As every nurse knows, the profession is multi-faceted. The great Hildegard Peplau identified no fewer than seven roles performed by every nurse on a daily basis (Courey et al, 2008). According to Peplau, a nurse is, among other things, a leader, a technical expert and a counsellor to the patient and to rest of the clinical staff. As a nursing student, it soon became clear to me just how varied the tasks performed by nurses are. If at first daunting, it is exciting to think of how, sooner rather than later, I myself will be the qualified nurse responsible for the care and wellbeing of patients on a daily basis. Yet there is one thing that I had to focus on before I could jump head-first into learning the basics of practical nursing care, and that is the process of finding my own voice.
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