Running head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL 1

Reflective journal: shyness in NURS 209 and NURS 213

Abeer Manea 10138483

University of Calgary in Qatar

NURS 213

Hanin Omar

May 21, 2015

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Shyness in NURS 209 and NURS 213

The courses that I am in are providing a lot of information which is going to help me later

on in my nursing career. Last semester, I joined NURS 209. It was my first clinical course. I

enjoyed being there because I had a chance to practice my future profession. During my practice

in the hospital which was Hmad medical corporation HMC, I had a lot of barriers which hinder

my ability as a nursing student. When I was working in HMC I had a routine. First, in the

morning I introduce myself to the assigned nurse. Then I start reading SBAR documentation in

the medication profile for the patients in order to have an idea about their case. Secondly, I took

vital sings signs machine and start my tour around for the three patients. Thirdly, I introduce

myself to the patient and his family. Fourthly, I follow the nurse and help her when she performs

the morning care for all patients. While this semester in NURS 213, it is a bit different. In the

first two classes, I had not had an idea how the patients care is going to be. When my instructor

told us to be more independent and do not follow the nurse, honestly, I was really scared. But

when I went home I tried so hard to make for myself a pathway for the whole shift. Fortunately,

the plan worked with me successfully. During that time, I started comparing between the two

courses. I found a lot of things to write about, but the major difference that was apparent for me

is being shy. As a nursing student, I am writing this paper to compare my shyness in both

courses NURS 209 and NURS 213.

Last semester, I was one of the shyest students in the course. I suffered a lot during the

course due to my shyness. I was trying so hard to overcome shyness. Sometimes it works, and

sometimes it does not. What made my life terrible last semester is I was in males unite. For me
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as a traditional Muslim girl, I have not been in situations where I touch men. It was really

difficult for me to touch men and talk with them and participate with them during their

hospitalization. This semester, when I knew that the unite which I am going to be in is for

females I was extremely happy. Because I know with females usually I do not feel shy. I can go

to the patients room confidently and I can perform different skills without being nervous or

anxious. I remembered when I was in NURS 209; I read a journal article about shyness.

According to Karabacak and Oztunc (2014), shyness is considered to be one of the major causes

of disturbing behaviors, I am curious, how is shyness a cause of disturbing behavior?. Compared

to that semester, I feel more comfortable with being with females more than males.

Comparing myself with others caused a lot of psychological problems for me. I used to

compare me with my sister because she does not feel shy no matter what. Thus, I decided to

avoid thoughts about others and keep improving myself till I feel that I am doing what I am

supposed to do. Actually, I started that this semester. I have never been better; I feel that I am

capable of taking care of my patient independently. During the two weeks vacation I created a

plan for myself to avoid shyness. One of my goals was to spend more time in the patient room as

much as I can; because when I work more with patient my shyness will disappears gradually

Great!. In NURS 213, most of the time I spend it with my patient. I started doing things alone

such as bathing, and bed making. I know these things seem to be easy for others, but for me they

look like I applied half what I have learned in the university. If you mean being confident,

communicating effectively, working independently and developing your skills, then yes, you

have applied half your education this past week!

I choose this experience to talk about because it affected a lot last semester. Whenever I

feel shy I start to shaking, sweating, and my color starts to change into red. Even I feel shy to
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wake the patient up in the morning. But now I started to wake patient, make their beds, and help

them in bathing. I stated to do things; I thought I will never do them. This course is giving me the

courage I missed when I was in NURS 209. It sounds like YOU gave yourself the courage you

were missing in 209 I will deny the role my instructor played in this course. Whenever I have

nothing to do she encourages me to some head to toe assessment. Doing these assessments

helped me in developing a nurse-patient relationship. In addition, when I was in 209 course we

used to have three patients to take care of but in 213 course we have only one patient for each

student. I think that plays an important role in focusing in one case instead of three. That helped

me in taking care of one patient and applying what I have learned throughout the courses. In this

course, I also started to show empathy when communication with patient because last semester

even when I feel empathy for patients I cannot show it. In one of my courses, showing empathy

to patients makes the nurse understands their feeling and their own understanding of being ill

(Arnold & Boggs, 2011). As a result, it achieves successful therapeutic relationship.

In conclusion, I believe that I am getting much stronger than before. Currently, I am

planning to keep doing what I am doing and interact with patients more. This is extremely a

significant chance for me to apply all what I have learned so far because last semester I had not

had an opportunity to deal with females. In the future, if I was assigned to be with males patient I

will be more than happy to do that because I will force myself to achieve justice for all my

patients. I want them all to have equal care no matter of their gender.
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References

Arnold, E. C., & Boggs, K. U. (2011). Interpersonal Relationships. (6th ed.). United State,

Missouri: Elsevier Saunders.

Karabacak, K., & Oztunc, M. (2014). The effect of addiction for communication tools in the

feeling of shyness and loneliness. International Journal of Academic Research, 6(1),

368-373.

Details of Experience (what happened, why, who did it involve): Instructors Comments
and feedback
2/2
Analysis of experience: 4/4
Why was this challenging or interesting?
How did I respond? What, if anything, would I have done differently?
Explain.
What roles did others play and how did this affect my response?
Did the experience make me feel comfortable or uncomfortable, and
why?
What did I learn from this experience?
Will it change the way I think, act or behave as a nurse? How?

What information from nursing courses N203, 205 and 211 helped 2/2
me understand what was happening? What does the literature say
about it?
(You must research the situation and cite 2 references)
APA format 2/2
References (2, from an appropriate, professional site)
Total mark out of 10: (6 or more = P) 10/10