Mentorship

My name is Josselyne and I want to be become a nurse someday. I am mentoring with a program at my school. My dream career is to be a nurse to help people. The idea of being a nurse came from having the feeling of helping someone. Everyone has a health that they need to take care.  Most people know how to treat basic health issues, but sometimes people need professional help. I chose this profession to be able to be looked up to. I don’t want a career that will not bring benefit to me only. I want a career that will help people in general.

I am mentoring at the Guildford Clinic. I have about 6 or more mentors. They all have different schedules because of their personal needs. I sometimes go once or twice a week because of my school schedule. The people that work there help me understand the basic things to know. There is a great amount of information needed to know, but I am learning slowly. I am always asking questions about the things that they have, and why they do certain things. I always go inside the clinic and go to the nurse’s station.  That is where I spend most of the time observing the employees. When patients come in the clinic, I get to help with taking their vital signs. I take their temperature and pulse rate.  I also get to listen to the patients symptoms and concerns. There are times when I am lucky and get to hear the diagnosis from the doctor.

I plan to apply to the mentorship program, and mentor again. I want to keep learning from my career. I am reaching my goals by actually getting the full experience of  my career. I am actually seeing my career for a couple of hours. The thing that is helping me is that this is a small ER and a regular clinic. I am getting two experiences in one.

Learning

At the beginning of the mentorship it was really awkward for both the workers and myself. The employees didn’t know how to handle the first times we met. After getting used to me and getting to know each other it was more easier to learn from them. The relationship that I have with the workers makes me more confident about what I am learning. The thing that is surprising to me is that the clinic sees about 50 patients a day. The clinic works as a small ER and uses only one doctor/nurse practitioner to see the patients. The workers are able to work 12 hour shifts.

I can improve my performances by asking questions. I am always asking questions and researching about basic knowledge to know. I know that by doing, and learning from my mistakes will take further. I also feel that by not being afraid of doing basic things. I know that you have to start from the bottom in order to achieve greatness. I absolutely enjoy my mentorship and feel that this is the experience that I needed. The program is letting me have a taste of the real world.

Partner in my Education

The goal that I have met so far is seeing my dream career in action. I never thought that reading about a career is very different than seeing it in action. The thing that I have gained from my mentorship is getting the details of the workplace. There are so many things that are not written about a career. The only way to find out is by actually shadowing the career. Another goal is actually getting to interact with patients. I really like the feeling of helping someone with their health as a career. I haven’t changed any of my goals until now. I am hoping that the more time that I spend at my mentorship there will more goals to accomplish.

The career that I want to pursue mostly depends on the patients. There are some times that the clinic is very busy, and there are others that is slow paced. The regular routine is to call patients to take their vital signs. Then ask them various helpful questions about their health. After that the doctor gets to take a look at them, and decide what is wrong. The nurse/assistant then puts all of the information into a database. The patient has to wait if they have a prescription to be sent to the pharmacy. The final step is to discharge the patient. The only part of the job that is sometimes boring is when there are not many patients. There are times in a while that you need a break though and the boring time is the resting time.

My Mentorship

I have been experiencing many things at the clinic. I want to explain various things that happen in the clinic. The following are the office politics, dress, and personal skills. As to any workplace there are ups and downs that are needed to be address.

The clinic has everything needed to function as a small ER. There is a lot of difference between the protocol of a regular doctor's office and the clinic. The nurses always have to get

approval from the doctor to do specific treatments. The nurses are not allowed to do any treatment without a doctor or a nurse practitioner being there. There are specific rules that are given to the nurses, and must be followed. There is a lot of communication within the nurses, but not the doctors. The doctors tend to be in their office doing their work. The doctors are always in charged of the nurses. They are the ones that tend to have everything under control. Everyone has to communicate in the clinic to be able to get things done. I have communication with the nurses only.

    I was told that you could only wear solid scrubs. I have been wearing scrubs that would be appropriate for the workplace. I know that their are some of the workers that wear business casual. They are the ones that don’t see patients. Everyone else wears scrubs. There are some that tend to wear a t-shirt or scrubs that are different in color. I haven’t seen them wear a uniform that is the consistent for all workers. They do have a scrub that have the name of the clinic, but they don’t wear it every time. They don’t wear name tags or anything telling patients who they are. I know that it would be better for them to have some sort of name badge. That would help patients know who they are talking to. I think that they should have some sort of uniform to wear consistently. I like that you pick your colors, but it should be more of a color coded workplace. I think that it would be more professional to have a consistent uniform not just solid scrubs.

    I have had to apply all of the skills that I have learned in my health care classes. I know there are still some skills that I need to work at. Much of nursing is all skill based, and having interactions with patients. There are some skills that are basic to know in any workplace like communication and respect. I am very thankful to be in the clinic, and to have the opportunity to learn from each and everyone of them.