Introduction
Taking a psychology course was associated with significant benefits for me both personally and professionally as a clinical nurse. Before taking the course, I expected it to help me develop my patient communication skills, fostering trust and collaboration with patients and their families. I expected the course to help me provide more compassionate, patient-centered care, while improving my self-awareness skills and understanding of the dynamics of personality development. This paper is built upon Gibbs’ (1988) reflective cycle to provide a detailed reflection on how the acquired knowledge and skills affected my professional and personal life.
Description
Taking the course was associated with the acquisition of valuable knowledge and skills that could be applied to personal and professional growth. In particular, I learned valuable concepts, such as personality traits, patterns of behavior, and social attribution. I acquired in-depth knowledge about how we infer causes of events and how people are perceived. I learned about Maslow’s pyramid of needs and its application to patients’ needs (Huitt, 2007).
Moreover, I gained insight into how psychological research is designed, implemented, and evaluated. While the course was of extreme interest to me, my procrastination and poor time management skills led to me receiving only passing grades, as I always wrote my essays and completed my essay tasks at the last moment. Nevertheless, despite my sometimes negligible attitude to studying, I am passing the course successfully.
Feelings
Overall, I gained an extremely valuable experience that contributed to both my personal and professional growth. The course helped me to become more self-aware of my internal thought process. For instance, I understood why it felt out of place to conduct team-building activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs suggests that people prioritize safety needs over belonging needs when their safety needs are not met (Huitt, 2007). The pandemic was associated with significant threats to personal health as well as employment safety in my patients and me. Therefore, it was necessary to focus on feeling safe rather than on developing a sense of belonging.
Another core feeling I acquired during the course is the rigor of psychological research. On the one hand, I understood that acquiring relevant evidence is a tedious process associated with numerous controls, which makes the outcomes more reliable. At the same time, I realized that the results of psychological research are often associated with a high degree of uncertainty due to small effect sizes and the presence of confounding variables. This helped me to better understand the concept of evidence-based practice (EBP).
Evaluation
There were positive and negative experiences associated with taking the psychology course. On the positive side, I was exposed to fundamental knowledge in human psychology that proved extremely valuable to me. The course was delivered comprehensively, allowing me to participate in the learning activities at a convenient time and place. Moreover, the teaching method, materials, and instructor made a significant contribution to improving my understanding of psychology.
On the negative side, however, I failed to fully benefit from the course due to my personal disorganization and ineffective time management. Although I passed all the assignments, one of my personal growth areas should be self-management.
Analysis
The knowledge I received was of extreme importance to me, as I was able to apply the concepts in my practice. Drawing on the knowledge gained from the counseling module, I apply empathy, active listening, and congruence, as advocated by Carl Rogers in his person-centered approach, to help patients and their loved ones understand their medical conditions. Recent research has demonstrated that Rogers’s model is associated with human flourishing, and I was able to apply it to confirm this notion (Joseph, 2020).
Additionally, being part of a patient care team necessitates comprehending group dynamics and fostering therapeutic relationships among caregivers to optimize patient outcomes. Employing Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Huitt, 2007), I prioritized patients’ fundamental physiological needs, including nutrition, fluid balance, and personal hygiene, while promoting positive relationships among patients, relatives, and caregivers to facilitate recovery.
By incorporating EBP into nursing care, I leverage my understanding of research methods and the importance of obtaining consent, thus enhancing my practice and respecting patients’ choices. Moreover, acknowledging the existence of challenges in every profession, I realized that professional nurses must navigate workload, staffing issues, and managerial styles, making critical decisions that prioritize the best interests of the patient. Thus, the psychology course has found application in my everyday practice, supporting my professional growth.
Regarding personal growth, the course also provided some valuable insights. First, the course enhanced my self-awareness, enabling me to recognize and understand my strengths, as well as accept and address my weaknesses, which in turn allowed me to tackle challenges more effectively. Second, through studying personality traits and behavior dynamics, I have gained a deeper understanding of how people behave and interact, enhancing my empathy and interpersonal skills.
Additionally, learning about social attribution has given me insights into how we interpret and attribute causes to events, as well as how individuals are perceived in different contexts. Lastly, the course has had a positive influence on my study habits. I learned to plan, organize my essay plans, and allocate sufficient time for writing, leading to improved outcomes.
Conclusion and Action Plan
In conclusion, the psychology course has had a profound impact on both my personal and professional growth. It equipped me with valuable knowledge and skills, allowing me to enhance my patient communication, empathy, and understanding of human behavior. I also gained insights into social attribution and the importance of EBP in nursing care. On a personal level, the course fostered self-awareness, improved my study habits, and deepened my understanding of interpersonal dynamics.
Overall, the course has significantly enriched my clinical nursing practice and contributed to my personal growth and development. In the future, I plan to apply the knowledge I acquired from this course in my nursing practice. Moreover, I will utilize the insights from the course to support my ongoing personal development.
References
Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Oxford Further Education Unit.
Huitt, W. (2007). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Educational psychology interactive, 23.
Joseph, S. (2020). Why we need a more humanistic positive organizational scholarship: Carl Rogers’ person-centered approach as a challenge to neoliberalism. The Humanistic Psychologist, 48(3), 271.