The nursing practicum experience is essential since it educates professionals in their early careers. As the roles of nurses expand to health promotion and support for patients, the urgency in adequate nursing practice increases. During my practicum experience in clinical settings with mentally unstable people, I have improved communication and leadership skills, which will be applied in my daily interactions with patients and their families.
The practicum experience plan discusses three main objectives for each nursing practitioner. The most successful area for me is effective communication, as I have acknowledged Peplau’s theory of interpersonal relations which helped me to obtain suitable roles for each communication phase. For example, during the exploitation phase, I become a surrogate and a counselor for the patient, recognizing his needs and assisting him (Wasaya et al., 2021). Since evidence-based practice requires the application of the researched principles of therapeutic decision-making, Peplau’s theory became my strategy for providing health services.
Apart from the first goal, I have shown moderate success in rational skills as it is still challenging to choose appropriate treatment. Considering that analytical skills increase with nursing experience, examining many patients’ conditions would help me to succeed in this objective. However, the third objective, nursing leadership, facilitated my relationships with Menninger Facility’s professionals, thus, positioning me as a future leader. After improving my analytical skills, I can drive changes in clinical settings and become a confident nursing leader.
Learning textbooks and Menninger Clinic’s professionals are the primary resources that helped me to deal with challenging patients. One of them suffered from anorexia nervosa, making it difficult for me to ensure her nutrition. Another one rejected treatment, forcing the Menninger facility to worry about the patient’s safety. If I had a chance to contact this patient again, I would convince him that the consequences of his decision are detrimental. Meanwhile, the third patient with posttraumatic disorder never shared his feelings with me, forcing me to believe I lacked nursing competence. Nevertheless, Menninger’s teachers helped me to avoid stress and provide care for these patients.
Interacting with mentally unstable patients improved my patience, empathy, and teamwork. Since professionals face many stressors during the nursing practice, it frequently results in burnout (Forest et al., 2019). Hope and self-efficacy help me build resilience and manage a large patient volume by improving communication with all professionals who facilitate consistent outreach. The next time I would spend more time with challenging patients to encourage effective schedules. Therefore, patience, empathy, and resilience resolve all possible issues occurring in the nursing practice.
To conclude, the preceptor’s informal daily feedback during my nursing practice helped me to establish friendly relationships in clinical settings, improving my communication skills. Regarding formal feedback, I still need to improve my analytical skills to enhance my decision-making. I can achieve it by monitoring patients with severe psychological illnesses and reporting patients’ feedback to preceptors. Although I have demonstrated some success with specific patients and colleagues, strong resilience and leadership are missing.
References
Foster, K., Roche, M., Delgado, C., Cuzzillo, C., Giandinoto, J. A., & Furness, T. (2019). Resilience and mental health nursing: An integrative review of international literature. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 28(1), 71–85. Web.
Wasaya, F., Shah, Q., Shaheen, A., & Carroll, K. (2021). Peplau’s theory of interpersonal relations: A case study. Nursing Science Quarterly, 34(4), 368–371. Web.