Aaron Clevinger

MS 3 Final Clinical Journal

MS 3 Clinical Day 3 Journal

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited about today being my last day of clinical for nursing

school. Despite that I knew that I needed to end on a high note and make sure that I got as much

out of it as I could, especially since I am optimistic about my chances of potential future

employment on the ICU floor. However, today provided me with opportunities to grow that I

didn’t expect. Both of my patients today really tested me. They tested my ability to look past the

disease process and illness and see that there is a real person fighting to get healthy. I was forced

to really ask myself if I really was able to harness empathy and provided the best care possible.

Finally, I was faced with the reality of the question, if it was my family member how I would

want them cared for.

With my female patient and the one I wrote my doccucare on, I was faced with physical

findings the likes of which I have never seen before. I will admit that at first glance I was unsure

of how I was going to navigate the day. I had never ever seen anything like what this woman

was fighting. It was hard to look at in the beginning, but I surprised myself by how easily I was

able to push that out of my mind and turn towards giving her the best care I could. It was not

easy but I felt confident that I had made a difference in her day when I left.

My other patient was a gentleman whose circumstances really challenged my initial

assessment of how his family was choosing to care for him. I initially was frustrated and

dismayed that his family was having such a hard time letting him go based on his present

circumstances. However, after I spent some time with his family and saw how much they cared

and what they were fighting for I realized how much my own perceptions colored my opinions.

While I don’t think that my opinions were totally wrong, they definitely were not totally right. It
was a strong lesson in how not to decide the merits of a case/person without all the information. I

won’t soon forget the lesson either.

I think the C that I best exemplified today was compassion. It would have been easy to

just go into autopilot and focus on getting done more than focusing on caring for the patient.

However, I am really glad I didn’t. I think that might have been the most important message and

lesson from today. If I aspire to be a great nurse, I don’t get to phone it in. I don’t get to lose

sight of the person I am tasked to care for regardless of my personal feelings or circumstances

and that it’s the toughest patients that can potentially teach the most important lessons.