After viewing the film “Nurses: If Florence could see us now,” I was enlightened by the different speakers and their different journeys and experiences in their nursing careers. From pediatrics, to geriatrics each nurse shared a story of patients they will never forget, hardships they experience in their careers and how rewarding their journey has been. I noticed throughout the film that experienced nurses had skills such as that they are able to bear witness to extremely emotional things that happen to their patients and they are able to be that strong shoulder to cry on for their patients and their family. I feel that I will experience a lot during my career and understand how to handle these emotional situations better as I get more opportunities. In the film some of the nurse speakers talked about being a military nurse and having the opportunity to care for those who served. They shared that some barriers to caring for these patients were that they had to learn new things that were not nursing related, such as how to shoot a machine gun. This was a necessary skill for those going on the front lines in order to protect themselves from what they may experience as a person caring for wounded soldiers, however it was not necessarily mandatory to care for their patients. Other barriers for military nurses may include a language or cultural differences and geographic location. With all the negativity that is happening in the world right now it was encouraging to watch a film about the field that I am going into and got me excited for my journey that is to come as I move into the nursing field. 

The practice of cultural humility is vital for anyone in the healthcare field, especially nurses. The ability to understand not only your own cultural beliefs and values but also the cultural beliefs and values of your patients is an important skill to have. Nurses have to self-reflect on what they believe and allow it to help them in their journey, and allow this practice to aid in the understanding of others that they care for. I feel that I have only just begun to self-reflect on my cultural beliefs and values, however the beliefs I have reflected on are very strong. I find myself allowing these strong beliefs to take over and this may create bigger problems for me in the long run. If I continue to do this, I may find myself judging my patient’s beliefs and values instead of accepting them which in turn would create barriers to care between myself and my patients. I continue to work on this every day by reflecting on what I think about controversial topics that I run into and I use empathy to step into other shoes to understand their way of thinking and accept it. 

After the career services presentation, I was a bit nervous due to the differences between what I thought my life as a new graduate would be versus what the reality is. I understand now that as I move into my nursing career, my experiences will change me and I will continue to grow and learn as a nurse throughout my year as a new graduate nurse. In order to prepare for my interview, I will have multiple questions for the interviewer just in case some of my questions are answered during the interview, I will research the facilities mission and values prior to the interview and do my best to include my similar values in my answers, and I will stand out due to my passion and enthusiasm for nursing as well as my career goals and high aspirations for my future. When asked what my strengths and weaknesses are, this was a difficult question for me. I believe that my biggest strength is my optimism and positivity that I bring into work. I try to leave anything that is happening at home when I come to work in order to fully care for my patients, help my coworkers and be the best nurse I can be. My weakness would be that I am very self-critical. If I make a mistake, it takes me a bit of time to attribute it to a learning experience. However, I am continuing to work on this and reflect on my abilities as a nurse in order to help switch from being self-critical to being more accepting of my mistakes and learning from them.