Today, health care has been able to integrate various professions that all work together in a systematic way to maximize health promotion for societies. Working closely with patients for inpatient hospital systems has been a staple for central nursing care. The process of being a nurse and establishing trust, advocating, and striving for benevolence in a nurse-patient relationship is foundational. Caring is a word that could be used to describe why anyone would become employed to help assist others when they are at a weaker point in their lives. When I decided to pursue health care in high school, my ambitions were not initially focused on caring for people just because my faith in God calls me to be a serving, compassionate person. I recognized that this profession has many opportunities for jobs, many benefits and excellent financial incentives. After leaving an initial major of a biology pre-medical degree, I felt nursing had something special about it. The word “nursing” itself is engaging and can be defined as “the profession or practice of providing care for the sick and infirm” as well as “taking special care of, especially to promote development or well-being” (Merriam Webster Dictionary, 2018).

            After the start of my tenure in nursing school to complete my bachelor’s degree, I had to take many prerequisite classes that were introducing concepts and science-related topics to make sense of what nursing involves. As I progressed through these courses, I had not yet had the epiphany that made me realize why I chose this career path. Once I was accepted into the upper division program and started my last two years, I had my first ever experience with patient care in the hospital. The initial patient interactions I had were terrifying and very intimidating. The use of communication became a rather difficult skill for me. I feared awkward exchanges with strangers that were in the hospital for many different conditions on the cardiac floor. After gaining more confidence, slowly, I was able to learn about nursing in a more engaging way and this produced a sense of service that was unique. This service felt gratifying because I was honored to be able to now help someone. After caring for individuals who were even at the end of life, I had a role in helping them become comfortable and being someone they could to speak to about anything. This experience helped to shape my perception on how precious life is and what role I can have to preserve it as a nurse.

            When I started the Maternal/Newborn course (NURS 424) in the Spring of 2018, I was opened to a world of nursing that demands people who care about life and view it as precious. Jean Watson, a nursing professor and theorist, developed an idea for how to define true care for each other. It is referred to as the Human Caring Theory. This theory is mostly defined by the introduction of life for newborns that are in poor health and distress with needs that someone must provide. This theory was inspired by a sense of care that the course helped me discover. I believe if I implement my faith into patient care, this will let my patients know that I care about their wellbeing and I strive to reflect the qualities of a follower of Christ. The NURS 424 course presented a sense that many physiologic adaptations are going to develop for the newborn, but the nurses must help provide a safe, supplied environment for these newborns to thrive. This is a critical and dangerous point of their life even after birth. We were educated on these concepts in the course and the clinical rotation helped me identify how truly vulnerable and precious their lives are.

            Following the progression from mothers in labor to the birth of new life and the newborn’s progression to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), there was a spark interest for me. I never experienced what happens behind the scenes when babies are born and seeing them get acclimated to this new world helped me learn how much care is required. Nurses who pursue this career are undeniably compassionate individuals who realize the vulnerability in these newborns, and I felt that those nurses in the NICU were excellent at their job because it is demanded. An assignment in the NURS 424 course (attached as a WTC artifact below) required me to develop an Evidenced-Based Practice (EBP) paper involved with maternal/newborn topics. In my paper, I discussed the growing concerns with opioid addictions and how many mothers are giving birth to children while addicted. This results in children that are born addicted to narcotics. My paper focused on presenting the prevalent nature of it and possible solutions to help the mothers redirect their lives to become a competent caregivers.

           The NICU rotation was a definitive beyond the class experience because the introduction to newborns with addictions and severe premature birth complications helped me notice a demand for high-level care. This high-level care influenced me to have a passion for newborns that cannot provide for themselves and need a nurse willing to give their full effort and attention to promote well-being. I had opportunities to care for some of these babies in the rotation, even the opioid addicted. I began to contemplate the level of compassion that nurses need to have when caring for this population. After developing proficiency in dealing with certain newborn conditions, I recognized that newborns are sometimes born into the world with complications. These complications may be general or more specifically opioid dependent where they crave morphine and are heavily restless and irritable. I noticed this during my rotation and it was heartbreaking. The idea that the world is traumatic enough for them to be born into, and now they have these new issues. They did not choose to be born, but for them to grow and be healthy, a nurse must put aside the emotions and strive for commitment of compassionate care. As I have been taught through my faith, incorporating being a humble, dedicated servant, can only lead to positive results from God. Working with this population demands someone with a servant heart to be a compassionate provider.

           When I was introduced to a simulation software in our Simulation Lab on campus, I was able to become more familiar with the newborns and how to care for them in unique situations and various health concerns. At the Simulation Lab Expo, I was invited to show the up-and-coming nursing students how our simulation infant worked. I feel this second beyond the classroom experience was very engaging with the students asking questions and seeking to gain more information from me. I helped to instruct them on how babies should be handled when complications arise. I explained how a nurse would care for newborns with drug addictions; specifically, how they can devote their care and what therapies help the infant. This allowed me to assert, that if the nursing students wanted to work with babies, there are many factors that can harm life at that age and they should identify that life is more precious than we initially perceive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

     

     

 

           

           Working with the infant population has taught me to distinguish that they are vulnerable and, so as a nurse, I should care for them as much as I care for myself or any other patient. This infinite value is only found through life itself, and nurses are the backbone to keeping it sustained. Caring is the component that makes up patient care, but it takes a compassionate person to make it a career. I feel I have been called to be a nurse so that I could be a reflection of Christ and show that there is someone to step up and care for others when the world does not. This illustrates the importance of committing to compassionate care.

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