My Lack of Community Health Knowledge

So putting my lack of wordly knowledge pursuit aside- Now the semester has started- and I need to bump up my general nursing knowledge, and fast. This semester.....this semester we are tested. This semester is not about learning any new "nursing knowledge". By that I mean, Med/surg is over, maternity, peds, psych...etc. We will not be learning any new technical skills, or about any new diseases or how-to's.

Instead, it is time to apply all of that knowledge--From the past four years of being here, from Anatomy 1 to Med/Surg 11. Everything is up-for-grabs and needs to be ready to be taught to our patients now.

This semester  my clinical rotation is Community/Public Health. This means I will be making home visits to see patients, and could be asked anything. And it will be strange, because its not like it is my teacher asking me a question about whatever and I'm graded on it-- But instead, it is a patient, asking me a question because he/she is genuinely interested, and needs to know for his/her own health or their child. Its time now to teach my patients and hope and pray that I have enough information up there in my head to give good answers these patients will be looking for.

My first two assignments this semester (starting in two weeks) will be making a home visit. I am under the current belief that we will be visiting newborn babies and the mothers...and our job is to assess the newborns development, making sure the house is clean, the mother is taking good care, making sure the baby is not sick, answering any questions, etc. I am excited because I get to see babies, YAY!, but also scared because Maternity was Fall 2009 and that is a long time ago....I feel like I've forgotten everything about infant care/assessment/development. But luckily I still have my textbook and I can review..

After my two home visits, I will spend the rest of the semester rotating into different agencies around the community here. Although I am scared because I fear I know nothing- I am also excited because we are visiting a center for teenage mothers and their newborns, and many other similar agencies.

I feel borderline about community health....I'm not for it or against it, as of now. I know for sure I don't think I will ever want to be a nurse that makes routine home visits...but who knows, maybe after doing it this semester I will change my mind. However, I am interested in being a school nurse maybe somewhere down the line, or perhaps being a nurse for Planned Parenthood or for an agency that helps teenage moms. I think I like working with teenagers (we'll see about that) and I definitely like working with babies! So we'll see how this semester goes. Hopefully well!

~WNB

Related Posts:

- Why I Chose Nursing

- How the Knowledge-Quest Started