RA Connections
Culture of Respect
This activity helped me understand a little bit more about who I am and what I expect from myself and others in the RA position. I learned that I could explain who I am and why I think this. It also helped me think about things such as the time of day I work the best so I can get things done and about how I can sometimes handle things differently than others because of my experiences and that is okay and could be helpful to others.
Self Care Planning
I think the most beneficial thing for me in my future career from this activity will be the self care wheel. Since I am hoping to work with stroke and TBI patients I am sure there will be times that I will need to implement self-care to help me to be at my best for any patient I have. The wheel is something I could print out and have with me either in a folder or in an office that I can reference when needed. This could also be something I introduce to patients I have to help them.
Harmony
- I look for a consensus within a group. I do not enjoy conflict and seek areas of agreement.
- This helps as an RA when I am planning things such as community builders. I will ask my residents what they would like to see and try to plan events everyone would want to go to. This also helps with roommate disagreements because I am able to think of solutions to make their living situations more tolerable.
- This will be beneficial in my future career when I am talking to caregivers and other people on the patients medical team. If we do not all agree on a plan of action I may be able to come up with ideas that everyone could agree with.
Conflict Resolution
This activity helped my realize that my conflict management type is harmonizing (which makes sense because it is also one of my strengths). This helps me in my RA position because I now know how l like to manage conflict and some of the ways I may do it. One example is if there is conflict with this management style I do well with listening and adapting to others needs.
Sociogram
I think this project will help me in my future career because it will remind me to make sure I connect with my patients and see them for who they are. I think I could implement something similar when working where I add a few facts or interests to their file to make sure they feel heard and I can connect with them.
Consistency
- I am very aware of needing to treat people the same. I try to treat everyone with consistency and am clear on the rules and adhering to them.
-This serves me well as an RA when I have to deal with conflict with residents. I am able to stay neutral and listen to both sides before deciding on a course of action.
-This strength will help me in my future career because everyone I work with will have different levels of abilities and I will make sure that I treat everyone with the same respect.
Self Care Planning
This activity was beneficial because after filling out the Self-Care inventory I was able to see what I do for self care most and what I need to work on. I learned that most of what I do is considered spiritual self-care. This activity helped me be able to think about what I can do as self-care when I need to after having to deal with difficult situations in the RA position, such as having to call the police or ems, conflict between roommates, or having to talk to residents about doing things they should't in the dorm.
Attention to Detail
This class made me pay attention to small details several times such as when things were do (since it was not at a typical time), and to make sure that I can find the rubrics for assignments and get the done correctly. This will help me in my career because I will need to be able to fill patient charts out correctly the first time and know what others expect to be on it and when it should be done, which could be unpredictable if a patient comes in overnight.
Relator
- I enjoy close relationships with others and find a deep satisfaction in workin hard to achieve a goal.
-This strength works well in the RA position because it will allow me to continue to connect with my residents and help them feel welcome to talk to me when they have questions.
- This will benefit me in my future career because I will be working directly with patients and I want them to be able to feel safe when they are working with me and like they can trust me and I am not a stranger.
Degree Plus Reflection Event
-This event was very beneficial to me as an RA because I used it as my Take-To event. I was able to introduce myself to my residents and help them meet new people. This also helped me set the tone for future events because I had only done one other community builder before then.
My Resume
The lesson about how to make a good resume will benefit me in the future because it can help me stand out when applying to jobs and internships. This also helped me understand more about what a cover letter is and why we use it.
Achiever
- I have a great deal of stamina and work hard. I take great satisfaction from being productive.
- This works well for the RA roll because since I find satisfaction from being productive I am able to plan things effectively and on time. This strength specifically helps me with planning and creating my boards as well as my community builders.
-This strength will help me with my future career because I will have to complete hundred of observed clinical hours before I am able to graduate from grad school and work on my own. The stamina will help me continue to work hard when I am wishing that I could be done with the hours and already working.
Sociogram
I think that this project was the most beneficial thing we did in the class. This forced me to be accountable about meeting residents and getting to know them. It also helped me complete my CATch-ups on time. I also noticed that after completing this assignment I had more residents who were comfortable talking to me and many of them will now say hi to me if they see me in the halls.
Time Management and Planning
This class also taught me about time management and planning for when to do assignments for the class. Since this class is biweekly I had to make sure I noticed when things needed to be completed and that I did not push them aside so I could do the assignment well and not feel rushed. I also know that I do not do as well in afternoon classes so I had to make sure I brought a snack or planned to eat after and brought whatever I needed to stay focused. This will help me when planning my future career because I now know what times I work best and can try to find a job that meets those hours. I also can use my experiences with planning ahead from this class to make sure I plan ahead for incidents that may happen in my job.
Deliberative
- I take serious care in making decisions or choices and anticipate all of the obstacles.
- As an RA this strength is beneficial because I often think of a "plan a, b, and c". This means I always have an idea of what to do if something goes differently than expected. One example would be when doing community builders if I do not get all of the materials I asked for in my shopping list I can make do with what I have.
- In my future career this will work well for me because sometimes I will work with a patient that may not be able to do the task I was planning on working with them for. This strength will help me meet them where they are and continue on working towards their goals.