As we are coming up on the end of the semester, I think that I can speak for most nursing students when I say that I wish we had more clinical experience this semester. I think that for this being our first semester incorporating clinical into our curriculum, it is a shame that it had to be cut short and moved to virtual clinical. As I reflect on my clinical experience this semester, the in-person clinicals have been the most beneficial to me and I have an easier time reflecting on my communication skills in the hospital rather than online. As I think about myself on the very first day of clinical compared to our most recent in-person clinical, I can see and feel a difference in the way I communicate with my patient, peers, and staff on the unit. I feel more comfortable introducing myself to the patient and being confident in being a student nurse. In the beginning, I had a lot of self-doubt and uneasiness about how the patients were going to respond to having a student nurse. I did not want to feel like I was bothering the patient because I had to practice new skills on them or feel incompetent because I was “just a student nurse”. I quickly realized that all of the nurses on my clinical unit were in the same spot as I am at some point during their careers too, and I became more comfortable and confident in being a student nurse. All nurses have to start somewhere! Knowing that I was just starting out, I have felt myself become more confident as I gained more clinical experience in asking questions which is a good skill to have because I will always have questions, even when I am a nurse. I also felt that I was more prepared to answer some of the patient’s questions, even when they were unexpected or slightly inappropriate. I have used a lot of the techniques that I have learned in Therapeutic Communications to direct a conversation toward a better direction if I felt uncomfortable or if I felt that a patient needed guidance in having a therapeutic conversation with me. I have excelled in making the conversation primarily about them and allowing the patient to disclose whatever information they feel comfortable sharing with me without fear of judgement from me. In terms of patient communication, I feel as if I am finally starting to get it right and will continue to work on my communication skills in order to provide therapeutic care to patients.
As for areas of growth, I struggle the most with communicating with staff on the unit. Talking to experienced nurses and doctors about a patient can sometimes make me nervous and I have a harder time answering questions coming from nurses or doctors compared to my clinical instructor. I could improve in my confidence when I talk to staff and use assertive language when expressing a concern about my patient that I think needs to be addressed in a timely manner. I know that this will come with experience and time, but I know that there is room for growth in this area of communication. Overall, I am impressed with the growth in communication that I have already observed in myself during clinical and am ready to continue to improve upon these communication skills in the upcoming semesters as a nursing student!