Nursing History

Conversation With the Selected Nurse Template

Introduction:

Student Introduction and Statement of Purpose ( 20 points)

(Student): Am a student of ---. The purpose of this conversation is to find out your experienced as an Rn, compare some aspects that has improved based on recent evidenced-based practice and how the nursing practice will look like based on how we provide care. During our conversation, what name do you preferred me to call you?

Selected Nurse Introduction (20 points)

(Selected Nurse): My name is --, I have been an RN for the past 15 years and currently works as a nurse practitioner at ---. Previously I used to work as a nurse supervisor --- Hospital. I will be glade to answer any question about my nursing carrier, how am impacting the lives of patients and their families. I preferred to be called by my last name during our conversation.

Selected Nurse States Verbal Permission for Conversation and Submission (25 points)

(Student): Do you agree to this recorded conversation and submission to my instructor for grading purposes?

(Selected Nurse): I agree to be recorded and submitted for grading purposes.

Questions and Answers

Question 1

(Student): What are your favorite memories of nursing school from your Student days?

(Selected Nurse): One of my favorite memories of nursing school was when my class went on clinicals for the first time at a small local clinic. During that time, the clinic was organizing a health program about how to handle and preserve food at home. This was supposed to be our first clinical experience and you can imagine how anxious we were but only to realize we were just going out there to give health talk to the community. I had the opportunity to speak with people about their health issues, we thought them how to handle and preserve their fresh foods and after that, we had lunch together with the people. That was when I realized that nursing was not all about giving medication but there were more areas that were fun.

(Student): That was fun because, during my first clinical practice, my instructor told us that, what we learned in the book is totally different and that we will be dealing with the real situation so, we should be ready to face the challenges that come with nursing. I can imagine who the feeling was because you were ready to face the real world and then you realized it was the opposite. I guess your class would always like to go for clinical practice at the place.

Question 2

(Student): How did your first year of RN practice compare to your nursing practice today?

(Selected Nurse): There has been a lot of changes as compared to when I first started my nursing career. I used to be scare about how I can detect changes in patients’ conditions and how to contact their physician. This was the part I never like during my first year of nursing. I was scared that the doctor will ask question about the patient which I might not know and will look like am not competent enough about my job. But now through experience and working from one job to the other, I get to speak to a lot of physicians with ease without having that kind of anxiety that I used to have. Now, I can easily diagnose, think critically, and draw a plan of care based on the experience acquired during my 15 years of practice.

(Student): Thought I was the only one who had the same feeling when started my first job as a nurse. This is one thing that every new nurse has experienced and will always say that, practice makes one perfect and that we should grab every opportunity that comes our way to learn something new so that we can provide the best and quality care as possible.

Question 3

(Student): What were some nursing practices that you used in your earlier years that are no longer used today? Why are they no longer used?

(Selected Nurse): Back in my country, after you complete nursing school, you can be placed in any area of the facility, I remember I was working at the labor and delivery care unit. Here we used to put babies to sleep by placing them on their stomach to prevent them from aspirating or choking and mothers used to sleep on the same bed with their babies. This practice was done everywhere and even in American when I first started working as a nurse. But now research has proved that sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) was a result of this practice of baby sleeping on their stomach and on the same bed with their mothers. Research has all evidence that proves that this practice contributes to SIDS and as such babies should sleep on a firm bed with nothing on their bed and should be placed in a supine position. Mothers should never sleep on the same bed with their babies.

(Student): Yes, I remember this because I used to put my son to sleep using this position and he sleeps for a long time and I really like that position but for safety reasons, I adopted to the supine position even though he was not able to sleep that long within that position.

Question 4

(Student): How have specific persons or events significantly impacted your practice over the years?

(Selected Nurse): Over the years, I had the intention of going to school to attain my degree but when I got pregnant, I had to relax and stay back to take care of my baby. This really made me forget about school until I had an issue with one physician and after that incident, I said to myself its time for me to upgrade my carrier. This happened when I called a doctor about what to use when cleaning a wound, he made mention of one drug which to him was no longer used for wound dressing and I carried that order. Later my supervisor calls me and said that I was supposed to find out about that medicine and that the physician said he knew that medicine was no longer used for wound treatment but wanted to try and see if it will work and because I did not know I carried that order. This incident gave me the edge to further my education and now am a nurse practitioner. The physician stopped working for that facility and I never had the chance to tell him what inspired me to become who am I today.

(Student): I always say to myself that we should always learn from any opportunity that comes our way. You had the idea of going to school but what will motivate you to pursue your dreams was not there until this physician’s incidence came through as awake up call for you to further your education.

Question 5

(Student): How have you impacted the nursing practice of others?

(Selected Nurse): There are a lot of ways that one can use to impact the nursing practice from one person to the other and not specifically in nursing but other professions as well. I always encourage my colleagues to update themselves to attain new information on how to deliver care. As a nurse, I use my experience to advocate, teach, support and deliver outstanding care support to patients and their families. One thing I keep saying to my self is that take every day as an opportunity to make a difference in other peoples’ lives. Through the process of care delivery, patient teaching, interacting with colleagues, and other healthcare personnel, one can always impact the lives of each other.

(Student): Off course our daily practice is an opportunity for us to make an impact in the lives of our patients and others. Marking impacts in the nursing practice should always be our priority. Nursing is a profession that most people look up to us and as such, we set am example for them to follow.

Question 6

(Student): What contributions have you made to nursing in the areas of leadership, provision of care, and/or evidence-based practice?

(Selected nurse): I remember when I was the unite manager at one rehab Center, we realized that most of the patients were sent back to the hospital due to infections. As a leader, I had to figure out what measures can be put in place to reduce infections on the unite. I organized in-service on handwashing, disinfecting equipment, using alcohol wipes for invasive procedures, placing precaution posts or signs, and equipment right at the door and disinfecting the floors on a regular basis. After some time, the rate of sending the patient to the hospital reduced from 18% to 9% within 8months.

(Student): This is one of the techniques that needs to be implemented in every facility to reduce the hospital-acquired infections. Also, if we are assigned to a number a patient on a regular basis, we can easily identify signs of infections on time, provide the right medications and put measures in place before it gets out of hand.

Question 7

(Student): What challenges in today’s nursing can be improved using lessons from the past?

(Selected Nurse): One of the challenges in nursing that can be improved using experience is, working for long hours. Nurses work long hours which results in burnout, patient dissatisfaction, and medical errors. In the previous years, nurses work for short hours which promoted patient satisfaction, they were able to provide total patient care which eventually prevented potential errors. Reach shows that working long hours might cause depression, anxiety, and insomnia. So, I think if health care facilities will agree to change from long to short hours it will promote patient-centered care and the health of the nurses as well.

(Student): As nurses, our priority is the wellbeing of our patients and we are ready to deliver our best without risking our lives. Long working hours, one is of the biggest challenges that need to address as far as the health of both the nurse and patients are concerned.

Question 8

(Student): Who is your favorite famous Nurse from nursing history?

(Selected Nurse): Florence Nightingale is one of my favorite nurses from nursing history. Even though she is the first nurse that we know, she made a lot of impact in nursing such as research on how to provide quality care which in today’s nursing is known as an evidence-based practice. She was passionate, caring, and inspired her fellow young ones to follow her steps during patient care.

(Student): Florence Nightingale is also one of my favorite nurses from nursing history. Not only did she determine to improve the healthcare system, but she also establish training school where she will impart her knowledge onto the up-coming nurses as well. She also wanted nurses to be independent in terms of how to apply critical thinking and judgment during patient care.

Question 9

(Student): How do you use that famous Nurse’s examples in your own practice?

(Selected Nurse): Up to date, we still use most of the legacies set in place by Florence Nightingale. It was her plan that nursing will be an independent profession, where they will take instructions or orders from doctors and make decisions or judgment about the orders. All of these are seen in our nursing practice today. She did a lot of research on how to improve patient care. Today, as nurses we are still finding and implementing measures to promote patient safety such as, drafting data on patients who are a risk for falling, taking measures such as an alarm on wheelchairs and beds of confused patients, or placing such patients closer to nurses stations and requesting psychiatrist consult. This is an example of the evidenced-based approaches that Florence did to ensure the safety of her patient even though it was not the same topic but was the same approach.

(Student): Yes, Nightingale did some research which in today’s nursing is known as an evidence-based practice. Nurses are using the same approach to provide quality patient care. As nurses, it is our obligation to provide safety precautions for our patients. Drawing data on the number of fall cases, implementing ways of reducing such incidence, and tallying both data will set as a guide during care diving.

Question 10

(Student): Based on your nursing past, what advice would you give to the new Nurse today?

(Selected Nurse): Based on my past nursing experience, I will advise my fellow upcoming nurses to further their education because nursing is evolving with new methods, treatments, and procedures. Through education, they can acquire more knowledge on how to provide care and have the latest information at their disposal. When I compare my past nursing with the presents, I can confidently say that it through education and experience that has made me to become a good nurse so will edge my fellow upcoming nurses to do the same.

(Student): I will also give the same advice to my fellow colleagues based on the changes in the health care sectors and due to technology advancement and increase in patients’ expectations. If we consider the patients as our family members, then we will look for more advance nursing procure to implement during caregiving.

Optional Question

(Student): why did you become a nurse?

(Selected Nurse): There is no day in my life that I have regretted being a nurse. I had the passion of caring for the sick because when I was 10 years old my grandfather got sick and I was the oldest among my siblings so I had to take care of him whenever my parents go to work. That was when I developed the passion of becoming a doctor, but my parent could not afford my fees at that time and I had to do the nursing instead.

(Student): I also became a nurse because my mother had always wanted to be a nurse, but her parents wanted her to take over their bakery store which made her complete catering school instead. So, I took that idea to become a nurse to make her proud and I can for a fact that I like my job and I love taking care of the sick.

Conclusion:

Gratitude (20 points)

(Student): Thank you --- for creating time to share your ideas and experiences with me. I like the fact that you did not hesitate on sharing and imparting your knowledge onto me, as Florence Nightingale did during her time. Thank you once again for your time and nice meeting you. Have a blessed day. Thank you once again for your time.

(Selected Nurse): Thank you for allowing me to elaborate on how my nursing career has been so far. Now I know I was not the only one who benefited from my nursing education so will edge you to continue with your education to become an inspiration to others as I just did. Do not hesitate to contact me with any problem, enjoy your day and have a blessed one as well. Thank you.

Summary (20 points)

(Student): This was an interview about a selected nurse who reveals how her nursing carrier has been so far, who her favorite nurse was in the history of nursing and how she is making an impact in her area of practice. Her conversation uncovered certain practices previously used in nursing that can be implemented to change our system of caregiving. We further discussed how nursing is evolving which is demanding us to update ourselves to get newer information on how to use an evidence-based approach to deliver care. We concluded on how she is impacting the practices of others through her diverse ways of caregiving.