At the San Marcos Treatment Center this week I was placed with the same group of adolescent girls. It was interesting to go back to the same group and be able to recognize the girls I had seen before. Now that I had read most of their charts, I was able to start picking up on certain characteristics that matched with the patient’s diagnosis. I have been fortunate enough for the past two weeks to have been placed with a nurse, Nurse Hernandez, who is informative and encourages us to attend as many things with the patients as possible. This has allowed for me to have a lot more patient interaction and to actually start recognizing patient’s by their name and have them trust me enough to open up more to me. Even though this nurse is very professional and has allowed for myself and my partners to have more opportunities to learn and interact with the patients, not all nurses at the facility are as helpful or welcoming. For example, when my partner and I went to go try finding the nurse practitioner we were assigned to, in order to watch the way she does assessments and interacts with the children, the mental health nurse practitioner stood by the door and was very rude and unwelcoming. She kept asking us questions about why we needed to be there today and informed us multiple times that they already had students (hinting off at the fact that we shouldn’t be there) before letting us inside. I believe that today, I demonstrated professionalism when I did not let the NP’s rude and unwelcoming attitude affect how I spoke back to her or acted towards her.
Even though the NP’s unwelcoming attitude made me feel frustrated, I did not let her attitude affect me or put me in a bad mood. We have learned in class that not all the nurses we will encounter throughout our nursing school or nursing career will be welcoming or kind. We have been told that we must not let others disrespect affect our attitude towards them or affect our behavior because this may lead to taking out this frustration on a patient. At the time, I was thinking back to what we had learned in class regarding this manner and how we must always act professionally even though others may not be doing so. Thus, I acted professionally and kept answering all the questions the NP asked us politely until she finally let us in. This experience has challenged my assumption that the nurses at the SMTC were more professional and respectful than those at the Methodist Hospital. I now see that it doesn’t matter what facility one may be in because one is likely to encounter a nurse who isn’t always professional regardless of the facility.
This event impacted me by showing me the type of nurse I do not wish to be- someone who is disrespectful and acts unprofessionally. I have learned throughout my nursing career that current nurses should remember that they were also once in our shoes, as a student, and that they should treat students with respect. I am glad that some of us are being impacted by the unprofessional attitudes that we have received from some of these nurses because it will remind us later in our career that we should not act the way that they are acting towards us.
I will use this knowledge gained in the future to remind myself of the type of nurse I wish to become- someone who is informative, helpful, is respectful to students, and demonstrates professionalism to all of the patients, parents, students, etc., that I may encounter. When I circumstance like this occurs again, I will continue to demonstrate professionalism by not letting others rude behavior impact my behavior. I will also use this experience in my career as a reminder to not let the behavior of patients and coworkers affect the care I provide to patients and respect I provide to both patients and staff members.