Essay Example on I have worked as a Registered Nurse

Hello class I have worked as a Registered Nurse RN for 11 years I completed my Associate Degree at my local community college I worked for 7 years at two different hospitals while I pursued my Bachelor of Science in Nursing BSN degree at Notre Dame of Maryland University in Baltimore My BSN class was an accelerated program with one day a week meeting in a small cohort setting on campus As a novice registered nurse I started out in the acute care setting on the Medical Surgical Med Surg unit at my community hospital As I became comfortable with my duties and responsibilities I floated between the Med Surg unit and the Joint and Spine JAS unit I enjoyed working with the two units and served as a preceptor for new nurses Throughout my career as an acute care registered nurse I noticed a trend of patients who returned to the hospital shortly after discharge As I interviewed and assessed these patients I became more aware of two common factors knowledge deficit and lack of access to community resources I was interested in learning more about the barriers chronic illness these patients experienced and what resources were available in the communities to help them Hence my goal to become a nurse educator began to develop I felt a strong calling to work in the community so that I could educate patients and their caregivers 

I switched hats from acute care nursing to home health nursing and wound care specialty which are my current areas of expertise I ve worked as a home health nurse for the past four years I started out as a case manager coordinating care for 30 45 patients in different geographical areas It was a huge difference from what I was used to I had to step back at a couple of times to re evaluate my decision to work in the community and each time my response was the same help keep my patients safe at home ensuring that they have access to community resources be an advocate educator and ensure smooth care coordination to prevent re hospitalization I was soon an expert in my role and totally enjoy this calling of a home health admission nurse case manager I developed care plans pointed out what the re admissions risks are barriers what's needed and attempted to address most if not all of the barriers I also work as a preceptor for the new hires I precept new hires in various branches in Maryland and have been called upon to case manage many difficult cases I have found that retention of a home health nurse is much lower than that of the acute care setting The home health nurse has to have strong communication and coordination skills otherwise it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the issues at hand There's A lot more of a social worker case manager hat in the home health setting compared to the acute care setting In the acute care setting social workers and case managers are available I have found another reason education is needed in the home is for wound care Patients with chronic illness may have pressure ulcers stasis ulcers diabetic foot ulcers skin tears acute and chronic wounds In order to safely manage these acute and chronic wounds I completed a wound certification course Poly pharmacy Medications management is another issue for which nurses especially home health nurses are needed to address educate patients and their caregivers I have found that many patients have the minimum two doctors managing their care 

Most have a primary care doctor and three or more specialists such as a cardiologist pulmonologist endocrinologist nephrologist rheumatologist dermatologist to name a few Some have a mail order pharmacy local pharmacy and others have the Veteran Affairs pharmacy while some have all three pharmacies filling prescriptions If doctors patients and their pharmacies are not communicating clearly there is a high chance of missing an important piece of information that could lead to patient injury As a nurse I always strive to be knowledgeable about what I am doing practice care that is evidenced based and not because it's being done this way The pursuit of knowledge has driven me to pursue a master's degree in education I want to empower my patients to feel comfortable to speak with their physicians about their health and not feel afraid or feel like they are bothering their doctors educate my patients colleagues in a manner that is simple not overwhelming and set realistic goals As a home health nurse my motivation is to be able to educate while coordinating care between patients and their care team of physicians pharmacies community resources therapists medical social workers so that a patient's care is not disjointed ensuring that everyone is on the same page I enjoy teaching and find it important to teach our older patients in a simple way that they can retain while taking into consideration each patient’s literacy level With a Master's degree in nursing education I am hoping to learn how to do my job better as I work toward my goal of preventing rehospitalization and keeping my patients safe at home After completing the PATCH assessment my score placed me in the category of very confident positive view related to computer applications in healthcare I agree with this finding I work with computers every day at work and at home I am not a skilled typist however I can type with few fingers efficiently I am eager to learn more about nursing informatics to improve patients outcomes