I completed community health nursing fall 2018 during my senior year at Longwood.  This class taught me not only about public health and how to become more culturally competent for all types of patients, but my own personal beliefs related to the health care field.  This was a critical turning point as a student nurse.  This is because in order to provide culturally sensitive and competent care I must understand how I feel about certain beliefs so I can know when I will be doing an disservice by taking care of a patient in which I know I will be unable to provide the best possible care I can not just physically but emotionally as well.  It is also essential to know my own views and beliefs so I can reflect on what my patient needs or wants rather than blurting out my own opinion when a patient asks me a question on what I think they should do.  Nursing is not about providing a personal opinion onto a patient, but more so being able to allow your patient to self reflect on what he or she wants from the situation.  This class allowed us as students to become more in touch with ourselves as nurses rather than constantly cramming for an exam and for that I am so grateful!

 

Please find attached a copy of a paper I wrote during this course.  It proposes an intervention a community could implement in order to help combat the stigma associated with mental illness which is driven by the desire to achieve “perfection”.