There are two post. reply with post with 250 words each and focus on how you feel about those reply and also make one discussion based on those with 250 words

question from discussion

After listening to the Speaker talk about Nursing during COVID reflect on the following;

1.  Describe lessons learned or takeaways gained from the speaker in terms of his/her chosen specialty, patient acuity, workload, and experience working during the era of the COVID pandemic. 

2.  Reflect on how this knowledge increased your awareness in the area of mindfulness, work effort, resiliency, and professional practice as a nurse. 

Post 1

I learned a few very important things from listening to the speaker series – Nursing during era of COVID podcast, but the two that really stood out to me the most where how overwhelmed she felt as a new grad nurse and how she addressed those situations as well as how important it is to ask questions and feel comfortable asking for help or advice from nurses/staff on your unit.  I'm sure most nurses feel a little overwhelmed when they first graduate, because having someone put their life in your hands is a big responsibility and new nurses are still learning and gaining confidence on their nursing skills. As she mentioned, going to a high acuity area to start off probably makes the situation more stressful and overwhelming, but also helped her gain a lot of knowledge and  start to feel more confident as a nurse in time. She mentioned that she didn't feel comfortable asking questions at first which probably made her job more difficult, but now that she feels comfortable asking questions she reaches out for help when needed because she realized how it is more important to be safe and provide good care than to feel dumb for asking a question. I feel like she made a really important point with that statement because she's absolutely right, it's more important to provide safe and quality care for a patient than to guess and potentially harm a patient to avoid appearing dumb or like a bad nurse in front of your peers. 

After listening to the podcast, I feel like I learned a lot about her resiliency and that even if you think you're absolutely sure about what kind of nurse you want to be, it may not work out and that's okay.  She was able to transition to another unit, build her knowledge and confidence and then gave it another try, she didn't give up despite her setbacks.  She mentioned that she was used to always being naturally good at what she did and when she got out there she had other nurses and staff telling her that she wasn't going to make it and I'm sure that was really hard to hear.  I admire her ability to know when to walk away, know her worth despite all of the outside voices telling her she couldn't make it work. She re-grouped, dusted herself off and started fresh in a more supportive environment and started to thrive.  It gives me hope to hear her story, because we may not all land our dream nursing job right after graduation, but with hard work, resilience and a little time, we can find our place.  I like the advice she passed on from the doctor to just get out there and show your worth through hard work and the recognition and money will surely follow. 

post 2

One take away I gained from the Speaker Series: Nursing during the era of COVID was how important it is to know your limits and what you want. The speaker mentioned that she knew she couldn't do the Burns ICU and requested to leave that internship. Leaving that internship eventually got her where she is today, in the ICU. She mentioned how much she currently loves her job and she's happy to go into work everyday, and that is my goal as a future nurse. I want to take care of patients, but I also want to really enjoy doing it. Her workload seemed like a lot because of her situation, and not only that, she started nursing at the start of COVID so I can't imagine how stressful that must have been for her. She mentioned what a great staff her hospital has, and it sounds like that took some of that stress off her shoulders and made her feel appreciated. Working for a hospital that matches your values is also another important takeaway I gained from the podcast.

The speaker mentioned that you have to demonstrate your value then the pay will come to you. If you work at a hospital that appreciates you then you'll get what you deserve in pay. Also, going through hardships as a nurse is normal and can benefit you later on. She left her internship but she felt the transition to med-surge was easy so she thrived there. Her resiliency in the Burns unit helped her a lot to transition. Nurses are a valued profession so we should get that shown to us by our employers. And most importantly, like she said, it's such a privilege to have a persons trust and life in your hands.