Nursing

The reflective essay involves interviewing a Registered Nurse and presenting the interview in an essay form.
If you do not know a Registered Nurse your admission representative will assist you with identifying an interviewee. Students
should use the questions below for the interview in developing the essay. Students may ask questions in addition to the ones
below but should keep the interview limited to no more than one hour. The essay must include responses to the following
questions:
1. Why did you choose nursing as a profession?
2. What was nursing school like for him or her? Ask them:
 How they managed and balanced work, family and life and the difficulties
 The level of commitment to school required to be successful (hrs. required for studying, social life, workload, etc.)
 What their clinical and lab experiences were like
 How they prepared for examinations and the NCLEX
3. Describe their top three patient memories and why they are memorable
4. What does the phrase “NurseLife” mean to this nurse?
5. What is the hardest thing about being a nurse?
6. Reflect and discuss what your thoughts are about the interview. Did the interview change your perspective on nursing, on
nursing school or life?
In asking the questions above, be sure to ask your nurse to be specific and provide examples and stories. Please do not use any
identifying information (i.e., names, relatives, etc.) about any patients discussed during the interview in your answer.

ANSWER

For this reflective essay, I chose Miss Jane Smith as my interviewee. Jane is a registered nurse at ABC Hospital working in the maternity ward. She chose nursing as a career because she believes she was always a caregiver. In the playground, children would get hurt and she would be first to administer first aid for all kinds of problems that could occur when children are playing. She would attend to small cuts, mild chocking and mild joint pains on her friends as easy as she could talk or walk. In some sense, she always knew and felt that this was the direction her life would take. In adulthood, she finds the career fulfilling. She feels that she can make a difference every single day by literally saving lives. In the wards, she meets interesting people daily, some she strikes a permanent friendship with, others she gets to enjoy their company. As is already clear, Jane is a people person and enjoys meeting new people almost every day, learn a thing or two from them and increase her efficiency as a health practitioner.

The first thing Jane remembers about nursing school is the demand for discipline and commitment. She had to get up on time and attend all classes all of the time. She remembers how she struggled a little with the strict schedule but she admits that it has helped develop her skills so far. “Nurses being on time could mean the difference between a patient who heals and a patient who does not,” she says. She finds it funny how at social gatherings she is always first to finish eating and she has to explain that it is an occupational hazard. Efficiency first, comfort later. However, she remembers other things as well, like how she was first weirded out in her clinical and lab experience by the human anatomy in classes and how bare and plain everything was but then she adjusted and has grown to see it as normal. She particularly had to study hard for examinations and the NCLEX.

She remembers several patients, the first one being a young handsome man who went ahead to become her husband who had been admitted for a broken limb sustained while playing basketball. She also remembers attending to high government executive who she refused to disclose the name and lastly a small boy when she was about nine or ten years who choked on a candy bar at the park and she was able to administer first aid successfully without any training at all. “I think that was my determining moment,” she says. Since then nurse life has meant everything to her. At home and in the streets, people call her doctor and she responds to all their health questions. She has to know what is ailing a baby from a mother’s description in a grocery store among other places. Nursing is life for her.

Jane says that amongst the first thing her mentor told her is to never get attached to patients, a concept she had continuously failed at. Her mentor had told her that getting attached came at risk in the event the patient does not recover. “Imagine grieving this week for a friend, and next week and the week after that?” she says. It is not easy. She says it is as difficult now as it was when she first began her career. I inquired how often that happens and she says that since she moved to the maternity ward, it has become less in occurrence and instead of loss of life, she gets to welcome new life every day at work.

After speaking to Jane and observing her passion for the career and how achieved she is, I think I am more determined to succeed in nursing school and begin my noble profession as a nurse.