Reflection on Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats as an ICU Nurse

Running head: REFLECTION
REFLECTION
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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REFLECTION
Introduction:
Intensive care units nurses work very closely with a number of physicians as well as
other members of the healthcare team to develop the best interventions and care plans for the
patients. They should have the ability and the skills for the effective assessment of the patient’s
problems quickly and should be capable of using high tech equipments (Flinn & O’connor,
2017). Such nurses are expected to use their advanced skills for caring of the patients who are
critically ill and even are suffering from different types of life threatening health problems. I also
got the opportunity to serve patients in the critical care patients as a ICU nurses. This assignment
will mainly be based on the different strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats that I have
indentified in my professional as an ICU nurses and thereby take actions by which I can emerge
out as a more successful healthcare professionals in the future.
Strength:
One of the strength that I possess as a critical care nurse is my knowledge and skills. I
can properly recognize every signs and symptoms of different types of complications that remain
associated with the patients at the earliest stages and this gives me an upper hand in keeping
situations under control and helps in maintaining the safety of the patients. One of my strength is
an extensive knowledge of different types of human physiology as well as the hw the physiology
changes when the condition of the patient deteriorates under different ailments and health
conditions. My responsibility mainly involves intervening in different situations for preventing
different complications in patients and thereby mange the well-being of the patient. I mainly do
so by effective adjustments of the medications, fluid as well as therapeutic devices so that I can
maintain the ability of the patient during the recovery procedures. One another strength that my

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mentor also appraises about me is that I have high quality communication skills that often help in
handling patients in an effective manner. Mostly, patients requiring critical care remain highly
conscious about their fate and suffer from anxiety throughout their stay that result in negative
outcomes on their health (Sprung et al., 2014). I have the capability to establish therapeutic
communication with the patients in such a way that they can overcome their anxiety and lead a
better quality life in the care unit. They often require emotional support when they are going
through very severe ailments and the therapeutic communication established with them calms
them down. I communicate with them in a compassionate and empathetic manner that makes
them feel that I am genuinely interested in their recovery procedures and this ensures them to
feel safe. Moreover, I can also handle the anxiety of the family members in an effective manner
and ensure proper companionship with them so that they do not feel alone or helpless in this
crisis period and feel that the professionals are with them trying their best to recover the health of
the patient. The third strength that I possess is the effective coordination among the team
members in workplace. While working in the intensive care unit, the nurses need to not only
communicate and plan their work among each other but also with other experts like physicians,
technicians and others. Therefore, it is extremely important for the professionals to maintain
team working attitudes and behavior as the conditions of the patient remain very sensitive and a
small error might result in taking away the lives of the patients. My strength is that I have good
communication skills, conflict management skills, effective listening and feedback exchange
skills by which I can work successfully in teams. I am reliable and respectful and have good
abilities to develop rapport with other members that help in developing bond and trust among the
members. Effective decision-making skills, persuasion and influencing skills, facilitation skills
make other members rely on me and therefore, I can effectively participate in effective