I am Alabi Jamiu Opeyemi from Nigeria. I arrived at Finland in August 2020 to study International Business at Savonia University of Applied Sciences. I completed the International Business degree at Savonia in 2022. I have once had experience in health sector while i was living Nigeria. I used to work as an health attendant in Nigeria for about three years. My duties as health attendant is to support patient personal hygiene and daily living needs and providing comfort and transportation. Similarly, I help patient personal hygiene by giving them bedpans, back rubs, shampoos, shaves, taking patient to the bathroom by assisting patients with bathing and shower. I am motivated to to have a career in Nursing by being professional, be a good team worker, honesty and integrity, showing empathy to the patients and everyone by using a good work ethics.

I am a type of learner who learns mostly through kinesthetics and sometimes through reading and writing. As a kinesthetics learner, I prefer to learn things by doing, I enjoy a hands-on experience. I usually prefer to be more in touch with reality and more connected to it, which is why I prefer using tactile experience to understand something better. The best way to present new information to me as a kinaesthetic learner is through personal experience, practice, examples, or simulations. For example, I can remember an experiment by recreating it themselves.

Moreover, to become a nurse in real life, there are some certain competencies required from me regardless of my experience in health sector. The following are the competencies i must attain and how to achieve them.

CLINICAL NURSING: In my first semester as a nursing student at Savonia UAS, I was able to learn theoretically and had sufficient simulations classes to assist me as a nurse. During one of the skill lab classes, I forgot to verify patient identity before attending to him.  Although, I have improved myself by working ergonomically, aseptically, using ABCDE method, and how to calculate patient medication. Therefore, I believe my internship place would be the best place to put things I have learnt into practice with the help of my mentor. I am open to administering medications to patients, working ergonomically and patients documentation in real life situation.

LEARNING SKILLS: I am a fast learner and I make additional effort to search for more information related to my studies. Similarly, I once had experience as an health attendant where I work closely, interact with the patients at the hospitals.  Prior to theoretical and practical knowledge I acquired at Savonia UAS, I believe caring home would be an ideal place to put my knowledge into practice. Therefore, I am willing to learn more from my mentor and open to corrections when I make mistakes, I believe this would improve and make me a better person.

Ethical competence and professionalism: Nursing is a profession which is guided by rules and regulations all nurses must abide by such as: honesty, empathy, integrity, accountability, human dignity and so on.  My aim is to work ethically as nurse, abide by the rules and regulations guiding the nurse professions, and be prepared for challenges from the patients such as insult from the patients or their relatives, abusive words and aggressions. Furthermore, as a nurse I am willing to assist my patients heal, meeting their needs while they are in my care, listening to their concerns, protecting them from harm, and educating them how to care for themselves while treating them with dignity, compassion, and respect.

Guidance and teaching: I once had experiencing in communicating with patients while working as a health attendant. Similarly, I have had similar experience in school during simulation lessons where my classmates acted like a real patients. However, I believe communication with the patients at the internship place will be more realistic compared to my past experiences. Therefore, I need to learn how to communicate with patients who does not have enough strength to speak for themselves. Also, I need to improve my Finnish language skills before and during my internship period so that I can communicate more, administer medications, give instructions to the patients. I believe working closely with my mentor would help me to boost my confidence by having good with relationships with the patients at the nursing care home.

Patient safety and quality of social and health care services: This is one of the most important aspects of nursing and I believe patients safety is very important. As a nurse, it is my responsibility to keep and protect my patient’s privacy private and not disclose it with anyone. Furthermore, I am willing to learn more on theoretical measure.

Working community competence: This is one of the most underrated characteristics of a nurse. I have had experience working as a team member with people with people with different ethnic, race, cultural background. Also, I have been working in the Finnish system since year 2020 and I am familiar with some Finnish culture already. Therefore, my plan for the internship is to work closely with my mentor/ supervisor to improve more on language skills and interaction with the patients.

Conclusively, I would like to put every knowledge i have acquired at Savonia UAS into practice. Similarly, I am willing to learn more and open to correction at the internship and training places.