Reflective Journal: Value Of The Nurse-Patient Relationship

Reflective Journal One:

I chose nursing as a profession because I saw the value of the intimacy of the nurse-patient relationship and the ability of the nurse to have a significant impact on a patient’s life. My favorite part about my nursing career has been the connection that I have made with patients and their families. When reflecting on my nursing career and the patients, I think of the hospitalized, critically ill ones, incapable of caring for themselves; experiencing one of the hardest times in their lives. While extremely difficult to experience this with patients, it has pushed me to expand my knowledge, critically think, and ultimately work my best to approach every patient situation with courtesy, honesty, and respect. In contrast, as I began this journey to become a nurse practitioner, I never understood what it would be like to work in an outpatient, community setting, and how it would foster a change in me. Being able to be on the preventative side of practice, to have the hard conversations with patients before they are critically ill, is very empowering. I have been able to see patients often, discuss with them more than just one illness, while attempting to truly understand them as people. I have been able to follow up with patients about their treatments and …show more content…
For as long as I can remember, this has been my goal, what I have studied for, strived for, and dreamed of. I always knew going into nursing school that I wanted to be a nurse practitioner and be able to care for patients and connect with them, and to be their provider. When I started graduate school at University of North Carolina, my dreams of being a nurse practitioner were weighed down by the length of the program, the clinical hours, and the concept of full time school and working full time due to financial constraints. While it has not been easy, it has been worth