Author: ewalsh11 (Page 2 of 6)

Attaining and Protecting Your Professional Nursing License

April 2, 2022 / ewalsh11 / 0 Comments

I plan to become licensed in the state of New Hampshire. New Hampshire is a compact state and is included in the Nurse Licensure Compact.

To register to take the NLCEX in NH all of the following needs to be included:

Copy of a state issued drivers license uploaded into the online application
Official transcriptions need to be submitted from the degree institution to nursing@oplc.nh.gov
RN Comparable Education Verification Form – completed by Nursing Director and sent to nursing@oplc.nh.gov
Criminal background check
Pre-register with Pearson Vue (NCLEX), https://home.pearsonvue.com

It is the responsibility of nurses and nurse managers to report all suspected abuse or impairment of any kind. Many of these nurses who are impaired or have substance abuse problems go unnoticed. It is important to recognize that healthcare workers are not immune to developing or having substance use disorder. These substance use disorders do not discriminate against who they will affect. A nurse can enter an alternative to discipline program that is designed to help get the nurse treatment, monitoring, and recovery recommendations. There are resources available, and nurses should be familiar with them as well as behavior changes, physical signs and signals of drug diversion that can help them, their peers, and patients. In April of 2019, New Hampshire developed a program to encourage self-reporting, when they do self-report, they will be referred to treatment programs and monitored through their transition to return to duty. This program is designed to treat the issue without penalty to preserve the nurse’s license. The goal of this program is to remove the stigma, provide resources for care and treatment, and keep nurses in the workforce. This program is called an alternative recovery monitoring program.

I will protect my license from the legal issues listed above by always living by the standards and guidelines put before me. If I have a question about something I will review the process and what should be done before I do it. At first, I will also consult my preceptor or my experienced peers before being involved/doing tasks related to these issues. I understand that I cannot possibly know everything so knowing that there are resources and people out there for me to consult. I also know that having a general idea of these issues before transitioning to practice is very important because at that point I will know what is right and wrong and what involves further follow-up or action.

Preparing for Licensure – ATI Pharmacology Practice B

March 31, 2022 / ewalsh11 / 0 Comments

This ATI went really well, I was able to maintain my focus and focus on what I do know versus what I do not know. I also realized that when I do that I am able to think through the question better than just automatically saying that I don’t know. It is definitely a reverse psychology thing. For next time I hope to be able to actually answer the questions based on knowledge and not just on guessing. I do believe that these ATIs have helped me develop my test taking skills. For the next ATI I am looking to continue with my philosophy of focusing on what I do know versus what I don’t and that way I can make that become second nature.

Preparation for Licensure – ATI Pharmacology Practice A

March 31, 2022 / ewalsh11 / 0 Comments

On this assessment something that went well was maintaining my focus and finding the appropriate environment to facilitate that. I was also able to think about what I do know and not automatically focus on what I don’t know when I see a question. I looked at all the answers as true or false and what do I know about each choice. Based on those two things I tried to make educated guesses on what the right answer would be. Something that I would like to improve on is my decision-making process when deciding whether or not I should change my answer. I need to stop changing my answers and stick with my gut feeling. This has hindered my exam grades in class as well as on ATI. My goal for the remained of the semester is to build back up my testing confidence so that going into the NCLEX I can feel a sense of calm.

Post Interview Reflection

March 3, 2022 / ewalsh11 / 0 Comments

Through this interview I learned that leadership in nursing looks different for each situation and team member(s) that you are working with or leading. There are obvious the basic principles of leadership that constantly remain true. My main takeaway is that there really isn’t a one size fits all solution because everybody is motivated slightly differently, needs different types of support, and has a different style of receiving help/advice. I think being an effective leader means that you have the ability to adjust your independent variables accordingly. I would rate their self awareness/management vs social awareness/management as pretty good. This person remains and calm and can connect with everybody in the way that they need to be connected with. It doesn’t surprise me as to how well she does this but it surprises me that one can stay so centered in times of “crisis” when managing people who may not be cut out for the situation. She talked about being able to find what speaks with each person individually and knowing them as a person before knowing them as a nurse. Knowing what their personality is to find ways to get the best out of each member of the team. This interview kind of gave me a behind the scenes look into her brain at work as the charge nurse. I obviously can see how she is outwardly handling things but this allowed me to see what is going on in her head as certain situations or everyday things arise. Hearing how she talks about remaining calm in patient situations but also with other colleagues because that is a skill as well. Knowing that even in the biggest of emergencies you can still take a second to center yourself or check what you need to check, basically haste makes waste obviously this is true in material situations but also in verbal ones. How to make the most out of what you’re saying to people in times that are critical. This interview just solidified what I already knew about this person but it also gave me more detail so that way I can put this to use in my own way. I will apply this knowledge in my everyday life, I think these are skills that can go way beyond the hospital. I also think that I am able to directly apply what she said about remaining calm/grounded because of sports and the stress on certain situations in sports. Since I am used to feeling that level of stress, I almost think that I do better in times of stress because that is what I am used to having to perform in.

Preparing for Licensure – ATI Peds CAT

February 19, 2022 / ewalsh11 / 0 Comments

My focus was a lot better this time. I shut myself in my room and played classical music through my airpods to drown out the surround noises. I noticed once I got about 20 questions in that I had not been thinking about anything else while answering the questions. I think my mind is my own worst enemy especially when it comes to staying focused and not overthinking. This will definitely be by biggest challenge going into the NCLEX. For next time I would still like to spend more time on each question. I am really finding it hard to balance between taking enough time but not overthinking. I think I would benefit from setting a timer for each question although that would bring other distractions, I think I really need to realize how much time I really do have. My next strategy would be to just do some practice questions and set a timer so I get a feel for how long 60 seconds really is when answering a question.

Pre-Interview Reflection

February 17, 2022 / ewalsh11 / 0 Comments

I chose my subject because this person has taught me just about everything I need to know to be an effective nurse. She is one of the most caring, compassionate, and knowledgeable person I know. With the level of knowledge that this person has it is impressive at how she can balance her knowledge with bringing it down to the patients level while maintaining that compassionate care. This person was my preceptor for my nurse externship this summer. I have also worked with her during my licensed nursing assistant role for about four years prior to this. She is the nurse that you can go up to with anything at all she will help you with anything and if she cannot, she will help you find a way to get what you need done. This person was also a charge nurse and her leadership qualities are some that I aspire to emulate. She exudes confidence, knowledge, and calm all in one. She also helps those around her succeed and is not an overbearing leader. She is there if you need her but she also promotes autonomy and the importance of allowing everyone to feel important.

This person just recently received her Nurse Practitioners license this past January. She is someone that I hope I can live up to everything that she has taught me. I have already learned that she is able to demonstrate calm in stressful situations as well as knowledge when being able to communicate with patients in a more understandable way. I hope to be able to grow into being the calm and poised nurse that she has helped shape me to be. I aspire to be as knowledgeable as her because her patients have expressed how comfortable they feel during her care because of how thorough she is. Throughout the summer she helped me develop the confidence in myself that I can do this and that I have the tools to be successful.

Preparing for Licensure – ATI Pharmcology CAT Reflection

February 16, 2022 / ewalsh11 / 0 Comments

This ATI CAT did not go well for me, I was trying to take this exam on the bus to a hockey game because that is all that my time allotted for me to get this completed on time. I will consider asking for an extension for the next one if I feel as though there is not a productive environment for me to take this. I need to advocate for myself better and put my academics over athletics but there is only so much time in each day and week for me to get things done. I do think that I was impressed by how much I did remember from pharmacology even though my scores might not reflect that. Another positive thing was that this caused me to look back into my pharmacology notes during the remediation process, which helped me brush off the cobwebs. My goal for the next exam is to be able to maintain my focus and provide myself with an adequate environment to do this.

Preparation for Licensure (ATI Med-Surg CAT)

February 3, 2022 / ewalsh11 / 0 Comments

This exam I was able to prepare better as far as getting sleep before and having food in my stomach so that I was not focused on other things during it. The other thing that I really tried hard to not do this time is second guess myself. Looking back and going through the remediation process I need to find the happy medium of not seconding guessing myself but also taking the time to not overlook key parts the question. As well as taking a second to logically think through the questions because it turns out reading them through a second time, I would have been able to get more questions right if I had done that. My focus for the next exam will be just that.

Career Development

January 29, 2022 / ewalsh11 / 0 Comments

Nurses in this movie exemplified unconditional empathy and care for their patients. I think that its often times hard to put differences aside when caring for a patient who is the same offender of the same thing every month or couple of months. I think that this takes true dedication and forgiveness. These things cannot be taught in school which is why I think that this can be hard for new nurses especially because in school they always say every patient deserves the highest quality etc. but in reality those more “difficult” patients or the recurring offenders that are hard to provide that top notch compassionate care to.

While watching the movie the one that resonated with me the most of the pediatric patient. We have not had a lot of experience with this population of patients and for me I need to work on being able to connect with them and trusting myself in taking care of them. Honestly kids kind of scare me to take care of because they seem so much more complex than adults. I think that this nurse did a really nice job connecting with the patient she hugged the little girl and was able to gain her trust, I saw no apparent barriers in between the nurse and the patient. The practice of cultural humility helped ready those nurses to care for diverse populations because it helped them go into each situation with an open mind and an untainted view of that particular patient. I think that you can never know all that you need to know, I cant possibly learn all the cultures that might walk through that emergency room door, but what I can do is connect with the patient when they do present, ask them questions about their culture, do my best to get them comfortable, and then go out to the desk and ask anyone if they know anything specific to that particular culture or look it up on the internet.

After the career services presentation it confirmed that I have done what I was supposed to do. I already have solidified the job that I want for after graduation. I used my teamwork and leadership strengths in combination with my collegiate athletic experiences to market myself and set me apart from others. My weakness or challenge is giving myself enough credit and up talking myself, I usually revert to down talking myself. I learned through this experience that now is not the time do that. Looking back on the interview I asked the lady who interviewed me about her educational opportunities for me to earn the appropriate certifications that I will need to be the best emergency department nurse I can be.

Prepare for Transition

January 19, 2022 / ewalsh11 / 0 Comments

I am most excited about starting the next phase of my life. I recently solidified the job that I have been waiting for and centering my focus in nursing school around. I have finally been able to see all the pieces start to fall into place. It is nice to see that everything we are taught in school start to come together and feel like it is finally starting to get me somewhere in life. I will celebrate this accomplishment by going on a vacation with my family and friends.

I am most anxious about having the responsibility of a nurse. I am ready for that responsibility, but I am nervous that my judgment will get clouded in times of high stress and I want to be able to make the “best” or “right” decision for my patients in those situations. I will plan my SMART goals based on a few things one being how to prepare myself to feel most confident in my abilities by working on some of my weaknesses now. I will also stay focused on the task at hand by taking it day by day and creating a schedule for myself that includes the time I need for myself for working out, friend and family time, and rest. I learned from the ATI modules how to study and schedule my time most effectively as well as the importance of good test taking habits.