Throughout every step of nursing school, I have been constantly reaffirmed that this is the profession I was born to be in, however I was not always aware of that. When I was growing up, the thought of becoming a nurse never crossed my mind, until one day when everything changed. I went from being a normal high school athlete to a couch-ridden, back brace wearing 15 year old. I suddenly was in the doctor’s office every other week, getting countless tests done to try and find the cause of my mysterious back pain. For the next 15 months I would come to know my physicians and nurses quite well specifically my orthopedist, Dr. C. After I was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that was attributed as the cause of my back pain, I went in for a 6-month follow-up appointment with Dr. C. At this point I was in fairly good health, having stopped the activities that were the cause of my pain, and Dr. C made a comment that forever changed my path in life. He said “you know, it’s usually the kids who spend as much time as you did in hospitals and doctor’s offices that usually end up going into the health care field,” and that really struck me. Prior to that statement, I had not even considered a career in health care, but with that statement in my mind I did a bit of research and decided that I felt a calling to the profession of nursing. Based on the little research that I had done, I decided to start looking for schools with well-known nursing programs and I chose to go to Creighton, somewhat on a whim. Thinking back, I think it was fate that lead me to Creighton, because as a senior in high school I truly could not have known how perfect of a fit Creighton would be for me, and just how good for me it would be.
Because of my experiences in high school, I have a more personal nursing philosophy, which I believe makes me a better nurse. The deciding factor for me with nursing was that nurses have the chance to make the biggest impact on their patients, because they are the first and last face that the patient sees when the enter and then later are discharged from the hospital. I have reflected on my time in and out of doctor’s offices, and I have learned in my clinical experiences how to make what could potentially be a very bad time in my patient’s life a little more positive. One part of my philosophy on nursing is that I will make every patient feel a little better about his/her life, and make the experience of being a patient more positive than negative, despite the negative reasons for his/her admittance. I have also learned from both my personal experience and my Creighton education that nurses should look below the surface, and to not just treat one symptom but to take a step back to examine and then treat the whole person. I have learned that sometimes the a breakthrough in treatment is found when one person steps back and looks at the patient as a whole, not just the presenting symptom. I have always had a strong faith in God, and my faith has taught me that all people are created equal, and deserve to get fair and equal care, no matter the circumstances. With all of these aspects in mind, my philosophy about nursing is to always provide unbiased, holistic, patient centered care for every person.
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