Module 3

What sort of teaching is done in your nursing role? Is there any nursing role that does not involve teaching in some manner?

When I was working at the private GI office in Boise, ID before starting school, I helped start Hepatitis C treatment and would teach the patients all about how to administer the medication and what signs and symptoms then needed to watch for. I also helped in teaching of any new drug therapy the patients were to be started on. I also did a lot of phone triage and had to assess what was going on with the patient and then get doctor involvement when necessary. The biggest difference between working in a clinic versus hospital setting is that in a clinic, you learn to utilize your assessment skills over the phone most times and in a hospital, the patient is there physically for you to assess.

From all the 5 years I have been a nurse and all the projects and clinicals I did in nursing school, I really don't thing there is any nursing role that doesn't involved teaching of some sort. To me, nursing is teaching and vice versa. They go hand in hand. You can't be a nurse if you are not a teacher also.