Tahlor Popham
Mr. Rudebusch
Prairie Lakes Healthcare System
4/8/21
Reflection
For my senior project, I spent around ten hours of doing research, preparing my final
product, emailing the individuals, and doing the overall interview process. I spent around four
hours doing my research on project proposals, finding fonts, good information to include, and
making sure I found plenty of information that made sense in the website, and that of course,
supported my thesis. For this portion of the project, I had to gather up all of my information from
my research paper, create a plan of organization, find good colors that went along with my
website, and had to find plenty of good pictures as well. Though I didn’t get the opportunity to
shadow, I had to take about an hour max of emailing my old mentor to try and figure out three
good, reliable nurses to interview. After finding those whom I interviewed, I took a total of 2
hours interviewing them, videoing them, organizing dates, and recording their answers. The
remanding time was spent writing my reflection paper and doing little changes to the overall
project.
Throughout my Senior Project, I encountered many different challenges. My biggest
problem was finding out how I am going to get my shadowing hours in, while in a pandemic. I
had planned to go into the hospitals and follow three different nurses around, that were in three
different nursing fields. I was able to solve the issue by interviewing three nurses in different
fields, instead of actually being in the hospital with them. I also had troubles finding a product. I
wanted to do something hands on, that I could create, but I instead thought that my thesis would
be a good thing to make an informational webpage on. I also had trouble managing time. Pushing
things til the last minute is something I do, but when we started this and I read the outline, I
eventually realized that this is something you cannot push til the last minute.
Interviewing three different nurses gives you a better look at things. Every nurse does
things different, even if it is doing the same thing. Every nurse manages time differently, looks at
things differently, and does their own things when and how they want. Though they do things
differently, all nurses told me the same thing each time;: you have to be organized, manage your
time, manage stress, and overall be loving and caring to those you are working with, coworkers
or patients.
For my experience, I gained a lot of knowledge about the career I want to pursue, and
also, a lot about myself. I enjoyed hearing from each of the nurses I interviewed about what they
do on a daily basis at work, and the challenges they face. I found out that I personally do want to
pursue this career in nursing, and I feel that this senior project really helped me finalize that
decision. I am so thankful I made the decision of Nursing because I gained a lot of knowledge of
the nursing field. I know that in the future, nursing school will be challenging, but I know this is
what I want my future to consist of, so I will not give up, even when things seem to be going bad.
My original plans for my senior project were different, but not a lot different. I knew for
sure I wanted to do nursing since Junior year, but I never realized that I wasn’t going to be able to
put in shadowing hours like many of my other classmates, but rather doing interviews with
nurses. Something I changed for my project was my product. I wanted to build something for my
project, but when it came down to it, my thesis had a lot of information, so I used my
information and created a website. This ended up being a lot of work, and hard to organize, but I
overall enjoyed what I chose.
I feel like my Senior Project will be rather successful. I am confident in the work and
time I spent into this project, that people will enjoy it. If I could change anything in my project, it
would overall be my product. The product I chose wasn’t very fun to do. I feel that I could have
found something better to do, such as a First-Aid Kit or something that I could have gotten hands
on with. But overall, I am honestly proud of myself and the work I have done throughout the
school year.