Nursing application essay

[rjclveland22]

Hi everyone! I am new to this site and hoping to get some feedback on my (not yet finished) nursing essay. Any feedback, both positive and negative is welcome. Thanks in advance!

This is what I have so far:

We have all heard the words of Confucius: Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” I never thought this to be true until I began my journey of working in healthcare. I am currently twenty three years old and on my second professional career, my first being hairdressing. To me, hairdressing was a job, it was something that I had to drag myself out of bed for and count the minutes until I was allowed to go home; it was work. I like to think that I didn't find nursing, nursing found me. My grandfather died at Woodridge Nursing Home the day after I graduated from hairdressing school in February of 2012. Every year at Woodridge, there is a candle lighting and remembrance of those that have passed away in which families, friends, nurses and staff are welcome to attend. As I watched the many nurses and nurses aides speak with such admiration of their residents, I was moved by their passion and knew without a doubt that I wanted to have that same passion in my own career. Although I am still only in the beginning of my nursing journey, I can already say without a doubt that my time as a Licensed Nursing Assistant has been more fulfilling than a lifetime of cosmetology work could ever be.

I believe that I will be a great nurse one day not only because of my experience as a nurses aide, but also as a patient. I was diagnosed with a Chiari malformation secondary to a large posterior fossa arachnoid cyst when I was nineteen after temporarily losing vision in my right eye. Although I was grateful to finally have a diagnosis after years of struggling with headaches, dizziness and balance issues, I had to face the fact that in order to heal, I had to endure a painful craniotomy. I was scared of so many things when I found out I had to have surgery from not waking up, to being paralyzed to not being able to speak or see ever again. The brain is a magnificent organ and although I knew I had wonderful surgeons, I still had so many questions and concerns regarding my procedure. That's where nursing stepped in. The nurse assigned to my case had an answer for everything, even the questions that my surgeon didn't have the answer to. She knew what I should expect for post-surgical symptoms because she had held the hand of a patient when they were coming out of anesthesia after a similar surgery. She knew what I should bring for belongings for my first overnight in the hospital because saw what patients cried for at night when they were finally left alone. I walked in to the hospital for my surgery in January of 2015, confident in the care I would receive because of a nurse.

My time in the hospital showed also showed me the type of nurse I want to become. After a six hour surgery, my most recent memory of waking up involved a dry mouth and panic. I wasn't allowed to have family in the room until I was assessed for any neurological damage upon waking up, so my first interaction was with nursing. A young nurse named Christine, whose name I will never forget, asked me to squeeze her thumbs, follow a light with my eyes and wiggle my toes. After telling my surgeon my name and location I was cleared to have my family enter the room. Although I knew she was busy with other patients as well, when Christine was caring for me, I felt like I was her only patient. After my family left and I was crying in the middle of the night, it was she that brought me a cookie at two o'clock in the morning and told me that yes, my cat would still love me when I got home. This is the type of nurse I want to be. I want to be the nurse that patients will remember because my care helped them get to sleep at night or get through another day with a smile. I think because I know what kind of care I needed as a patient, I am better able to give that care in return.