Reflective Journal - Week 16

The last week of class......I have been waiting for this day for a long time!!!  Going to school has always been something that I enjoy, but this is the first time I have done school with kids.  This experience helps me appreciate all the years of school I was able to complete before kids.  Combining kids and school is no joke!  But I did it!! YAY!!!!!!!!

This leadership class has good for me.  It has helped me evaluate myself on a regular basis, and reflect upon what kind of leader I am and more importantly what kind of leader I want to be.  I feel that this reflection for me has been good.  It can be easy to become complacent at work...and in a way I feel I have become slightly complacent.  But like I was once told by a certain instructor :)  there is a time and place for everything.  For the last 7 years my focus has been my kids.  Now that my husband and I are done having kids--even though we still need to raise the rascals:), our focus can change slightly.  This for me is taking a step back and thinking what I want out of my career over the next 10 years.  When I graduated I remember being asked, "where do you want to be in 10 years?" and magically I am not that far away from my 10 year mark as a nurse.  Am I where I wanted to be?  Am I ok with where I am in my career?  Luckily my answer to those questions is...YES!

Reflective Journal - Week 15

We are almost done!!!  After putting this off for 9 years I am so excited to be done with my BSN!  This week in leadership I was once again educated on something I never thought I would do.  The Bargaining assignment was very interesting and I have a new found appreciation for those who work within unions.  While working on the group exam due next week it was interesting reading different posts about nursing unions in Utah.  People have very strong feelings about unions for and against, and the views were interesting to read.  My experience and exposure to unions is very negative.  When my family lived in California my dad ran an exporting terminal in Long Beach.  The long shoremen union wanted my dad's employees to join the union and started approaching them.  My dad wanted his employees to make this decision with all the information and tried to help them understand the benefits of both being with the union as well as not.  Because he got involved and tried to help his employees the union people starting making threats to him and our family.  One morning I woke up for school and went outside to find all the windows in my dads SUV had been smashed in.  This may or may not have been associated with the union threats, but it sure felt like it.  I know unions aren't bad, and this assignment helped me see unions from a new light.  It would be interesting to see how our work environment would change if a nursing union came to Utah.

The best part of the week was to finally complete my Professional Portfolio.  This project is unlike anything I have done in my past.  I have done resumes, and 5-year plans, but I have never compiled all the information together into a portfolio.  Now that it is done my feelings about what I have done with my career to this point is interesting.  Putting everything down on paper has been a good eye-opener for me.

Reflective Journal - Week 14

Conflict....is this a topic that anyone likes to discuss?  I don't know if anyone enjoys being in a conflict or talking about conflict.  However, it is something we have all been a part of, and will continue to be a part of--it just part of life.  Looking at conflict is an interesting thing, but I feel that if we are more aware of how to solve a problem we can do better in times of conflict.  When in situations of conflict it is also important to understand your immediate reactions, and know if these reactions are helpful or hurtful to the situation.  By understanding this information a person can conduct themselves better in times of conflict and therefore work toward a solution.

In my place of work I don't see conflict too often.  But there are some individuals that I can think of that deal with conflict better than others.  To be a good leader in my mind is to deal with conflict in a productive way.  This doesn't mean that conflict resolution will be easy, or painless, but will end with a resolution that solves the problem that works for the best of the unit.  A manager tells people how to resolve the problem, but a leader helps the people solve the problem.  A manager yells and uses aggressive communication, a leader uses assertive communication.  A leader when in conflict follows their own advice.

Reflective Journal - Week 13

What a busy week....must be close to the end!  This week's assignments have been fun, and have helped me look at leadership in a new way.  Strategic planning is not an area I feel comfortable in, but feel I understand it a little better.  Doing the group project was interesting, you could tell where each of us worked and had an interest in.  I think that this probably comes into play in real life situations, a person's background can influence where they see need.  But in a management position a person would have to change that way of thinking and make decisions that are in the best interest for the whole hospital or corporation.

I am excited to see what changes UVU makes in the future, with a MSN and maybe eventually further.  The reason I chose to go to UVU was becuase all my information was already at that school. I didn't have to worry about transferring transcripts or wondering if certain classes would apply to a certain area.  I think that with UVU working toward MSN level education there would be other nurses like me.  There is a large number of people who graduate from UVU and I believe this would help give them a patient base.  This is an exciting change!  I was a student when UVU became a university that was exciting.  I have really enjoyed my time at UVU and with this program is complete I will have 3 degrees from UVU, all of which I am very proud of.  What a great school, doing such great things!