Hello can you proof read this paper for grammar, sentence structure, and wording? For some reason I’m unable to upload the documents as a word doc. Thank you.
My journey to becoming a registered nurse was a path filled with hills, mountains, mud puddles, monsoons, and finally a rainbow. I began as a medical assistant working in a family practice clinic surrounded by physicians and registered nurses. These wonderful people saw something in me that I did not see in myself and encouraged me to pursue nursing school. My ex-husband decided he no longer wanted to be a husband and father to our three children. He left our marriage during my first semester at Milwaukee Area Technical College. My parents and sister each took a night babysitting my children, so I could finish the semester.
After my divorce, I was forced to attend school part-time only taking two courses a semester one of them being online. After five years I was accepted into nursing clinicals, which means I had to work very part-time with no child support from my ex-husband. I could no longer afford my prescriptions because of my reduced income, so I stopped taking them and only focus on purchasing my children’s prescriptions. That decision landed me the emergency room for asthma attacks until my provider asked me “Are you taking your medications?” I was so embarrassed I just decided to be honest and said no and explained I could not afford them. My provider decided to supply me with sample inhalers for the next year. I was so broke trying to make ends meet while in clinical I worked a paper route. There were amazing people in my life who helped me along the way. My former manager connected me with the urgent care manager to pick up extra hours, so I could stop working a paper route at 2 am. My children were struggling with the divorce and in counseling. Their uncles would pick them up twice a month to spend time with them which gave me a break and them the opportunity to spend time with a male role model. All these wonderful people helped me to obtain my goal of becoming a registered nurse. Now today I’m less than one hundred days away from obtaining my BSN fewer challenges this time around but still feel amazing.
To me, being a nurse is more than a job or a career. It’s a journey of endless learning that I love doing each day. Nursing is a profession of integrity, care, and compassion when I see another person in the health field who exhibits those qualities it’s my responsibility to help them see what I see in them. Just like all the physicians and registered nurse so caringly and thoughtfully did for me. There are two of my friends who have gone back to school at my relentless badgering to become a registered nurse from LPN and a medical assistant to LPN.
Every day, in nursing we are faced with different ethical dilemmas some nurses may have to face more dilemmas than other nurses depending on their specialty. My background in nursing is varied from floor nurse, hospice nurse, case management, rehabilitation nurse, to triage nurse. I’ve cared for patients from different ethnic, socioeconomic, and religious backgrounds. My ethical dilemma is from when I worked as a rehabilitation nurse at an upscale nursing home facility.
I worked third shift on a Saturday night in the rehab unit of about 30 residents. There was an elderly patient in her 90s who was screaming out in pain upon my arrival to the unit. The second shift nurse was walking out of the patient’s room when she stated to me “I don’t know what her problem is I gave her Tylenol and placed a pillow under her leg.” After I received the report from the second shift nurses the certified nursing assistant reported to me that the patient is crying she believes something is wrong with her. Upon entering the room, I noticed the patient was visible upset and guarding her left arm. I also noticed her left leg was considerably shorter than the right leg. I knew the patient’s hip was broke and possible her arm. I asked the patient what happened. In her own words, she told me she had fallen in her room and two people helped her up got her dressed for bed and laid down. I contacted the supervisor who was informed of my assessment and the patient needed to be transferred to the hospital.
The patient was transferred to the hospital where it was discovered she had a fractured hip, clavicle, and humerus. The patient was admitted to hospice and died three days later. I had three pages of documentation from the time I first assessed her until she left the building, even the times I contacted the director of nursing. Although I was praised for my assessment of the patient and my great documentation it cleared third shift of any wrongdoing. It clearly indicated that second shift had not followed proper protocols which lead to the death of a resident potentially. This nursing home has one of highest fall rates in the state and was already under the microscope. The two people who picked the resident up without informing the nurse was fired, the nurse was suspended for two days. I was asked to change my documentation of the event. The director of nursing informed me that I did everything right but at this time they couldn’t risk the federal investigators investing the facility. They were also concerns that the family had retained a lawyer.
The moral dilemma I struggled with was the fact I did not want to cause my place of employment a federal investigation and potential lawsuit, however, it’s unethical and illegal for me to change my documentation. The nursing facility and I did share the same value in wanting the facility to avoid sanctions. Ultimately, I stood my ground and refused to change my documentation. The nursing director removed my documentation from the resident’s chart she had one her unit managers document the fall as if the resident transferred herself off the floor. Shortly after the incident, I found another place of employment. I could no longer be a part of the culture that did not want to protect the residents at the most vulnerable times of their lives. There were changes that needed to occur at the facility may be the federal investigators would have been the change agent to implement those changes such as better staffing ratios. My journey to becoming a registered nurse was a path filled with hills, mountains, mud puddles, monsoons, and finally a… View the full answer
