Over the course of clinical, I made a lot of improvement in my communication. In my first week, I don’t think I even checked in with the nurse until halfway through the day. By the end, I was seeking out my nurse and seeing what I could do to help her. I was hoping to make more progress, but COVID prevented that by ending clinical. Online interactions with my peers and instructor don’t take me out of my comfort zone enough to cause any real improvement. I would still like to see myself become more comfortable in clinical situations and see improved communication with the patient. I would also like to demonstrate much more proficiency with the clinical skills. While I have improved, practicing clinical skills more often is necessary, because while most of my skills are still okay, I find myself forgetting many of them over time. For example, for much of the semester, I didn’t remember what needed to be included in a full head to toe assessment. Also, for sim, I didn’t remember how to give meds through a PEG tube, despite feeling confident that I did. Hopefully I will continue to improve and become a competent nurse.

For this assignment, I watched a video in which a provider was caring for a person whose first language was Spanish. The nurse did not understand Spanish and ignored what the patient said, instead speaking louder and saying that the patient should “learn English” under her breath as she left the room. This was a very negative patient provider relationship. the provider should have been more patient and gotten a translator. The patient likely had very real concerns about their treatment and probably wasn’t properly educated about the treatment in any way, likely understanding little to none of the education given, if any was given at all. This will lead to a poor experience for the patient and the provider and is a huge safety risk with a very large possibility for complications in the near future.

My biggest communication challenge so far in clinical has been with my nurse. This comes from a lack of preparedness on my part. I wasn’t sure what ask or what to say. When speaking to my nurse, I mostly just let them speak without telling them what I needed to know. I didn’t ask important questions like “Is there anything you want me to look for in assessment?” or “Does this patient need their blood glucose checked?”. This also comes from nervousness or a lack of preparation on my part. While this hasn’t led to any serious issues so far in the semester, it could affect my care later on in clinical and lead to mistakes that could harm. patients. To fix this, I need to gain a little bit more confidence in my ability as well as use the resources you gave us at our last seminar as a guide. This way, I can make both my job and the nurse’s job easier and improve communication going forward in my clinical.

I spent 30 minutes in between my classes in Newton Hall observing the interactions of other people. I observed a lot more texting and browsing the internet than actual talking. Most of the people that were talking were busy talking about both the pharmacology quiz they just took and the care of adults quiz they were about to take. There was a lot of venting going on, which led to a lot of people trying to “fix” the problems others had. The closest that most people got to what was discussed in class was “That sucks”. Frankly, I think that we could all learn a little bit more from this class and maybe it’ll help us with our communication in more places than just the hospital.

Hi, my name is Jacob Gwirtz. I am a second year nursing student in your therapeutic communication class. I have moved many times so I’m never really sure how to answer when asked where I’m from, so I usually just say I went to high school in Connecticut. I have also lived in Ohio, West Virginia, and Florida. Out of these, I’d say West Virginia was my favorite. I was too young to remember Ohio, I found the people in Connecticut rude, and Florida is far too hot for me.

I swam, played football, and ran cross country in high school and I’m a member of club swimming at OSU. I’m studying nursing because it gives a lot of flexibility to work in the medical field, which has always interested me. For a long time, I wanted to be an engineer, but learned that it is most likely going to be a desk job, which doesn’t suit me very well.

Outside of school, I’m usually swimming, watching football, or reading about philosophy. Despite the fact that I’m a lifelong swimmer, football is easily my favorite sport. I could talk about football for hours, but I don’t really find swimming interesting to talk about. I’m a Browns fan so the highlight of my season is the draft, which is the closest we ever get to the super bowl. I also enjoy watching baseball and hockey, but don’t follow them as closely as football.