Becoming A Nursing Student Analysis

Florence Nightingale said “Let us each and all realizing the importance of our influence on others, stand shoulder to shoulder and not alone in the good cause” (Nightingale, as cited in Dossey et al., 2005, p. 266) However as a recently graduated from a associates degree program unlike many in my class I was the only student who hadn't previously been working in health care. While I was passionate and eager to learn I was still greener than every other nursing student in my class and I felt very alone. Although I had started school knowing a nurse is what I wanted to be It wasn't until the third semester of my first year that I found someone who inspired me and truly helped me find my inner nursing voice. Stacy works at a local hospital where I did my clinical rotations, It's a small rural hospital with 15 beds 1 hospice room and a 3 bed ER. On my first morning, Stacy came up to me and said “ they said you've never placed a line before” Within five minutes I had all the supplies displayed in
front of me and she was walking me through the steps of starting an IV line. Stacy went on to teach me something new every day I was on the floor, regardless of how busy we were. Whether it was working in the ER on someone coming in cardiac arrest or it was a simple dressing change Stacy always took the time to teach and always asked for my feedback and input as a nurse. Stacy pushed me to think about my practice and what was going to go into my “Nurse Soup” she called it.
Wheatley & Kellner-rogers wrote “No one forges ahead independently, molding the world to his or her presence while the rest trail admiringly behind. We tinker ourselves into existence by unobserved interactions with the players who present themselves to us”. This passage makes me think of my time with Stacy and “Nurse Soup”.The pieces I have taken with me that other nurses have shared and how during my time at that very small rural hospital I found my own voice as a nurse. One thing I did learn in my time as a student is that for me, a Nurse who teaches others whether it be their patients, colleagues, or a very green nursing student, is giving an immeasurable gift. While Stacy was knowledgeable, kind, detail oriented etc… It was the time she took to educate not only me but other staff and patients that I admire most and have tried to integrate into my own “Nurse
Soup”.