Final Analysis

Throughout nursing school, I have done learned and practiced many skills in both

practicum settings on campus as well as in clinical settings in the hospital or real

practice. The overall learning experience has been positive and as I finish up immersion,

I believe it is paying off. This nursing program has prepared me well when it comes to

skills and experience. I have been fortunate enough to have done clinicals at St. Francis,

St. Mary’s and Memorial Regional. I have also had the pleasure of attending Cumberland

hospital for my mental health course. Within the course, the thing that I believe helped

me the most was the simulations. I believe this because most of the simulations

required a list of skills to be presented based on cues and clinical reasoning. Simulations

allowed time to put situations together with solutions. Finding solutions based on the

presented symptoms and data helps understand the concepts and material in a way that

causes you to think quickly and put pieces together in the moment of an emergency.

Next would be the actual hands-on clinical experience. Clinicals built my confidence and

really made me think if nursing was for me because in that moment you are performing

skills that as a PCT you may have performed but you are assuming a different role and

taking on more. As a nursing student you are becoming introduced to what it is like

being a nurse on different units and it also helps you develop a flow of doing things and

seeing what type of time management techniques work for you. Clinicals helped me

with communicating to my patients and how to perform my tasks in a trusting and safe

way. Performing a task on a real person is a little different then on a sim. Within clinicals,
I have found that certain task is a little personal and can be a little hard to complete in

person like foleys, IVs=, and blood draws.

Despite the difficulties of being a PCT and working multiple jobs, I did find that

my previous experiences have help me navigate my soon to be nursing career. The

hardest part about nursing school was the educational portion. Although I have yet to

take the NCLEX I have daily anxiety about that. Overall nursing school has been one of

my greatest experiences and achievements. I honestly did not think I would finish but I

am finally a few weeks away from graduation and I still can’t believe it. This journey has

been amazing but extremely stressful. I managed multiple jobs throughout nursing

school and somehow, I managed to finish the program. Some areas that co9uld benefit

for growth would be IV medications, blood draws, and assessments. I also would like to

gain more confidence in my skills overall, I found that most of the time I get nervous and

may forget how to do something due to this nervousness and anxiety, but I am very

aware of the steps and how to complete it. I noticed myself struggling with this often in

immersion right now and I do not want this to prevent me from being efficient. I believe

continuous practice will help build my confidence as well as taking initiative and asking

questions regardless of how simple it may appear. In efforts to build my confidence I try

to engage in conversations with the patients to ensure that I am as calm as possible so I

can deliver the best care possible.

I hope to have more opportunities to start IVs and collect labs in my orientation

so that I can build my confidence in those skills as well. Luckily, I am responsible for

assessments each shift with immersion, so I have been getting better with my document
per my preceptor’s recent feedback, but I still can advance my skills more when it comes

to identifying cues for intervention and identifying interventions when things appear

abnormal. I often forget to assess certain things and notice the comments from the

previous nurse, and this then allows me to go back and do some more research on this

finding to ensure that I am charting accurate information. Overall, I believe the best way

to grow in these skills is repetition and practice.