Running head: ROLE TRANSITION

Role Transition
Courtney Sideroff
AU ID #3199654
NURS 250
Marlyss Valiant
Athabasca University
September 12, 2016

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Role Transition
My name is Courtney Sideroff, I am a 24 year old female and I grew up in a small rural
town in Northern Alberta called Fairview. I took my Licensed Practical Nurse training through
NorQuest college in Edmonton, Alberta in which I enjoyed my time and experience in an urban
setting. However, living in Edmonton made me realize I am not that much of a city person, so
after I was done my training I moved back to my hometown in northern Alberta. When moving
back up north I was able to get a job right out of school and was taken under the older nurses
wings when I started working in acute care at a rural hospital. I started out casual in Fairview,
and after approximately 6 months casual, I took a full-time position in Fairview in acute care. I
was eventually granted a job in the emergency room/ outpatient department at the Fairview
Health Complex. Ever since I started schooling, I had always wanted to work in an emergency
room especially in a rural hospital. I have a very good support system that is made up of family,
friends and co-workers, which according to Blais and Hayes (2011) this support will help make
things go more smoothly.
When reflecting on 3 qualities I am proud of, I like to reflect on compliments I am given
at work or in my personal life. One quality I am often complimented on is my personality. I am
proud of having a good personality which in turn helps me have very good people skills. I am
very proud of my personal drive and interest in learning. This is evident through me wanted to go
from diploma nursing to degree nursing, and I always make an effort to attend as many
continuing education courses possible which helps keep my knowledge up to date. I also believe
I am a very compassionate person. I am proud of this because I believe is makes me a better
nurse.

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When reflecting on 3 characteristics I would like to change, I reflected back to times

when I felt uncomfortable or vulnerable. I would like to change how I deal with conflict. I am an
avoider, so I avoid conflict even when it is functional conflict that serves a purpose. I also have
an inability to set my feelings or emotions aside at time, and have troubles controlling my
emotions. I need to work on being less emotional and show displayed emotions instead of felt
emotions at appropriate times. I consider myself a push-over and trying to please everyone is
exhausting so I often find myself burnt out.
As earlier stated my current position is in an emergency room setting that also serves as
an outpatients department within designated hours. The staffing is usually one doctor, one
registered nurse, and a licenced practical nurse. My role includes taking vitals, triaging patients
and implementing patient interventions such as IVs, dressing changes and medication
administration. The RN runs the show in this department and has more responsibility than the
LPN.
There are many aspects I value with this job. The two main things are that I get to interact
with others and provide direct patient care. This makes me feel valuable for I see how
interventions directly help patients. I am also happy that on a daily basis I interact with people. I
always behave in a professional manner. I value that everyday something new or different comes
into the hospital, which gives me plenty of opportunity to learn. This leads me to always be
thinking on my feet, and I feel that the more I am dealing with a variety of things the more
confident I get in my skills and knowledge.
There are also a few things with this job that make me frustrated. It makes me frustrated
that I am often disrespected in this environment. LPNs often do not feel respected in their work
environments (Melrose & Wishart, 2013, p. 110). I feel my opinion does not matter, and I am

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often times given the less desirable jobs because of my designation, or have less respect from
patients. I never speak up about this because I realize my education is not at the level of an RN.
This makes me think that LPNs are worthless and dont deserve respect. It is also frustrating that
other health care professionals think of LPNs as incompetent. I feel very upset when I point
something out and the doctor will ignore it because he/she believes LPNs dont know anything,
or others feel I am incapable of doing certain tasks because of my designation. Another thing that
is frustrating is when patients ask if I am a LPN or RN, and when I state my designation they
will make remarks like youre not a real nurse or why arent you an RN. There is a stigma
around the LPN designation which makes me feel undervalued and self-conscious. I think a
majority of people do not know the knowledge or scope of an LPN. I often feel the need to prove
myself to others due to not being an RN, so I behave in an uneasy manner at times.
I believe the roles described as frustrating in the earlier paragraph have motivated me to
continue my education and take part in the RN program. The change I am partaking in is
planned change. A planned change is an intentional change that is purposeful (Blais & Hayes,
2011, p. 254). My approach to this change will be empirical-rational. The evidence that the
approach will be empirical- rational is because this approach emphasises that people will change
if it is in their own self-interest (Blais & Hayes, 2011, p. 256). This transition is in my own selfinterest. The things noted in the prior paragraphs that I find enjoyable now as an LPN, I will still
be able to partake in as an RN such as patient interactions and interventions. With this type of
change my history as an LPN will help with my transition, and help be a motivator in the sense
that most of my frustrations are to do with an RN bias. With my new role as an RN I will
embrace getting respect, others having more confidence in my skills and knowledge. I will feel
and behave more confidently with my increased education. The most difficult thing I will have to

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let go of is my current reliance on the RNs as they are the bosses out in the emergency room
that make all the important decisions and have a lot more responsibility than LPNs. I do not
believe that letting go of this reliance on RNs will cause any resistance to change in my
transitioning. If I do find personal resistance to this change I will use the managing change
technique of emphasising the positive consequences of change and how I am going to benefit
(Blais & Hayes, 2011, p. 265).

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References
Blais, K. K., & Hayes, J.S. (2011). Professional nursing practice: Concepts and perspectives
(6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Melrose, S. Wishart, P. (2013). Resisting, reaching out and re-imagining to independence: LPN's
transitioning towards BCs and beyond. International Journal of Nursing Education
Scholarship, 10(1), 101-113. doi:10.1515/ijnes-2012-0033

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