
is a growing field in which learning is a continuous
act. My clinical, assessment, and critical thinking
skills can only improve with time and experience.
As I start to end my journey at Bon Secours, I look
back and see how much I have overcome and
gained. I will continue to review the information I

have learned throughout these years to be

completely confident in my passing of the NCLEX.
I will continue to learn about community resources
and new evidence base practice to use/teach
patients. I will take the confidence I am leaving
the school with into my new role as a Critical Care
Registered Nurse in the Richmond Community
Hospital Emergency Department, and know that
this too will be a challenging and new experience
that will allow me to further grow.