Nursing Portfolio
Hello, I'm Aisha, a Nursing Student from Seneca College.
What brought me to Nursing?
I was brought to nursing for a multitude of reasons. I have always been a compassionate and caring individual and some have said to me that I have the right personality type to become a nurse. This field is a natural fit for me. Caring, compassion and empathy can be taught (Richardson et al., 2015) however, I am fortunate that I have these trait already. Additionally, I have always had a passion for helping people as it makes me feel fulfilled and purposeful (Deliktus et al., 2019). in my life. Being able to put a smile on a patient’s face makes all the stress and hard work of school worth it. I also like the versatility of the field as I am someone who likes to change things up, Nursing allows me to do this as I can go from working in a hospital to the community or even start my own business. Post covid its very apparent on how critical the demand is for nurses and this further draws me to nursing because I understand how much of a difference I can make in people’s lives.
Professional/personal history
Pre pandemic I was attending Mohawk College for the Practical Nursing program. I completed about a year of schooling however, when the pandemic hit all modes of learning transferred online and I found this transition very challenging. I wasn’t learning much online as personally I need to be in a classroom and see things in person to retain information. Unfortunately, I had to make the decision to withdraw from my studies. I spent roughly two years working as a nanny and working for Senior Helpers in the PWS/Companionship role. When I started working as a nanny full time I was fortunate enough to work with a 15 year old girl who has down syndrome. It was the best experience I had! Taking care of her was extremely fulfilling. I would take her to the park, to the mall, bathe her, feed her, read to her. I really enjoyed my work and would look forward to going to see her every day. I also have had opportunities taking care of children and even babies. I could not wait for the pandemic restrictions to be over so that I can attend full time school again to complete my nursing career.
I took care of my brother when he was sick. He suffered from an acute psychosis that triggered the police to taser him as they were trying to restrain him that then caused too much protein to get into his blood stream. He is lean and does not have much fat on him and due to the numerous tasers that he got, the protein from his muscles affected his kidneys making him get into renal failure. He was in the ICU for weeks, as I went to see him, I was inspired by the nurses that were taking care of him! When he was discharged, he had to get dialysis 3 times a week for months after and I cared for him while he was going through this. This was a traumatic experience for the whole family. I had to stay strong for everyone else. I was very proud of myself of being able to be there for my family. During this time I also upgraded my high school biology mark so I was then able to go directly into registered nursing as opposed to taking the route of practical nursing and then the bridging program after.