Kathleen
Prokop
May 2022
Kathleen
Prokop
,
MA, MEd, RN, CNE
County College of Morris
Randolph
,
NJ
United States
Professor Prokop always exhibited a positive attitude and a passion to excel our nursing skills by teaching us both hands-on skills and how to think like a nurse every clinical.
Professor Prokop is the definition of a compassionate nurse. She was caring and approachable in both lecture and clinical and really wanted all the students to succeed. Every morning at St. Barnabas when all of us were barely awake, Professor Prokop was organized and ready to go for the day. She always exhibited a positive attitude and a passion to excel our nursing skills by teaching us both hands-on skills and how to think like a nurse every clinical. Because of that, our clinical has prepared me to become a better nurse.
Throughout the day in clinical, I could hear her in my head saying "why?" That was her favorite question all semester. In post-conference when we give report on our patients, whether it is about the patient’s history, admitting diagnosis, or something that happened during the day, you had to know why that was happening to your patient. Why is your patient getting TPN? Why does the patient still have a Foley if they're post-op day 5? Knowing she was going to ask in post conference, I heard her voice in my head throughout the day, so I was prepared for her and this made me critically think throughout the shift.
Another thing Professor Prokop does is medication cards. It is the dread of all the students the night before clinical, but it was overall the most effective teaching method because by the middle of the semester, most of us did not even have to look at the cards because we knew our medications and why our patient was on it.
Lastly, which was my favorite part of clinical, is when we were paired up with a classmate and were assigned three patients. This really taught me teamwork and collaboration. Professor Prokop encouraged us to work together throughout the day and use each other’s strengths to learn from each other. This was a new experience for all of us. I constantly saw Professor Prokop's passion for nursing throughout the semester which is what makes her both a great nurse and a great professor. I can say that after this semester, I am a better nursing student and will be a better nurse because of the skills that I learned from Professor Prokop.
Throughout the day in clinical, I could hear her in my head saying "why?" That was her favorite question all semester. In post-conference when we give report on our patients, whether it is about the patient’s history, admitting diagnosis, or something that happened during the day, you had to know why that was happening to your patient. Why is your patient getting TPN? Why does the patient still have a Foley if they're post-op day 5? Knowing she was going to ask in post conference, I heard her voice in my head throughout the day, so I was prepared for her and this made me critically think throughout the shift.
Another thing Professor Prokop does is medication cards. It is the dread of all the students the night before clinical, but it was overall the most effective teaching method because by the middle of the semester, most of us did not even have to look at the cards because we knew our medications and why our patient was on it.
Lastly, which was my favorite part of clinical, is when we were paired up with a classmate and were assigned three patients. This really taught me teamwork and collaboration. Professor Prokop encouraged us to work together throughout the day and use each other’s strengths to learn from each other. This was a new experience for all of us. I constantly saw Professor Prokop's passion for nursing throughout the semester which is what makes her both a great nurse and a great professor. I can say that after this semester, I am a better nursing student and will be a better nurse because of the skills that I learned from Professor Prokop.