Reflective Journal: The Nursing Profession

Reflective Journal Name Institution Reflective Journal Introduction The nursing profession comes with a burden of responsibility which demands an undivided attention and commitment to details when carrying out the diverse duties stipulated in the profession’s day to day activities. Lives are indeed at the hands of the nurses in any healthcare facility. However, the burden of responsibility is much heavier for nurses assigned to, specializing, or dealing with Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The nurses have the duty of attending to the needs of newborns experiencing various problems including premature births, infections, malformations or birth defects in their first month of life. A day’s work for a NICU nurse involves the monitoring of IV fluids, charting of vital signs, administering the recommended medications, and documenting of all the activities involving the assigned patients during a particular shift. It is often said that nurses hold lives in their hands in pertinence to their responsibility towards the patients admitted to their care in various healthcare facilities around the world. Nurses bridge the gap between the patients and the healthcare industry in its entirety as they convey the latter’s medical or healthcare demands in the best way possible for an equally articulate response required for effectively dealing or rather diagnosing the wide range of problems or medical challenges (Austin, 2014). The observatory eye of the nursing profession is integral for the smooth running of operations within a healthcare facility as it is through their coordination with other stakeholders involved that patients are attended in the most effective and efficient ways. A reflection on the experience during a nine-week externship in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit reveals some key insights into personal development both as an aspiring nurse and as a human being. Contrary to common belief, nursing care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is more than changing diapers and bottle feeding the debilitated infants all day long. It is a rather intensive unit that requires a lot of dedication and commitment from the nurses as the infants are almost totally dependent on them. Personal Skills learnt (Healthcare Delivery and Clinical Systems) During the nine-week externship with the intense NICU, a lot has been achieved regarding career development at the personal level. The fact that not all the infants under the special care programs are prematurely born played a significant role in widening the breadth of knowledge gained during the nine weeks. Handing off a shift is utmost importance in the NICU as all the information regarding the progress of a patient and their medical demands are carefully documented and thus any clarification needed should be made at this crucial time to endangering the lives of infants through misconceptions. Handing off is in itself a crucial skill whose importance cannot be fully emphasized but is well understood by NICU nurses who seem to handle the process with all the dedication and commitment it requires (Anibaba, 2017). Planning of the daily activities in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is usually on the basis of the time to feed the infants, changing their diapers, and administering medications. As...