Reflective Exemplar

Alysia Brillhart

Wow! I honestly cannot believe that my last semester of nursing school will be coming

to an end in about one week. I can definitely say that I feel that I have grown both as an

individual and professionally during this program.

As an individual, I feel that I have become more confident in myself. When this program

first began, I really wasn’t very confident in myself at all. However, with all of the experiences I

have been involved with over the last few years, I feel that I have shown so much improvement

in this aspect as an individual. I can also say that professionally I have gained so much

confidence as well. As a professional, I have become more confident with communicating with

patients and other nurses, as well as I have become more confident with nursing skills, such as

assessments, medication administration, etc.

Secondly, I feel that I have really expanded on my critical thinking skills as an individual

and as a future nurse. Critical thinking is something that I struggled with at the beginning of the

nursing program because even though I had been a nurse’s aide for quite awhile, I hadn’t

developed the ability to “think like a nurse” yet. There have been a few instances in the clinical

setting that I had to think critically, such as whether to give a blood pressure lowering

medication to a patient whose blood pressure was already on the low end or whether to

administer high doses of insulin to a patient whose blood sugar was borderline. I have also

realized that lecture tests are becoming easier to comprehend because I have developed the

ability to think critically. I have been able to choose priority actions using the ABC (airway,

breathing, circulation) method.

Thirdly, I feel that I have gained the ability to advocate for my patients. There was a
situation I was involved in recently in clinical in which my patient stated that she had

continuously expressed that the pain medication she was receiving was not being effective. This

patient had chronic pain related to her cancer and I communicated with her that I would

address that with her nurse so that something more could be done. I could have easily brushed

this off and let someone else deal with it, but I felt that it was my responsibility to hear my

patient out and get her on the proper medication.

When it comes to my personal philosophy of nursing, I feel that nursing is the act of

being confident in yourself and your skills, thinking critically, advocating for patients,

developing a trusting relationship with patients and always ensuring that you are providing

safe, compassionate and quality care to all of your patients. These are all values that I feel are

important when it comes to the care that I provide to all of my patients. I try my best to display

these attitudes during each interaction with my patients.

Overall, I truly feel that this program has helped me grow as an individual and as a

professional. I feel that I have learned so much in just a short span of time and I truly can’t

thank the instructors at Aultman College enough for helping get this far. I will most definitely

use what I have learned at Aultman College and incorporate my philosophy of nursing to make

a difference in the lives of patients that I will care for in the near future.