Mastering Psychiatric Nursing Coursework

During the time when I was considering what path I was going to follow in terms of my professional development, I realized that my career goals offered me the chance to achieve 2 goals simultaneously. My short term goal is to master psychiatric nursing well enough to be able to teach it by obtaining all possible experiences related to psychiatric nursing by working part-time as either an employee or volunteer in a psychiatric facility.

These are exposure methods which I believe will help me achieve my long term goal of becoming a full time, effective educator in a local community college. The idea is to join the faculty of their 2 year A.A. Nursing program within 6 years. Realizing the cut-throat competition I will be facing in the part time instructor field, I have taken a proactive stance by already applying for part time instructor positions. It is my hope that I will be hired by one of the colleges with the full intent of transitioning my position into a full time teaching slot when I am finally ready to do so.

Reflective Statement
Statement of Purpose
I have found that the Masters of Nursing Program met my expectations with regards to learning the skills that will be required of me once I become a nurse educator in the future. The program introduced me to the now available for learning. More notably, the classes also expounded upon and introduced me to the different teaching principles that will help me develop my adult learner teaching method.

The classes helped me to realize and understand what is expected of me professionally. I now understand that I am responsible for making sure that the student instructor expectations are clearly defined. My preceptor made it quite clear during my clinical rotation that providing accurate information and clear direction is of the utmost importance in order to insure that the student will be able to fulfill their educational expectations and goals. Something which I personally thought was often lacking in todays student-instructor set up. By taking what I learned during my rotation, I am now highly committed and confident that the nurse educator path is truly the career road I want to take.

Professional Plans for the Next Five Years
As I have recently completed my MSN Nurse Educator program, I am not eligible to apply for either an educator position or as an assistant nursing director. My plan is to work in the department educational planning unit where I can devise various nursing education methods covering a variety of nursing subjects.

With any luck, I will able to work in the aforementioned position over the next five years while teaching part time in the associate degree nursing program. In the future, I might even pursue a doctoral in Nursing Degree. Everything else after my main plan of becoming an educator is tentative and will probably take on a more final shape as the years pass and I come to a deeper understanding of what skills are really required of me as an educator in an ever changing nursing landscape.

Clinical/Teaching Experiences
In 1994, I began teaching my first at the Ladera Career Paths Training Center in Los Angeles. I handled a class of 15 students for one year from 9 A.M. To 12 P.M. This was one of the classes required for the medical record program which was attended by young adults who needed to learn a skill as quickly as possible. Approved by the state of California Bureau for Private Post Secondary Education, all the training that was provided was designed to prepare students for entry level employment as medical record coders, billers, or transcriptionists.

By the Spring of 2007, I began teaching Legal and Ethical Aspects in Healthcare classes part time at the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science in L.A. This is a required course for anybody pursuing an Associate Degree in .

As an instructor, I was introduced to the significance of the adult learning principles. The older students, who were in their early or late 50s often did better in class than their younger counterparts. I found that the older students were more committed to being responsible for learning the information presented in class and they did very well on their tests. The techniques that I used in teaching this course besides lectures were power point presentations, Internet based readings, and role playing for a student population composed mostly of African Americans and Latinos who were eager to make a career change. I also served as a trainer for our annual skills validation laboratory.

Here I was tasked to evaluate our nurses knowledge of sanitary procedures and guideline, making sure to take those who failed the training course were taken to task and retrained in the skills where they showed wanting in competency.

I also worked as a public health nurse for the County of Los Angeles Public Health Department, specifically the sexually transmitted disease program. This was a job that was dear to me because it allowed me to share the responsibility of educating the high school students about STDs by assisting the health educators. I took the lead on this assignment and presented information about various STDs, transmission methods, and how they are treated. Aside from lessons regarding safe sex practices. One of the strategies that I used was to engage the students participation by encouraging them to ask questions.

By January 2007, I was already trained at the USC Life Support Center in Alhambra, CA as a Cardiopulmonary Resuscitator, Basic Life Support trainer. Now I was allowed to handle monthly CPR/BLS training for the nurses and physicians and any other ancillary personal that requires CPR/BLS training. I handled only 6 students at a time as allowed by the American Heart Association usually on site. There were instances however, when I would be requested to train others at various locations. During these times, I utilized various class teaching methods such as DVD viewings, lectures, demonstrations, and return demonstration from the students.