Geriatric Nursing Reaction Paper…

July 3rd, 2009 by Dianne Peña

Old age scares a lot of people— including me. Often, they associate it with disease, degeneration and death. Less do people know that old age comes with the word “WISDOM”

What is great about nursing is that you deal with life the moment you start to breathe, the moment it takes your breath away and the moment you halt to breathe. Nursing is in every stage of life and I am very glad that I have chosen this field.

When I first learned that our concept will be about Geriatric Nursing, I became doubtful of my dealing and communicating skills. Honestly, I am not that close to my grandparents and so I don’t have the slightest idea on how to deal with them. In addition, they are not that “old” as to compare with the geriatric population in the barangay we were assigned. Most people say that I am insensitive with the things that I say or do and so, I became afraid of hurting their feelings with the questions and reactions I give to them given the fact that we are in a different generation. However, as the interview goes, I felt at ease with them when they shared things I didn’t expect them to say and so, I was touched and I was glad that I did earned their trust.

There are few but significant learning that I have gained in this rotation, First, I learned that elders are easy to please. You can easily make them happy with the simple things you do for them one of which is to LISTEN. Second, I learned that everything would run smoothly, if you have built a strong rapport with the people you will work with. Third, I realized that being a student nurse isn’t just about complying with the requirements, it is about learning by doing things from the bottom of your heart in order to serve other people. Lastly, geriatrics are still part of the community, they have special needs that we need to attend to. They should be given importance because at one point in our lives, they contributed to the life we are living right now. I mean, who says geriatrics can’t do anything right due to their old age? They possess wisdom and that if we listen to them we can’t go wrong.

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This rotation is a proof in the saying “Save the best for last…” Given the fact that this will be our last community exposure in my whole college life, I believe the group had given its best to help the community and made them happy even just for a while. Let them forget about their worries and at the same time learn on how they can maximize their health status.

Learning is a two-way process. I believe in our group’s own little way have touched the lives of the community and definitely, they have touched ours. I will never forget this rotation.

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With this rotation, I am very thankful for everything that has happened because it aided my learning not only when it comes to knowledge but also with the skills and attitude required of a beginning nurse practitioner.

—-just posting some of my reflection paper during my duty days ’cause I don’t know what to do with them anymore…LOL!:] I was thinking that I would sell my files but I’d rather not. LOL!:]

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