Challenges and Self-Awareness for Graduate Registered Nurses (NSB305)

This report focuses on the critical role of self-awareness for graduate registered nurses (GRNs) in navigating professional challenges. It begins by establishing the significance of self-awareness, drawing on nursing literature to highlight its impact on patient care and professional development. The report then explores the relationship between self-awareness, work-life balance, and resilience, emphasizing strategies for managing emotions and stress within the demanding nursing environment. Furthermore, the report advocates for realistic actions to improve self-awareness, including feedback, reflection, reflective diaries, portfolio maintenance, and psychodrama techniques. These strategies aim to enhance professional growth, improve patient care, and foster a healthier work-life balance for GRNs. The report concludes by reaffirming the importance of self-awareness as a continuous process for GRNs to understand themselves and navigate challenging situations effectively.

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Introduction:
Graduate registered nurses face number of challenges in terms of leadership and
professional context, and these challenges directly affects the performance of the nurses. It is
necessary for the professional nurses to deal with these challenges by taking the preventive
measures and also improve their performances by addressing these challenges.
This paper address the issue related to the self-awareness in context of the Graduate
registered nurses. Structure of this report includes importance of self-awareness for GRN,
discussion in context of work life balance and resilience, and advocate for the realistic actions.
Lastly, brief conclusion is stated for concluding this assignment.
Significance for GRN
Caring is deemed as basic element of good nursing, but this element mainly based on the
fact how the individual know more about themselves. It is not possible to help others without
being clear about ourselves. This quotation clearly states the importance of self-awareness in the
work of caring and the need for nurses to explore the self. In nursing literature, self-awareness is
not the new concept and this concept has been acknowledged for number of years (Jack &
Miller, 2008).
Self-awareness is deemed as the continuous process in which we consider the
understanding of ourselves. It is only possible when individual know themselves and must be
aware that what type of behaviour is not accepted from others in their lives. It helps the GRN to
relate with the other people, and also enable them to understand their strength and those areas
also which require their focus. In case nurses are not aware about their own good and bad points
then it is not possible for them to know others also.
GRN can use this element as the therapeutic effect while working with their patients such
as at the time of empathising or advocating. It must be noted that, self-awareness element is
deemed as most important element in the caring profession and it mainly includes the three
interrelated aspects that are cognitive, affective and behavioural. In simple language these
aspects can be known as the thinking, feeling, and acting. This can be understood with the help
of example, feelings in terms of any situation directly affects the action taken by the individual
such as feeling of discomfort while dealing with the patients who are dying can result in the
nurse to avoid the contact with this type of group of patients and their careers (Scheick, 2011).
Work Life Balance & Resilience
Self-awareness in the nursing profession is deemed as important for professional
development and maturation for nurses. It allows the individuals to achieve their clinical
competence and more resilience, healthy boundaries, and also help the nurses in preventing the
burnout. It enables the GRN to maintain their work life balance by achieving more competence

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and flexibility in their working. There are number of times when emotions have been taken over
the individuals and their actions affect by that emotion, but these emotions can be managed by
those nurses which are self-aware about themselves.
It further states that nurses needs to manage the stress and emotion that usually
accompanies the caring by detachment and compartmentalizing the care of patients, so that they
maintained the control instead the emotionally not able to cope. This does not mean that nurses
must not feel any emotion. However, knowledge related to particular circumstances can give
them opportunity to plan and process. Therefore, instead of avoiding the dying patients they can
develop the coping skills while supporting the patients and their family. Discovery is deemed as
self and continuous process, and sometimes it is painful also because hidden aspects of the
situations are uncovered in slow motion.
While dealing with the difficult situations in the working environment, it is expected
from the nurses to behave in professional manner, but the feeling of uncertainty and vulnerability
may challenge their perceived abilities. Being more self-aware can help the nurses to deal with
such situations, as it helps them in understanding their concerns and anxieties, and also their
prompting question about how these situations can be overcome. Self-awareness can help the
nurses in presenting themselves in more appropriate manner and also ensure their work life
balance (Eckroth-Bucher, 2010).
It further involves the recognition of what can be known by the nurses, what skills they
need to employ and what limitation affect their ability. It is necessary to know about these things,
because it is not possible to resolve this limitation without identifying them and in case this
limitation left unresolved then it definitely affects the work life balance and flexibility. It also
allow the nurses to present themselves as the knowledgeable experts in few areas and supportive
in other areas. Therefore, it can be said that by increasing the self-awareness can be more
effective their personal and professional lives.
Realistic actions
Improving the self-awareness in terms of personal and professional levels is most important
attributes for the level of success, professional growth, and quality patient care. Helping other
people is the best way to know oneself, and because of this nurses are always available to taking
care of their patients. Self-awareness in context of nurses required the efforts related to the
rational approach and reflection. It is necessary that nurses must know about their requirements
and the manner in which they impact themselves and others. There are numbers of practical ways
through which self-awareness can be done such as feedback from the genuine person, reflection
on one own actions, etc. (Gessler & Ferron, 2012).
Some other particular strategies are also there and this can be effortlessly adapted to well
understand the self, and these strategies includes the reflective diary which reflects about the

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body language by expending the models related to the reflection (Winson, 2007). There are
number of ways in context of improving the self-awareness, but the most important and common
strategy in this context is reflection.
It is necessary that nurses reflect their involvements and appreciates the good things and
learn from their weakness. This strategy gives the opportunity to evaluate past things and analyse
practise for more development.
Maintenance of portfolios of individual achievements and skill is one more plan which
can be utilized by the nurses. This gives the opportunity related to the professional development
and needs to identify the need for further work (Jack and Smith, 2007). Psychodrama technique
is considered as important educational strategies which need to develop or improve self-
awareness in the patient care settings. These sessions are deemed as helpful sessions in
identifying the issues in the therapeutic relationship and finally required the feedbacks and
suggestions and this can be improved. Additionally, with the help of these techniques nurses can
become the role models and incorporate those learning’s into their communication and
relationship in patient care (Stuart & Laraia, 2005).
Conclusion
After considering the above facts, Self-awareness is deemed as the continuous process in
which we consider the understanding of ourselves. It is only possible when individual know
themselves and aware that what type of behaviour they did not accept from others in their lives.
While dealing with the difficult situations in the working environment, it is expected from the
nurses to behave in professional manner, but the feeling of uncertainty and vulnerability may
challenge their perceived abilities.
References
Eckroth-Bucher, M. (2010). Self-awareness: A review and analysis of a basic nursing concept.
Advances in Nursing Science, 33 (4), 297–309.
Gessler, R. & Ferron, L. (2012). Making the workplace healthier, one self-aware nurse at a time.
American Nurse Today, 41-43.
Jack, K. & Miller, E. (2008). Exploring self-awareness in mental health practice. Mental Health
Practice. Volume 12(3), 31-35
Jack, K., & Smith, A. (2007). Promoting self-awareness in nurses to improve nursing practice.
Nursing Standard. Volume 21(32), 47-52.

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Scheick, D. M. (2011). Developing self-aware mindfulness to manage counter transference in the
nurse-client relationship: an evaluation and developmental study. Journal of Professional
Nursing, Volume 27(2):114–123.
Stuart, G. W., & Laraia, M. T. (2005). Principles and practice of psychiatric nursing. (8th ed.).
St. Louis: Mosby.
Winson, J. (2007). Promoting self-awareness. Nursing Standard. Volume 12 (13), 59.