Final Essay paper on my clinical Lab Tech.

1. Faustina Ofosu
Emily Cirillo
02/23/2016
Why I decided to be a nurse.
For me, nursing was a natural choice. Throughout my childhood, my uncle was
frequently hospitalized due to chronic illnesses. I spent many nights at him bedside
watching the interactions between her and the nursing staff. The staff would take the
time to ask me about school and help with my homework, while still providing
compassionate care for my uncle. He called them "his girls," and when he passed away,
many of them attended the services. Although I didn't see anything strange about my
childhood, I did recognize, even then, how extraordinarily caring the nurses were to
some of my family's darkest times. I decided to become a nurse to give to others the
same caring support those nurses gave to my family. I also enjoy working with other
people. I also want to be a nurse because I want to be able to make a positive
difference in other people’s lives and because I feel that I could be able to alleviate, in
some small way, some of the suffering that a large number of the patients in nursing
homes and hospitals go through in a daily basis. Most importantly i want to earn a
degree in the healthcare field in order to go back to Africa, set up a hospital or a clinic
and help the people back there. There are inadequate hospitals and clinics back in
Africa, Ghana where i come from and people it difficult to receive health care. The
nursing profession brings forth many opportunities and achievements, but the most
meaningful ones I received were through direct patient care. In a more specific vein I
am considering a career as a traveling nurse in Africa because I would be able to

2. perform all the usual tasks of a nurse but I would also be able to travel to a large
number of different places and see a lot of exciting things. One of the big influences for
me to pursue a career in nursing has been my volunteer work in a nursing home. I have
volunteered in a nursing home for several years now and the more time I’ve spent
volunteering, the more I’ve thought to myself that I could be able to do so much more
from a patient care point of view if I were to get a nursing degree. So that has been
what I’ve been working towards. My short term goal is to finish my general education
requirements over the next semester or two as well as continuing to volunteer at the
nursing home to get more advanced in the health field before my ultimate goal. My mid-
term goal is then to further my studies into a four year school in order to get my nursing
degree and move on to earn my master’s degree. I am looking at a few different schools
to transfer to but I haven’t decided on a particular one yet. My long term goal is get a job
as a nurse at one of the regional hospitals and eventually transition to a job as a
traveling nurse. I’m currently in the health science individual studies and I’m taking
credits.
What I appreciated most about the first module was its reminder about the
importance of safety. Working in a safe manner is something that we all must keep in
the back of our minds regardless of which area in the healthcare field we ultimately go
into. I also appreciated the talk on patient confidentiality, because at the end of the day
we’re treating people. People with their own unique thoughts, feelings hopes, fears and
desires; and they should be treated with all the respect and care that, that entails. With
that in mind patient confidentiality deals with a specific part of the overall idea of quality
care.

3. The fact that many patients are already scared and worried when they come into
the hospital. They need to be able to know that their privacy is being respected as much
as possible and that they can put their trust in the providers caring for them. Because if
the patient doesn’t feel they can trust the provider then they will simply refuse to
cooperate in any way. Another subject that I found very important is communication
between providers. If providers are unable to share information, discuss care options,
and treat patients together effectively then the healthcare system as a whole simply
can’t function. This is why it's vitally important that as any healthcare provider goes
through their education and eventual integration into the healthcare workforce they learn
how to communicate both with patients and other health care providers, as well as
learning the terms that are used in medicine as a whole as well as any specific terms
related to their chosen specialty. Another very important topic that certainly earned its
own topic is hospital safety, this topic, in my mind, is two pronged. It involves both safe
practices as an individual provider; such as being aware of your surroundings and
possible hazards to you like needle sticks, violent patients ect. And using safe medical
techniques such drawing meds with the needle pointed away from you, wiping injection
sites down before injecting meds and wearing proper personal protective equipment.
But also following safe practices on a larger scale such as with incidents like gas leaks
or terrorist attacks.While some HazMat are common throughout the hospital(for
example, cleaning solutions), many are department-specific (for example, processor
solution in the radiology department). And also cleaning solutions, herbicides,
pesticides, and many of the materials in your basement or garage at home are all
potentially hazardous material.Sexual harassment at workplace is an unwelcome sexual

4. advances or conduct of a nature which unreasonably interferes with the performance of
a person's job or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.
Overall, this class will help me understand the rules and regulations associated
the health field since I have chosen that field. In the nursing field, I will have the ability to
comfort the ill and dying and render help to the helpless. Also experience the thrill of
helping a baby been born,” that will be the most adorable experience ever”. I will also
get the chance to give back to the community by working and building a free hospital or
clinic in Africa (Ghana) at a homeless mission and a medical mission’s team.