Clinical Journal Reflection 3

During my clinical experience at VMRC, I learned many new things about field of
nursing and patient care. I gained a lot of knowledge and a better understanding of many
different nursing skills through this experience and also learned so much about how to care for
patients. Throughout the course of clinical, I was able to build upon my skills, learn new things
from the nurses and CNAs, learn about the facility, and was even able to do things independently
by the final weeks. I learned how important it is to be able to apply the skills that we have
learned to a real clinical setting and found it very useful to have the opportunity to learn from the
nurses in the facility to compare the information we learned in class and lab to real practice and
direct patient care.
During clinical, I observed the roles and responsibilities of the different faculty members
and learn from each person in the facility as I observed the ways they each performed their job. I
learned about medications, documenting, assessment, wound care, and other skills through my
experiences observing and working with the nurses. In addition, the nurses allowed me to
administer medications, give shots to patients, check blood glucose levels of patients, and
perform an INR. I found it very interesting to see the dynamics of different nurses because each
nurse had the same tasks and responsibilities for the day, but they each did things in very
different ways. I was fortunate to be able to work with different nurses, which allowed me to get
a different perspective each time and observe how each nurse did things in their own way. In
addition, by observing and assisting the CNAs, I learned a lot about basic nursing care skills such
as bathing, toileting, transferring, feeding, and dressing. They also taught us how to take vital
signs and weights, often allowing us to assist them in performing these skills. This clinical
experience allowed me to see how involved the CNAs are with the patients care, and the
differences between the responsibilities of an RN as opposed to a CNA. I found it very
interesting that the differences in these roles were very distinct and obvious while working in the
clinical setting.
Not only did I learn about skills and patient care through this clinical experience, but I
also learned about the functions and dynamics of long-term care facilities, rehab facilities, new
greenhouses, and geriatric care in general. While many patients in the facility were on the rehab
floor for recovery for acute injuries, many of them also had chronic illnesses that needed to be
treated with equal importance to their acute injury. I found it interesting how these two types of
care merged together in this type of setting. I was also very impressed with the facility itself
compared to other long-term care facilities that I have visited in the past. The quality of care
seemed to be very personalized and most patients at the facility seemed to react positively to the
care they were receiving.
In preparation for this clinical experience, I did not think that I would enjoy working in a
long-term care setting. I always thought that I would be more interested in an acute care setting
such as a hospital. However, I was surprised to discover how much I enjoyed working in this
type of facility. I enjoyed working with and interacting with the older patients and gained a new
perspective on the nursing field and a new appreciation for the amount of work that nurses do on
a day to day basis. I was able to learn and apply many things that we learned in classes to this
type of care and also learned very beneficial and practical applications that I will be able to take
with me in my clinical experiences in the future.