My journey into the nursing field started long before going to nursing school and entering the field. To start, I was only nineteen years old when I became a correctional officer in 1987. I had completed an associate degree, was living on my own at the time, and was seeking a possible career choice.
At first, I noticed my fascination towards at the time what was called the “Criminally Insane.” I spent a few years working with these particular inmates and later realizing that even though I experienced things that most never will being in the prison system it was time to move on.
I completed a bachelor’s degree in education in 1993 with a specialization in behavioral management and Emotionally Handicapped. Again, working in a psychological field, I seemed to be drawn to this particular setting.
Ten years passed but I felt it was a struggle surviving financially especially after having my son in 1994. I’ve never been one to stagnate, so I began searching for a way to be my own boss. For a few years I drove a semi-trailer truck in Florida.
I did my own accounting books, hired my own help and financed everything myself. I subcontracted for a large company but realized that even though I enjoyed the financial success and freedom it brought, eventually I would physically “look” like most truck drivers do after several years of hard physical labor.
Oddly enough, it was the break I took from school that motivated me to go back. I needed a career that was financially stable and would always have positions to fill.
I initially considered to obtain a masters in school counseling and guidance but realized that there was much more opportunity and financial stability in nursing. I completed an Associates in Science in Nursing program at Miami Dade College and it has been a great experience over the past almost thirteen years for me.
I started on the floor like most in Telemetry, Med. Surge, Orthopedics, Infectious Wound Care and finally what I do now, Forensic Psychiatric Nursing. I have been a charge nurse supervising several nurses and caring for a 1,500-inmate population in a county jail.
Also, I had the opportunity to be a Director of Nursing in a large prison with almost 2,000 inmates.
The Bachelor’s in Science in Nursing (BSN) program will now be my second completed bachelor’s and the motivation I need to move to the next level of my career.
I have not decided whether to follow a path towards being a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner or a path in Health Administration. I feel through my past experiences that I will make a good decision between the two.
Personally, I continue to travel the world with my wife and appreciate how my nursing career has enabled us to do so.
Financially, I continue to invest and own my present home that I plan to stay in at least until retirement. I plan to finish my career in nursing or in health administration within the next 5 years.
I can guarantee, God willing, I will retire in thirteen more years with the satisfaction of knowing that the reward of caring for others and their health needs has made my life fulfilling and complete.
Changes in my nursing practice have been directly correlated with several activities and assignments during my exposure to the BSN program.
All of the courses and my most recent experiences being involved in the community while going to the civic meetings was a transitional experience and brought together a greater understanding for me to advance in my educational goals.
I’m seeing the possibilities to have a greater impact on and contribution to my community.
Also, the professional organization meetings and shadowing an advanced professional in my field has allowed me to achieve more focus on my goals towards being a leader and to have a better understanding of where I strive to go in the future.
In the workplace I feel like I’m getting closer to the level and understanding of what higher degree professionals are producing.
In reviewing the 2008 American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s (AACN) Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice, I was able to evaluate how it’s nine essentials are connected to the UNF School of Nursing (SON) first objective.
“The graduate will use the UNF School of Nursing conceptual framework as a basis for professional nursing practice” is the first of the UNF School of Nursing (SON) Program Objectives.
Conceptual frameworks can be described as a way to guide the nursing process by using collaboration and implementation. This objective was also used to develop parameters for the University of North Florida’s (UNF) bachelor’s level nursing curriculum.
The UNF’s SON Conceptual Framework is composed of six core components that have been identified by UNF’s School of Nursing faculty for the nursing program curriculum.
The core components include collaborative partnership, professional values, nursing process, environment, cultural competence, and evidence-based practice (University of North Florida, n.d.).
The use of conceptual frameworks is one approach that can be highly useful in organizing and providing an explanation for a range of complex factors, and most importantly in formulating and developing interventions, and clinical, educational, policy and research agendas.
According to the 2008 AACN’s Essentials of Baccalaureate Education of Professional Nursing Practice (p. 12), this objective of the baccalaureate program prepares the graduate to:
- Integrate theories and concepts from liberal education into nursing practice.
- Synthesize theories and concepts from liberal education to build an understanding of the human experience.
Nursing students need to be able to identify the relationship between practice and theory and how conceptual frameworks assist in undertaking this ultimate goal. This objective enables students to apply and reflect over what they have learned and determine how to apply the new knowledge.
Any organization on the journey to nursing excellence might initiate its search for a professional practice framework by exploring the many nursing-specific theories, frameworks, and conceptual models that are readily available in the literature (Miles, 2010, p. 171).
This objective was first explored during the first semester of our program in Perspective in Chronicity course (NUR 3082) in which we had two assignments in which we were asked to select theories from a list and then locate an article from one of the online databases that uses this theory as the focus of the article.
This assignment provided me with an opportunity to briefly summarize the article and explain how the selected theory was used by the author(s). This assignment was a great way to reflect on what I had learned from reading the article and how that experience enhanced my learning about theory application.
Coping: Lazarus & Folkman was the theory I chose for the first theory assignment of this class. Choosing this theory, it enabled me to recognize the cognitive process and have a better understanding when working in my current clinical setting.
For the second theory assignment I chose Powerlessness and Miller’s Power Resources. This assignment helped me recognize that even though these patients that were described in the article could not change their situations, they knew that they still had the choice to change how they perceived their situations, attitudes, and thoughts.
This assignment allowed reflect on how to apply this theory in clinical practice.
I was able to conclude that people that may be facing chronic illness ultimately have the ability to change their perception of their illness and manage it with a positive attitude and that every individual’s outlook for their own well-being in turn can allow them to live a more productive and fulfilling life.
This nursing program continued to explore this first objective throughout the second semester in the Introduction to Nursing Science course (NUR 3993), which exposed me to information related to research and evidence-based practice processes.
This course built upon my skills in searching literature as well as my ability to critically read the evidence and judge the quality of a study. This course helped develop my skills in understanding qualitative and quantitative research reports and to identify their similarities and differences.
This course also helped me identify the clinical problem, significance, theory or theoretical framework, and purpose in a published qualitative research report.
Another course during the third semester that further explored the first objective was Community Partnerships and Nursing Practice course (NUR 4636L). This course provided the opportunity for us to focus on teaching a targeted audience a topic/intervention while using a framework as a guideline.
My intervention was a presentation of proper hygiene to residents of a psychiatrist care facility. This intervention involved using handouts, videos and interactive discussions. The proper hygiene habits that were being implemented were handwashing, brushing teeth, showering, etc.
My intervention explained to the audience the importance of practicing proper hygiene for disease and illness prevention. I chose this intervention because of its social benefits which included improved self-confidence.
Since these residents/patients are in close proximities within this environment, this intervention will assist in helping to reduce verbal and physical altercations often caused by individuals with poor personal hygiene.
This hands-on activity was a wonderful experience in which I was able to provide opportunities for psychiatric patients to heighten their awareness and improve their self-confidence.
During the fifth semester we continued to explore this objective through the Applied Nursing Ethics course (NUR 4826).
This course provided information on theoretical models of morality as integral components of the role of the professional nurse in the health care setting along with critical legal concepts in nursing and health care.
It allowed for discussion of theories, concepts and principles influencing ethical decision-making in nursing and health care. One of the assignments that helped expand my understanding of applied nursing ethics was to reflect on major theories and ethics related to the field of nursing.
The first reflection paper was on Deontology versus Utilitarianism. This assignment consisting of defining the Deontology and Utilitarianism and to reflect critically on their importance to the nursing profession.
Many of these assignments, interventions, projects, and research papers throughout this nursing program has allowed me to grasp the extent of conceptual frameworks, the benefits, and when they should properly be put into practice.
Reflecting on all these experiences has made me more knowledgeable of what conceptual frameworks consist of and how they can be applied to my daily nursing practice. I am very satisfied with how the courses within this program has explored this objective.
