I am very grateful for the clinical, theoretical, and work experiences that I have been exposed to within the last four years of my nursing career. Through each of these encounters, I have learned that nursing is a profession that has endless career paths and specialties that can be obtained. Nursing is also a profession in which lifelong learning is highly supported and needed especially with advancements made in evidence-based practices. Without a doubt, I can say that each day at work, each discussion board or educational assignment that I have completed, I have learned something new or enhanced my knowledge on a particular topic. My clinical experience throughout school was where the seeds to my critical thinking and nursing skill sets were planted. From these encounters, I have developed communication skills as well as gained insight on the various roles and obligations of a nurse. I especially valued my leadership, obstetrics, community and urban clinical rotations as these placements were extremely enriching and enlightening,

            My leadership clinical opened my eyes to the fact that there is a need for more nurse leaders with advanced degrees as they have a huge impact on the units they serve as well as the patients. They serve to implement performance improvement tasks which may have a direct impact on the quality and effectiveness of care being administered within the hospital setting. My community and urban clinical rotations exposed me to the sad reality today’s healthcare inequalities and disparities, which is why I strive to educate my patient to the best of my ability so that when they are no longer in the hospital they have the educational tools and knowledge to maintain their health. While at these clinical sites, my clinical group and I were also given the chance to educate those in the community about healthy lifestyle habits such as healthy snacking, hand hygiene and hold an info session about diabetes. I was thrilled to see the turnout and how interested the individuals were who attended. I was such a fulfilling experience to positively impact the health education of these individuals. Throughout the bachelor’s program, I was exposed to multiple issues within the nursing community and learned that nurses must advocate and use their voices effectively to ensure their own safety as well as their patients.  I have also learned an immense information about various cultures and religions that have helped to build therapeutic relationships with my clients. Each day I am learning about new facts about diagnosis and their presenting symptoms and the nursing interventions that can be applied to effectively impact the health and wellbeing of the client. Also, I often engage in reflective practice to assess and evaluate which tasks or encounters needed improvement or which were effective to increase my competence as a nurse. Obtaining my bachelor’s degree is just a stepping stone in my nursing career. I hope to achieve a higher degree in the near future to become either a clinical or theory professor to lessen the gap that is trending in educational faculty. I cannot wait to see what interesting skills and information is to be learned as I progress in the years to come as a nurse!