May 2015
Diane
Smith
,
DNP, RN
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
Milwaukee
,
WI
United States

 

 

 

Diane engaged in quality relationships with her students in many ways. Diana set up off unit experiences for students every week, and as a result, there were usually only four students on the oncology floor at a time. Because of this, Diane had sufficient time to spend observing each student and engaged in individual teaching as the day went along. Because she saw us through our clinical time, Diane had a keen understanding of our strengths and weaknesses and was able to give individual attention to students accordingly. Diane never spoke down to students or belittled them for not understanding concepts. However, she did not just give students answers freely. She pushed us to look up answers to our questions and think critically about solutions to our problems. One of the most impressive things about Diane was that you never knew who her favorite student was. She treated each student equally and fairly, and made sure each of us had the time we needed with her in order to learn and become the best nurses possible. Diane also had creative ways to help drive concepts home for students. One of the most important things about being a nurse is being able to recognize how a patient's symptoms connect to his or her feelings and diagnosis. As nurses we treat the patient as a whole being, not just one diagnosis or disease. Diane had an acute understanding of this, and expected her students to create concept maps throughout the semester. Diane has demonstrated excellence inteaching, through her expertise in nursing and the cultivation of our use of the nursing process. Although she was new to the content area of oncology, she provided weekly physiology lessons to explain, in depth, the cause of patient symptoms, and associated assessments we should conduct based on the physiology of the patients disease. She developed our critical thinking skills through teaching concept maps, demonstrating how subjective and objective data found in assessments can be interconnected through physiological processes. She challenged students to anticipate client needs and guided our developing nursing skills, having us seek out the answers to our questions through available resources, and offering guidance when we were struggling to find answers. Diane?s experience has contributed greatly to my learning experience in my clinical experience.