Culminating Blog Post

Throughout my capstone project, I used critical thinking and collaboration to help others. I took the time and patience to learn how to do multiple things by the volunteers, and then had to apply my new found skills. I gained a lot of knowledge from this experience that could come in handy later in life. I had to break out of my shell and be a more talkative and open person to communicate with people. Once I became comfortable, I became more outspoken and learned a lot about the people there. For example, there was a patient there that I had a conversation with and I learned that he loved to color. Coloring made him feel more at ease and stress free, so the next time I went to volunteer I brought him more crayons and coloring books. I sat down with him for hours, coloring and talking to him about why he loved coloring so much. He said it was like a form of therapy for him so I told him about art therapy and how it actually is good for your mind and body.  It felt good to help him, even if it was just giving him coloring books. It made him really happy, which made me happy.

What I gained from the capstone project is experience in the nursing field. I learned so much about what it is like to be a nurse and tend to other people’s needs. I gained a lot of knowledge throughout my time spent with my mentor. With shadowing and practice, I now know how to do a number of things like how to make a hospital bed, how to change and dress a wound, take someone’s blood pressure, and medicine distribution.  What I personally gained from this experience was better social skills. I had to overcome my shyness so that I can better communicate with everybody, patients and other volunteers. It was kind of hard at first, but once I got better acquainted with everybody it became easier with time. Another personal gain from this experience was seeing what the nursing field was like. It opened my eyes to some of the things I would have to learn about and do as a nurse. What I realized during my time volunteering is that I don’t think I want to become a nurse anymore. I like the fact that it challenges me to be more open and expressing, but it’s just not something I see myself doing for the rest of my life.

Some challenges that I faced during this project was communicating with people. I’m a quiet person until I get to know somebody, so for me to go around asking people I didn't know what they needed or how they were doing was difficult for me. It was hard to understand the patients most of the time because of the medicine they were on. Some had a hard time speaking and others had a hard time hearing or comprehending what I was saying. I overcame all the difficulties with patience, understanding, and by being less shy.  I knew that it was not only hard for me, but it was also hard for them.  I took my time to listen to what they were saying and to also make sure they understood what I was saying.