Author: ntriggs

Course description

This course is designed to facilitate the transition from student nurse to professional registered nurse. Emphasis is
placed on the knowledge, skills, and behaviors required for licensure, development of professional identity and social
conscience, and career advancement.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. Demonstrate development of clinical judgment necessary for provision of safe, evidence–based nursing care that
improves health outcomes for individuals, families, and communities. (Clinical Judgment/Evidence–based Practice)
2. Demonstrate use of data to develop knowledge, skills, and behaviors necessary for successful licensure by
examination. (Informatics)
3. Demonstrate professional communication skills necessary for gaining entry into practice. (Leadership)
4. Demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and behaviors necessary for effective collaboration with
the interprofessional care team. (Interprofessionalism)
5. Demonstrate personal responsibility for professional growth through reflection and remediation.
(Professionalism/Self Care)

A nurse can have many different responsibilities depending on the type of scenario they are placed in. This is very true when it comes to natural and man-made disaster. One of the jobs is for the nurse to apply medical attention to anyone that needs it. As well as providing any emergency care they need to look for patients that are already in the hospital can be discharged or moved to make room for any new patients. When handling a natural or man-made disaster the nurse is often put in a very difficult situation. While they tend to the needs of patients, they also need to be able to tend to their own. I believe that in the scenario of a natural or man-made disaster with people that are injured if people can help without making the situation worst, they should help. This applies to nurses as they can provide any medical attention that is needed if people are hurt. However, I do believe that the nurse should also making sure that they themselves are being safe and keeping themselves out of harm. When it comes down to it the decision is ultimately very personal to the nurse. if they believe that they can provide adequate care while maintaining the duty to themselves

Throughout the process of this project, I was able to learn about the importance of the charting of intake and output (I&O) in patients in our care. The point of our project was to identify any possible barriers to accurately charting intake and output for nurses. The original aim of the project was to focus on the importance of intake and output for cardiac patients, but we had to change it to patients overall. When it comes down to my future practices as a nurse, I will already be aware of any potential barriers to accurately charting I&O. The knowledge I had gained from our brochure also portrayed how we should be documenting the I&O in the charts. Both of these skills are important ones to have as a skilled nurse.

We had planned to present our findings to the nurses on R7 at Maine Medical Center. Unfortunately, with a time constriction, we were unable to present and get feedback on the brochures and our findings. I do think that they would have responded positively to them, and the information presented. After working with the nurses on R7 I felt that they were already striving to make improvements to this issue. I noticed that they were making sure that they were accurately charting.

As we worked together as a team, I learned the value of teamwork especially in healthcare. Working together on this project showed that when people work together, they can make sure the best care can be given. Making sure the entire floor is able to read and learn about identifying barriers to charting I&O will allow for the patient to receive the best care possible from the care team. The project also showed me the best way getting teamwork done is to communicate. Proper communication is the reason that work is able to get done efficiently and done well.

I & O Final Revision

Over the course of the clinical experience this semester I was lucky enough to have many great learning experiences. The patients that really stuck out to me was not the most demanding patient on the floor or the sickest patient on the floor, but just an overall very pleasant person to be around. Sadly, the thing that was keeping the patient in the hospital was the fact that they lived in a very rural part of Vermont with not many people or things around them. In order for them to go home the patient needed to make sure that they were physically strong enough to do things for themselves. This patient was very physically weak and had a hard time supporting their body weight. If they were sent home, they could end up hurting themselves again or potentially even more. When talking to the patient they revealed that they did not want to come to the hospital right away because the closest one to them was more than an hour away and didn’t want to go unless it was completely urgent. With being from an area that is so close to so many different health care providers this was a strange idea to me. I was fortunate enough if something was wrong or needed to be checked out there wasn’t too much of an issue. Unlike in parts of rural Vermont where the nearest person might not be for 30 minutes, let alone the nearest health care provider. This patient made me realize the importance of making sure there are ways to decrease the lack of health care in places all over our country. Public health nurses are trying to make sure that this issue is tackled. From doing things like pop up clinics to at home check-ups, public health nurses help to bridge the gap and make sure that people like the patient I had, are remaining safe and healthy!

Death with Dignity

         I feel that the baseline knowledge I have of death with dignity is very little as the only time I remember learning about it was in ethics class freshman year. From what I do remember is that it is essentially the belief that terminally ill patients should have the right to voluntarily take their own life by a medical professional. While this can be a very controversial topic for people, I find myself agreeing with the death with dignity act. I feel that if a person who has a terminal illness, they should have the option to go out peacefully on their own terms than potentially being miserable waiting for the illness to take over. However, I do see why people are against death with dignity. The idea of having a doctor helping a patient take their own life is a very strange idea to wrap one’s head around.

            I think that death with dignity directly challenges the ethical principle of do no harm. In the case of death with dignity the health care team is doing the opposite of that. However, I think that as health care providers we need to make sure that the patient’s needs are being met. If that patient decides that they truly want to go through with it the health care team needs to respect the decision. The process to get the prescription is not as simple as it may seem, which I think that if a patient is able to go through the steps, then it is a decision that they fell strongly about. While the line becomes blurred about doing no harm to the patient with death with dignity, I believe that we as health care professionals need to make sure that the patient is getting the level of care that they want. 

       Before this presentation I never really thought about the idea that people’s medical records are all available electronically. When it comes to nursing, I think having the patient’s Electronic Health Records makes the job of the nurse slightly easier. Especially when it comes to doing an admission. A nurse is responsible for asking a new patient about the patient’s past medical history or surgical history on the patient and having the electronic health record allows the nurse to see if there have been any changes among admissions. I think that accessing these records makes it easier for the nurse to give the best care possible for their patient as well. Having that complete health history and previous care plans can help the nurse to be able what to know what the patient’s baseline is or what interventions worked for the patient in the past. Looking back at the history of the HIE, it has made a lot of progress in making sure that it is expanding to more and more places. This allows for more nurses and providers to be able to access and update patient’s health records, update any changes to the care plan following discharge and avoiding readmittance.

       When it comes to my practice as a nurse, I will use the information we learned in the presentation to make sure I am keeping the patient’s medical record as up to date as possible. Again, I think this will also allow me to make sure I am giving the patient the best possible care I can. I think knowing the importance of keeping a patient’s medical record up to date as possible will make sure that I am charting everything I need to. The electronic health record is a very useful tool that benefits not just the nurse or other health care providers, but the patient as well.

1. Demonstrate evidence of clinical reasoning and clinical judgment in the plan of care for the individuals, families, and communities across the health spectrum and lifespan.
2. Demonstrate the use of data and resources that impact health outcomes of vulnerable populations.
3. Apply concepts of nursing theory and leadership principles in the planning and evaluation of care for individuals, families, and communities in multiple settings/patient populations.
4. Apply principles of reflective practice, appreciative inquiry, and therapeutic communication across the spectrum of health in multiple settings/patient populations.
5. Integrate the moral, ethical, and legal tenets inherent in the formation of professional nursing values including the role of self-care in for individuals, families and communities.