Experience as a novice nurse.

I recently decided to switch careers into nursing. I have always

been in the forensic or death industry. I had always wanted a be a nurse so I

decided to make the change. My acculturation experience was rather drastic

coming from the line of work that I was in before. I do not necessarily have to

be as gentle in the morgue.

For my first and current nursing job, I was hired as a per diem

employee through an agency. I started in January of 2020. My assignments

are mostly one on one with a child at their school. I really love working with

children, it is a field of nursing that most interest me. The biggest adjustment

for me was a language barrier. Most of the schools that I was sent to had

patients that spoke in Spanish as their primary language. Communication is a

fundamental component of cross-cultural care encounters. (Maria

Jirwe, Kate Gerrish, and Azita Emami (2010)) This was a major adjustment

for me because I had to use my judgement based off of facial expressions or

translation from a teacher. I often had to wait for a teacher or staff member

to become available to help me speak with my patient. In the end it became a

routine for me. I learned who to ask and when to ask them.

I also had schools where the children were non verbal or faced with

learning disabilities. I had never worked with a disabled population before

and I did not know what to expect. Children with intellectual and

developmental disabilities (I,DD) may belong to a minority culture, the

additional culture of disability, and a culture of poverty. (Nehring (2007)) I once had a patient who was autistic,

non verbal, and diabetic. I was with this particular patient several times. He

took some getting use to, but I found a way to communicate with him.

Although he was non-verbal her was very comprehensive and helped me in

his own way.

When I got sent out on these assignments I went alone. I was not

trained with a nurse by my side. I had the phone number of the supervising

nurse if I had any questions. That was very new for me. I was use to a formal

training time period in which I had to be comfortable with a skill before I was

able to do it alone. I was very nervous when I got my first assignment. The

agency assured me that it would not be a difficult case for my first time. They

were right, my first cases was a very simple laid back case. I believe it is what

gave me the confidence that I needed to continue doing the job. I can not tell

the experience of a new nurse that has joined our staff because we all worked

alone.

References

Nehring, Wendy M. (2007) Considerations for Children With Intellectual

and Developmental Disabilities.

Jirwe, Maria, Gerrish, Kate, and Emami, Azita (2010) Student Nurses’

Experiences of Communication in Cross-Culture Care Encounte

Experience as a novice nurse.