Developing Educational and Professional Goals

Nikole C. Hardy
School of Nursing, Old Dominion University
NURS401: Professional Development
Cheryl Honeycutt
July 4, 2021

1
 The Beginning and Inspiration

My journey as a nurse began in September 2015 when I became a Licensed Practical

Nurse after a traumatic event of losing my Bampie; my grandfather; my biggest supporter and

motivator; to his second massive heart attack at the age of 72. He is a major developing factor in

my decision to become a nurse. My grandfather started and ran a multi-million-dollar animal

medical research facility in Massachusetts so I grew up around the medical field and even had

the privilege of watching and even assisting in different surgeries being performed such as

Gastric Bypass’ on pigs, hip replacements on dogs, and even to observe a beating heart on a dog.

Needless to say, this pushed me directly on the medical field path and with my Bampie’s high

support and opinion of nurses so it’s to no surprise that nursing is where my heart led me as I

grew up. When he had his heart attack and was in Massachusetts General Cardiac ICU I met a

nurse named Donna. She influenced me even more. I was studying to take my state boards at that

time for my LPN; with definite goals of moving towards my RN when that was accomplished;

and she was simply amazing. Donna was one of the Registered Nurses’ taking care of my

grandfather. Watching her gave me my push to potentially work in the ICU. She was

compassionate, understanding, smart, empathetic, friendly, honest, and just an overall amazing

nurse. I had that sense of trust with her that I did not have with the others.

In 2020 I moved forward to complete my ADN program and passed my state boards in

July 2020 to become a Registered Nurse. I have always had a huge passion for the military and

veterans. Both of my grandparents along with my brother and friends were in the military and if I

did not have children of my own, I would most likely have enlisted to become an Army nurse. I

was not aware that there was such a thing as a hospital for veterans and military. I knew there

2
was such as thing as clinics, but when it was brought to my attention that there was a hospital

environment for military specifically, I knew at that moment that I was meant to work there and

it became my long-term nursing goal. It would be the perfect combination of two of my passions

in life; healing others as a nurse and working with the military to give back to them for their

services and sacrifices for our country.

The Journey to Starting My BSN

From 2015-2021 I worked in a Long-term/Skilled Rehabilitation facility. I dealt with

many post-surgical patients and stroke patients. I was on the skilled rehabilitation unit and

although it did have about half of the patients as long-term patients my particular section was

typically the skilled end. This was more work, but something I appreciated because the long-term

section; while still fulfilling; was not quite as busy as I preferred and found the skilled end more

challenging and interesting. As a nurse, it is my strong belief that a nurse’s education is never

complete. The medical field is almost constantly changing. I always knew that the facility I was

at would not be my “forever home” and I was destined to move on from it when the time was

right. I was offered promotions to management and supervisor that I turned down because I did

not want to accept a position I knew I would end up leaving within a year of receiving it. I had

received funds from a long-term care facility scholarship and had to work for a year from the

time I received it in school and until my year was complete, but I did work beyond that time

period. I learned so much from this facility; clinical skills, clinical judgement skills and so much

more; but when I began feeling the extra nagging intuitive push to move forward in my career

and education I knew it was time to start moving forward. I first signed up for my first set of

BSN classes through Old Dominion University (ODU) thinking that it would settle the nagging

push to move forward. When I realized I was still not satisfied I knew it was time to move on

3
from the facility itself and take the leap of faith into a hospital environment and out of my

comfort zone from the area I had learned how to truly be a nurse in.

I understood after obtaining my RN; particularly in the field I am pursing in the hospital;

it would be required to obtain my BSN. While my mind was not completely ready to give up so

much extra time and effort into another program, I am very competitive with myself and goal

driven so I knew it was something that needed to be done. Instead of pushing it to a later time I

knew it would be best for me to go ahead and complete it and have my BSN checked off of my

“to do” list versus stressing over when to get started on it. I learned that about myself as a LPN.

When I was a LPN I knew I would never be satisfied not going back and obtaining my RN. I

delayed going back to school and while a person would usually enjoy this time off I

continuously degraded myself for not going back immediately and stressed over when to do it

until I actually did. I refused to make this same mistake again. Apparently, this was one of those

many lessons you do not expect to learn as a nurse that is not completely nursing related!

Educational and Professional Goals

I researched bachelors programs several year ago while I was still in my Practical

Nursing Program and decided on Old Dominion University long before it was time for me to

attend. Now that the time is here; and while I would rather spend their extra free time having

more fun or relaxing experiences, I do appreciate the opportunity in front of me and have some

goals for my time I will spend in ODU and for my career after completing the program.

One of my educational goals is to become better prepared for a critical care specialty

because this would team up with my professional goal of working in critical care at a Department

of Veteran Affairs Hospital; whether that be in an ICU or ER, although I would be happy with

4
any position there. If I am not mistaken during your journey obtaining your bachelors, you do

dive a little deeper into particular specialties and this is one I would love to prepare for in

anyway possible. Another educational goal would be to enhance my communication techniques

using methods and evidence-based research opportunities and assignments provided by ODU. As

one can imagine, in a hospital dealing with military men and women, mental health is a major

factor and it is my own belief that knowing how to communicate effectively with someone with

PTSD, depression and suicidal ideations is a very important factor and has the potential to be

life-saving or altering.

In my career of nursing, along with my goal of giving back to my military client

population, I would also love to incorporate my use of Reiki with my patients. I am currently a

Level 2 Reiki Practitioner and have a goal of completing my Master Level as well. I feel that I

will become very beneficial to my patients, with their consent of course, to somehow have the

opportunity and ability to use my Reiki expertise to help with symptoms such as pain, nausea

and particularly mental health. Reiki has had several studies and reports of having the ability to

increase the quality of patients’ mental health and so much more. I have so many plans for my

career and obtaining my BSN is a major part of this process! Obtaining my bachelors will open

more career doors for myself along with providing me with more beneficial education.

My Strengths and Weaknesses

As a nurse I have frequently taken a step back to assess my strengths and weaknesses as

an individual and a nurse so I can collaborate with other team members to counteract with these

strengths and weakness to help provide the best care possible for my patients and to work on

myself as an individual and nurse also. Some of my strengths that I bring to the program is my

determination, empathy, commitment, and honesty. There are unfortunately nurses out there that

5
are in nursing for the wrong reason, and I am not one of them. This career is not about the money

for me, but about having a God given talent and calling to provide for people and assist them in

their healing or even end of life care. This pushes me to push myself in my education and to

continue to educate myself on ways to improve myself as a nurse, as a leader, a communicator

and overall knowledge. I am very determined when I make a decision. This is also a strength in

my opinion because in the process of deciding, I have assessed the reasoning behind taking this

extra time for the program, acknowledged the reasonings behind it and agreed and accepted

them. By doing this, I will be less resistant to completing assignments and pushing other students

as needed because as we know, everyone has moments of discouragement and frustration.

Everyone has weakness also. One of my weakness would have to be procrastination.

Sometimes, I put things off, not necessarily because I do not agree with an assignment, but more

because I have three children and I work full time so there are days where I just want a little time

to complete other tasks and before I know it, it is time for an assignment to be completed. This is

something I have acknowledged that I need to work on because even if the assignment is

completed, I am full aware it could and would have been completed more efficiently if started

earlier versus watching the clock to how many hours I have left to complete it versus days.

Another weakness I have would be regarding group work. I work very well with a group, but

when it comes to assignments; research papers for example, I am very particular. I know the best

way to get myself to be more willing to complete and work on an assignment is to have a strong

interest and link to my career goals. With group work this is not always going to match with

what the rest of the group desires to write about even if it is a compromise. With that being said;

in those situations I have to bend and essentially deal with not being as interested and motivated

in an assignment, but fortunately my strength of determination and commitment off balances this

6
weakness. This prevents me from turning my back and not participating in assignments. The

important aspect of weakness is not that you have a weakness, but the fact that you can assess

and acknowledge them and take steps to offset or correct them; at least in my opinion.

Conclusion

I chose the career of nursing because of my passion for people. This passion drives me to

continue to educate myself in not only diseases and their processes, but also all of the many other

factors such as communication and leadership, in order to evolve into a better nurse for not only

my patients, but also for myself and my co-workers. Obtaining my Bachelor of Science in

nursing will only have positive effects on my life and open up doors to lead me to my long-term

nursing goals one day. This assignment gave me time to self-reflect on the reasoning and

motivation I provided myself in order to commit to this nursing program. It also gave me an

additional opportunity to remind myself of my weaknesses and strengths so I can continue to

work on my weaknesses to provide myself with a better experience while attending school again

and essentially making my schoolwork routine more manageable. I am grateful for this

opportunity to not only continue my education but for opportunities like this for self-reflection to

motivate myself even more.

I pledge to support the Honor System of Old Dominion University. I will refrain from any form of

academic dishonesty or deception, such as cheating or plagiarism. I am aware that as a member of the

academic community, it is my responsibility to turn in all suspected violators of the Honor Code. I will

report to a hearing if summoned.

Nikole Hardy 7-2-2021