After taking practice A and doing the remediations for that the practice B exam was a lot easier. I was able to remember what I struggled with on the first practice assessment. This made the practice B go a lot better. I made sure to find a quiet place in the library between classes and was able to sit down and not have any distractions when taking the exam. I find pharm to be a struggle for me so overall I was very happy with the outcome of practice B. I still think that there are some things that I need to work on. I’m not sure if I was able to do so well because if it was, I just remembered some of the questions or if it was from doing the remediations. Regardless, I am happy with how this assessment went.
Uncategorized
Attaining and Protecting a Nursing License
For getting my nursing license I plan to take the exam in Massachusetts. After doing some research I found out that Massachusetts is not a nursing compact state which means I would have to reapply for a license for other states. The application process is fairly straight forward, and all of the information can be found on the Massachusetts government website. There is a link that lets you apply for licensure right on the website and tells you everything that you would need to get certified in the state. In order to get licensed, one needs to graduate from a board-certified nursing program, have passed the NCLEX exam, and to be of good moral character defined by the state law. In order to be considered good character you do need to submit a notarized criminal offense record information form as well as consent to a background check that is done by the Massachusetts Department of Family and Children. If something is found in the background check, you will be required to provide additional paperwork in regard to the findings.
In Massachusetts they have a program that is designed to help any nurse that may be experiencing any substance abuse impairment. It is a program known as SARP, Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Program, that is designed to help maintain the professional standards of nursing by monitoring participants’ ongoing recovery to make sure their return to practice is safe. When joining the program, the nurse is consenting to toxicology screenings, individual therapy, and monitored practice. These are all done with the goal to make sure the nurse is continuing safe practice. The program is voluntary, but it is designed as an alternative to disciplinary actions for any nurses with substance abuse issues.
When it comes to protecting my license from the commonly occurring legal issues, I am going to make sure I get malpractice insurance. Many of our professors and guest speakers have really emphasized how important it is to get this insurance. In most cases they said it has been the best money they have spent when it came to their career because it really protects you from potential legal issues. While one would like to think the hospitals would be the ones to protect us if anything was to happen that may not always be the case.
Pharmacology ATI
Out of all the CAT adaptive exams we are going to take for this course, the pharmacology exam was going to give me the most trouble. For this exam I felt that for not being too confident in my pharmacology knowledge, I think it went fairly well. I was able to sit down and focus on the assignment at hand for the most part. With the number of questions, I had to answer I felt myself towards the end not having 100% focus on the assignment and it led to many stupid mistakes. Some of those included answering the math questions. For questions I typically get correct on these exams, I found myself making mistakes like missing a decimal or miss typing the number for the answer. A second test strategy that I felt went well for this CAT exam was I went through some of the old slide shows we had from pharmacology to try and shake off any of the old cobwebs and did a quick refresher. While I was skeptical at first to do it because I figured it might not be the most helpful thing ended up really helping me answer some of the questions.
For the next adaptive quiz we need to take, I have some positive takeaways from this exam to use. Having an environment that allows me to sit down and really focus on the questions and not be distracted by outside factors really helped me do well on this exam. Along with just even skimming over some notes or some book chapters can be very beneficial. Finally, I need to make sure I am giving myself a break if the exam ends up being long. Towards the end I was getting frustrated with the fact that it wasn’t ending which led to me not paying attention to what I was doing and just submitting questions to get through them. This ultimately led up to me making more work for myself.
Adult Med Surge ATI
After completing the first adaptive ATI quiz, I did better than I was expecting to do. Overall, I was able to finish the quiz in 76 questions. I felt that there was a good amount of the questions were fresh in my head from trying to complete some of the other ATI assignments and even some from our other courses we have taken throughout our time here. However, the ones I got wrong either completely stumped me or I made silly mistakes that I shouldn’t have. While doing the remediations for the exam it was very evident I did not spend enough time thoroughly reading some of the questions and ended up getting them wrong. For the next CAT exam I am going to make sure that I really read and pay attention to the question and all the options available before selecting am answer and moving onto the next question. I think this will help improve my score overall next time and it will help me to avoid making mistakes.
Career Development
A skill that the nurses had in the movie that I believe I need to continue to work on and improve is talking with families. So far in our course work we haven’t really focused too much on emotional intelligence which is a difficult skill to master. I think that this skill is one that needs to come with practice and practice. One of the patient populations that we as nursing students at UNE is the man who the nurse must drive hours into the desert. this nurse has to face many different barriers of care. There is nothing for hours around this patient make it difficult to get to him in the case of an emergency or provide care overall. This nurse also needs to be ready to do things that a nurse would not have to do in a conventional nursing role. The nurse’s humility is shown by her giving care in the first place. To give this patient care they had to drive hours just for one patient.
After the guest speakers from the career services came and spoke to us it gave me different things to think about when going in for a job interview. When it comes to standing out from the crowd of applicants, I like to make sure I have questions prepared. I’m going to make sure that the hospital aligns with my values as a nurse so having questions ready for the interviewer will make sure they do. One of the strengths I plan to show interviewers is my punctuality and making sure things are done on time. When it comes to “challenges” I think I would describe it as a slight lack of confidence. I feel like I do not know as much as I actually know sometimes and that makes me question what I do from time to time. In order to work on this challenge I will make sure to continue my education as a nurse making sure that I’m staying up to date with the latest practices. I think this will make me more confident as a nurse and improve my practice overall.
Prepare for Transition
As we get closer to the end of nursing school it is nice to begin to look forwards to the next chapter of my life. I am most excited to be able to finally start practicing and use the knowledge we’ve spent so much time learning. While it is exciting to start that new chapter in our lives, it is definitely making me very anxious. The idea that I will be practicing as a nurse on my own and not with an instructor still hasn’t fully hit me yet. As I finish up the school year, I hope to celebrate with friends and family. They know how hard every one of us has worked the last four years hopefully making for a fun celebration.
With this being our last semester, it may be hard to maintain focus and stay on track. To make sure I do that I plan out my time. I plan to go through the syllabus for each class to make sure I can plan out the work for my week. Going week by week will help me be able to keep track of what needs to get done so I don’t miss any assignments. My goal for the semester is to make sure I don’t turn in assignments late. The nurse logic 2.0 modules will help me get ready for the NCLEX by giving us some good ideas on how to really use and apply the clinical knowledge and reasoning that we have been building on for the last two years. As well as making sure to go over really focus on priorities. Overall this semester is a very exciting time for us as students, the need to stay focused and on track is an all time high.
Transition to Practice
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)
Disaster Nursing
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
Presenting Change
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.
Reflective Writing
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!
