As one may imagine, Professional Nursing 2 expanded upon and built from

manty of the theories, concepts, and clinical skills we obtained and honed
during Professional Nursing 1. This course then took things a step further by
applying the nursing process which we studied diligently in Professional
Nursing 1 to both acute and chronically ill patients while beginning to handle
the organization of their care. This courses lecture delves into med-surg
which details care for clients, pre-op, care during the operation, and post-op
care. The floor I was on for this clinical was a medical-surgical unit with Dr.
Shortreed at St. Josephs in Warren. This opportunity allowed for me to apply
much of the knowledge I was obtaining through lecture to my pre- and post-
operative patients in clinical. We were then asked to relate the evidence-
based research from nursing and medical disciplines to encourage health
promotion and rehabilitation of patients and families with acute and chronic
health care needs. Students were also dutied with the task of education,
ensuring both the patient and their families received adequate information
regarding their acute, chronic, and rehabilitative health care needs. This
course, and my clinical specifically, provided a strong emphasis on teaching
and the importance/necessity of all nurses to be continually teaching their
patients while under our care. I worked diligently to become a better
communicator and stronger leader for my patients so they would be able to
turn to me for guidance when they felt they obtained deficient knowledge
pertaining to their health or disease processes.
There was one specific experience which occurred while I was in the clinical
setting for this course where I felt particularly overwhelmed with frustration,
a moment which built my character both personally and
professionally. I was discussing with my assigned
patient their expected surgery and had decided that
I would provide them with teaching on ostomy care
prior to their operation due to the fact that we had a
few hours to kill. When I was describing the process of
cleaning a stoma and replacing a colostomy bag,
the patient seemed quite confused and began asking many
questions. It quickly became apparent that this
patient had never been informed of the fact that they
would require an ostomy for the short term, and
potentially long term, as a result of this operation. We demanded the surgery
be postponed until the operating surgeon performed his required duty of
thoroughly explaining the operation to the patient. Although a nursing
student can always reinforce the teaching, the patient should never have
been so deficient of this knowledge (clearly no fault of their own).