MARICRIS B.

CARONAN CRITICAL CARE NURSE AS A CAREER

BSN IV SET 1

Nursing is a caring profession. As a unique profession, it is practiced with an earnest concern for the amount of care and the science of health. The profession involves a humanistic blend of scientific knowledge and holistic nursing practice. In the daily work as nurses, nurses deal with intimate and fundamental human events such as birth, death and suffering. The goal is to help clients attain, maintain, or regain an optimal level of health, as nurses, they need to understand clients as individuals when providing care, need to focus on the client within both a total care and an individualized care context. Individuals are increasingly knowledgeable about their health and are encouraged to take more interest in and responsibility for their health and well being. Special efforts are being made by health care professionals to reach and motivate members of various cultural and socio-economic groups concerning lifestyle and health practices. Nurses are to motivate people to make improvements in the way they live, to modify risky behaviors and to adopt health behaviors. The health care delivery system is rapidly changing as the population and its health care needs and expectations change. Critical care nursing is that specialty within nursing that deals specifically with human responses to life-threatening problems. Critical care nurses practice in settings where patients require complex assessment, high-intensity therapies and interventions, and continuous nursing vigilance. Critical care nurses rely upon a specialized body of knowledge, skills and experience to provide care to patients and families and create environments that are healing, humane and caring. Foremost, the critical care nurse is a patient advocate. Nurses in intensive care units (ICUs) regularly face critically ill and injured patients. They have complex roles in delivering health care to the patients. Intensive care unit is the setting where I want to pursue my career in the future as a critical care nurse, but it's kind of difficult for me to put into words WHY exactly I want to do it. I like using my brain, critically thinking, being where the action is, and working with critically ill patients. I am fascinated to critical care nursing because of the challenges and rewards of taking care of very sick patients in a fast paced environment. I believe in the intensive care unit setting, my nursing skills are pivotal to the patient's survival and my roles will be continuous to evolve. Since I have an idea of the setting, I already thought of becoming a critical care nurse someday. In the intensive care unit, you expect to encounter a critically ill patient which will feel you unease. Although, ICU is one of the most unnerving areas in a hospital still I consider it as an area where you can learn a lot of new things and acquire new experiences. Dealing with complex area will help you engage yourself with a new aspect and principles in life as well. Indeed, I was inspired in the story of Michele Wolff, a critical care nurse who loves challenges, excitement and adrenaline rush in the ICU environment which gave me the

MARICRIS B. CARONAN

BSN IV SET 1

point of view in dealing such critically ill patients. I admired her courage and determination in pursuing her career which paved her the way to more challenging path. Life consists of experiences, challenges, and achievements; all of which are building blocks that inherently create ones path to success. When you do what you love, the seemingly impossible becomes simply challenging, the laborious becomes purposeful resistance, and the difficult loses its edge and is trampled by your progress.