NSG 103

Reflection:

Kaylynn Laplante 

February 23, 2025

  Nursing Roles 

Since I was a child I have always been very affectionate and caring towards others but it wasn’t until later in high school when I became interested in nursing. I had a friend that took a CNA course through our school and everytime she talked about her experience it really interested me. The way she talked about her patients and the connections she had with them really stuck out to me and made me want to start a career in nursing. I’m a very determined and hard working person so I believe I’ll succeed in getting through school. I think it’s very important as a nurse to be empathetic and understanding of your patients and see what they not only need physically but also be there for them emotionally. I also have found myself to be very good at working in a team so I think I will be very good at working with other roles in a hospital. Something I would like to improve while I’m in nursing school is my communication skills because that is a very important skill to have as a nurse. I want to have an impact on my patients’ lives and be remembered by them as someone who really cared for them. I don’t want my patients to feel like a burden or like I’m just there to do my job and that’s it. I think the emotional and mental side of nursing is equally as important as the actual care.

I have always loved taking care of children and babies so I think I would really enjoy a specialty in pediatrics as well. Something that is really important to me is being able to have children and a family so I want to be able to prioritize my family and care for them as well as my job. I also am very interested in going back to school and getting a Nurse Practitioner license once I graduate with my nursing degree. 

While reading through Opportunities to Care:The Pfizer Guide to Careers in Nursing, I have found many specialties that sound interesting to me but there were a few that really stood out. One speciality that I feel I would thrive in is a Chemical dependence rehabilitation nurse. I’ve had a history of substance abuse in my family so I have seen very up close the kind of support and drive those types of patients need to fight their battle with addiction. The clients also stay in the facility for 3-18 months so I would really be able to get to know them and create good relationships with my patients which is one of my goals as a nurse (Pfizer Inc, 2001). Although there could be a lot of sadness and disappointment in this career due to relapses or death, I also think it can be so rewarding seeing many people become sober and have a second chance at life. In the book it says “unfortunately, only about half of our residents succeed… Some get lost in the system. Others die”(Pfizer Inc, 2001, p. 37). Although this is the tough reality with many of these patients, knowing I made a huge impact in someone’s life or even saved them from addiction would mean so much to me as a nurse and I think I would feel super passionate in this field. In this field I think I would have to be very strong and be ready for anything that could go wrong because many of these patients are very unstable and will do anything to fuel their addiction. Another speciality that I would be interested in is academic nursing. Before I was interested in nursing, I always thought I would love to teach as well. I think having the opportunity to both would be very beneficial for me and I love to help others learn. I also really like how as an instructor, you can also keep caring for patients as well. A nurse educator in the text explains how “The greatest reward, McFarlane says, is when a student who has been having difficulty grasping a concept finally gets it!” (Pfizer Inc, 2001, p.25). I really enjoy when I see someone who has been struggling finally being able to understand because you can see a whole new confidence in them that wasn’t there before. I really like that in this career I would be able to not only do patient care and have an impact on their lives, but I would also have the opportunity to teach other nurses to do the same and have an impact on future nurses as well. 

As I read through the book, I learned alot about many nursing specialties that I have never heard of or thought about before. This made me realize all of the different opportunities I will have as a nurse and it makes me very excited for when I get to choose what I want to do. It was very eye opening to learn some of the things these nurses do and as much as it made me interested in new specialties, it also showed me some specialties that I would not be interested in. I am very thrilled to start my nursing career and be able to make such a huge impact in others lives in whatever path I decide to choose. 

Works Cited 

Pfizer Inc. (2001) Opportunities to care: The Pfizer Guide to Careers in Nursing. Pfizer Pharmaceutical Group.