Group Work Reflection

For the most part, working in a group for this project was a success! We clearly outlined our objectives and the schedule of meetings at the first meeting. This provided the present team members with a great idea as to what was ahead of us. At the second meeting we outlined the homepage as a group. This allowed collective group input and discussion in terms of deciding which links were most important to include directly on the homepage. The group traveled to Anderson to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore for our third meeting to meet with Shelby for her final input. Immediately after this meeting, we divided up the proposal workload among team members.

I think that everything was communicated thoroughly. Group meeting times were e-mailed and confirmed by each group member. Despite these confirmations, we still had reoccurring team meeting absences by one group member. To avoid this miscommunication in the future, I will also make an effort to not only e-mail but send out a reminder phone call.

The most successful thing that our group has displayed was evenly distributing the workload keeping in mind each individuals educational background. For instance, Katie Bickers has had experience working with websites, therefore she was responsible for the Appendix section and homepage design.

Overall, I really enjoyed working with my team members. We felt very comfortable around each other which allowed us to complete our work more effectively. In the future, the only thing I would change is to also call group members to confirm meeting times so that the entire group is always present at meetings.

Mock Interview Reflection

Overall, I would say that my interview went pretty well. Considering I see myself as a pretty confident person, I was surprised with my anticipatory anxiety. After arriving 15 minutes early to Strode, I remembered that I had left my cover letter and resume behind at the library. I would consider this an important lesson learned. It is imperative to remember all of your materials and arrive early so that if anything unexpected occurs you have ample time to deal with the situation and still appear prepared and composed.

When I walked into the office I knew to immediately shake the hand of the interviewer before sitting down. I then experienced an awkward exchange of my resume and cover letter for unknown reasons. I think that Ms. Rogers thought I was going for a second hand shake. During the interview, I sat upright and made eye contact. I thought that the questions were relatively easy to answer and used my past educational and work experience to answer the majority of them. Problems that I faced were incorrect word choices. For example, I said anesthesia as a drug has always “surprised” me instead of “amazed” me. I tried to fix it by adding correct word choices after that word slipped out. I think it was just the nerves talking, but in order to avoid this I will be sure to rehearse answers out loud to commonly expected questions.

Furthermore, it is important to use the correct terminology when asking questions. Although, Ms. Rogers did compliment my final question to the interviewer her response let me know that I should be used different terminology. For instance, I asked “ Does your hospital offer any programs for Registered Nurses to sign a contract and continue their education and have the hospital pay for it?” Her response, “Yes, we do offer tuition reimbursement programs and I will be happy to send you information about that” let me know that is should have used the words tuition reimbursement instead of my lengthy description I chose in my question. Overall, I found the mock interview experience to be very informative and educational for my future career endeavors.

Nursing as a "profession"

Because my interview was postponed I will be writing about how nursing can gain “professional” status rather than writing a reflection for my interview. Four ways to achieve the professional status in nursing include, eliminating associate degree level programs, increasing power in nursing, joining organizations, and demonstrating the characteristics of a professional. In my nursing class, my professor said that in order for any career to be considered professional status it can only be achieved with the completion of a baccalaureate degree. Therefore, one way nursing can improve its professional status is to eliminate associate degree level nursing programs. In terms of Bono’s six hat theory baccalaureate degree nurses are prepared with all 6 aspects of critical thinking including how to make clinical decisions and professional judgment. Associate degree level nurses are not prepared, however, to deal reasonably and reflectively in situations without a definitive solution. Two years of schooling does not provide sufficient time to possibly learn all aspects of critical thinking effectively. For instance, these programs do not address the green or red hat in that students cannot make creative decisions based on sticky situations or make decisions based on emotions. Overall, the associate degree programs are ‘cookie cutter’ and do not offer the same decisions making skills as baccalaureate programs. Step two in attaining professional status requires increasing power by becoming a unified group of professionals through participating together in political activities while demonstrating accountability and professionalism is step two in achieving professional status. This power can by obtained easier by joining various nursing organizations. Specifically, the American Nurses Association (ANA) is a great network for nurses to join in order to make a difference. It is an extremely influential organization that is there to both help the nurses and the community. Furthermore, the characteristics of a professional must be demonstrated in order to be taken seriously. Some of these traits include high levels of responsibility, knowledge, autonomy, and organization. These characteristics must be exemplified in order to achieve the respect.

Class Presentation

Although I missed the first two days of our class presentations I was fortunate enough to watch a few students present on Monday. Everyone that I saw did a great job! It was really interesting to see the topic choice each person chose because it gave me a glimpse of some of my classmates personalities and interests. Specifically, I thought Sal did a great job on his presentation on bricklaying. I thought his power point was very informative and the pictures he chose were great! I especially liked his slide on his previous workthat he has done in the area because it added a lot of credibility to his speech. I also think very highly of him in regards to his continuing education when he already has mastered a trade that he could be so successful in. It really demonstrates ambitious qualities which are very important to have in the world today. Great job Sal!

Free Week

Since it is a free week I am going to write about my recent vacation home. Due to a close friend's death, I left school on Tuesday and returned Friday. This trip reminded me of what is most important in life and that is friends and family. For many students, traveling away from home can make it very difficult to stay in close contact with your old friends from high school and family at home. Being on the Cape this week reminded me of how important it is to value each friendship and do the most you can do keep in touch with loved ones. Although I was home under extremely unfortunate circumstances, I had a wonderful time with old friends who I vowe to keep closer to now that I'm away again. I think that everyone should keep this in mind and try to make time one day a week to call a few old friends or mail them a simple card to let them know you are thinking about them. Only a smile and continuing friendship will come of it.