From the lectures I was instructed on in the Evolution of Nursing Science course (NURS 212) regarding the Self-Care theory, I was inspired to look more into how nurses serve, and willingly place their dedication into making client’s lives better. In the lecture, I saw many concepts, but the underlying theme promoted the dedication and service to assist in other’s lives from the nurse to their patients. The King Model of Goal Attainment incorporates the idea that the main focus of anything a nurse does, is the care for the patient. This model also helped compliment my recognition that I, as a future nurse, can serve my patients. I pondered the mentality and mindset of caregivers beyond just the client’s health priority. Through additional research, I was inspired by the mentality to put my life before someone I will physically care for, I discovered the concept of Servant Leadership. Coined by Robert K. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership involves a different type of leader/follower system. A typical follower looks to a strong-willed leader to direct, guide, and make the decisions. This is a cultural and societal concept, and even includes religious implications. There is a common misconception that a leader takes control and predominately makes all the decisions for a group of people. When considering Servant Leadership, the leader is actually the servant to the group. The idea is for the leader to make themselves more of a follower to those who look up to that individual.

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A leader that utilizes the Servant Leadership concept can defeat the societal norm that they are the controlling member of a group. Serving the group and making them the priority instead of being an authoritarian is a powerful demonstration of my devotion to be a humble individual. This idea allows the group to feel more self-worth and recognize their own importance. In the Bible, the book of Mark reads, “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (King James Version Study Bible, 2011). One can see this all throughout nursing. If a nurse was never willing to make the large number of patients they care for their priority, this part of the healthcare would fail. It begins with the desire to make a significant effort to make others our priority, such as Christ did.

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I was given an opportunity to help Dr. Catledge with a service project in the Lancaster community. Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is an issue that can arise in households that do not have proper filtration of sources that emit the poisonous gas. I joined Dr. Catledge and several other nursing students and we went door-to-door in the Lancaster area. We installed free CO detectors, provided instructions, and worked to increase awareness of CO poisoning. There was an initial follow-up investigation the next semester and we went door-to-door to many of the homes that had detectors installed. Surprisingly, many of the homeowners did not remember the sources of carbon monoxide poisoning or knew the difference between their smoke alarm and the CO detector. The information we gathered from our follow-up visits, established how many people are unaware of the dangers of CO. Although this project had a heavy service component, it also allowed opportunity for research and collection of information.

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I wanted to participate in this opportunity to help others in potentially life-threatening situations involving carbon monoxide exposure in homes. I found this experience to be rewarding because it demonstrated to me that a group of students can make a difference and raise awareness in these impoverished neighborhoods. In societal organizations, communities, churches, and especially research groups, there is a need for servant leaders. The purpose of research in healthcare conditions involve preventing, treating, and curing of diseases to improve patient outcomes. Servant leadership promotes individuals to go out into the world and attempt to contribute to a greater good. This experience gave me an opportunity to serve while educating community members of the danger of CO poisoning. My motivation to act through Servant Leadership is to help improve people's lives. When leaders in healthcare are equipped information and a willingness to make a difference towards the community or patients, the potential health outcomes can be drastically improved.

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