As many of you prepare for or begin summer experiences in clinical settings, we encourage you to employ the practice of journaling not only to document your work, but to capture and express your reflections and reactions to these experiences.
From NBC29.com, April 20, 2015:
For 13 years, the UVA School of Nursing has incorporated journal writing into the student curriculum. Each year, the school holds a competition for all categories of entries. Each nursing undergraduate or graduate student submitted a poem or narrative from their personal journals that expressed how they experience and dealt with a patient who touched their hearts...
Some students say their required journal writing is not school work, its therapy. "For me poetry is the way I try to stay resilient. If I've had a rough day at clinical or if it's a particularly tough patient, I write about it and it really just makes me feel so much better. So much less stress and it's a really easy way to manage tough situations," said Callie Bateman (a competition finalist).
