Professional Capstone and Practicum Reflective Journal.

Posted: January 15th, 2023

Professional Capstone and Practicum Reflective Journal.

Students are required to maintain weekly reflective narratives throughout the course to combine into one course-long reflective journal that integrates leadership and inquiry into current practice as it applies to the Professional Capstone and Practicum course. In your journal, you will reflect on the personal knowledge and skills gained throughout this course. Professional Capstone and Practicum Reflective Journal.

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The journal should address a variable combination of the following, depending on your specific practice immersion clinical experiences: New practice approaches Intraprofessional collaboration Health care delivery and clinical systems Ethical considerations in health care Population health concerns The role of technology in improving health care outcomes Health policy Leadership and economic models Health disparities Students will outline what they have discovered about their professional practice, personal strengths and weaknesses that surfaced, additional resources and abilities that could be introduced to a given situation to influence optimal outcomes, and finally, how the student met the competencies aligned to this course. Professional Capstone and Practicum Reflective Journal. While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and in-text citations and references should be presented using APA documentation guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion. You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. Please refer to the directions in the Student Success Center.

Benchmark – Professional Capstone and Practicum Reflective Journal

Introduction

Nurses work in an environment characterized by a range of challenges. Therefore, the knowledge nurse students acquire during practical experiences and learning enables them to overcome such challenges during practice. Practical experiences equip learners with the necessary knowledge and skills to improve patient safety. This reflective journal reflects the knowledge acquired during the practicum and the impact of the knowledge on career advancement. Professional Capstone and Practicum Reflective Journal.

New Approaches

The nursing field continues to undergo tremendous changes and therefore nurses need to adapt to the changes to facilitate the provision of high-quality care (Patelarou et al., 2017). For instance, the use of the most recent research evidence ensures that nursing practice is informed by the latest evidence. this helps in improving the quality of care and patient outcomes. Moreover, I learned the importance of integrating spiritual and cultural aspects of the patient’s treatment plan. This ensures holistic care to the patient (Black et al., 2015). During my future practice, I will conduct research and use the findings in my practice to improve patient outcomes, patient safety and the quality of care. I also plan to ensure the provision of holistic care to my patients.

Ethical Considerations in Healthcare

During the practicum, I came across various ethical dilemmas. Ethical issues were addressed by consulting the experienced nurses or ethical professionals. Ethical professionals are essential in developing the code of ethics that provides a guideline on how ethical issues are addressed (Rosoal et al., 2017). Ethical issues were solved using the implemented code of ethics or consulting ethical professionals and other experienced healthcare professionals. During care, nurses would use different theories like ethics of care, deontology, utilitarianism, and virtue ethics to make ethical decisions. I also plan to use ethical theories and follow the laid down code of ethics to make ethical decisions during my practice. Professional Capstone and Practicum Reflective Journal.

Interprofessional Collaboration

Healthcare activities are complex and thus require an interprofessional approach (Busari et al., 2017). During my practicum, some clinical activities would require input from different interprofessional. For example, diabetes care involved a multidisciplinary team consisting of nurses, physicians, podiatrists, nutritionists, pharmacists, and physical therapists. Partnering and collaborating with my peers, mentor and other healthcare providers improved care coordination and my collaboration skills as well. According to Busari et al (2017) nurses need to collaborate with professionals from other disciplines to improve care coordination, address health problems collaboratively and improve care standards. During my practice, I plan to endeavor to collaborate with other professions to improve care coordination and thus improve patient safety and care outcomes. 

Health Disparities

During the practicum, I handled patients from diverse backgrounds. I was thus able to identify health disparities impacting diverse patients. Islam (2019) explains that nurses have the role of ensuring equal health access for all. However, during my practicum, this was a challenge. I discovered that racial differences and socioeconomic status affect access to healthcare. I would encounter patients from low socioeconomic status who were unable to attend al their medical appointments because of a lack of finances. It was also notable that African Americans had a higher rate of diseases like diabetes and this was attributable to health disparities. Therefore, nurses need to assess and identify factors associated with health inequalities to provide the required information to develop interventions to address the health disparities. during my future career, I plan to be an advocate for the marginalized communities and support the implementation of policies addressing the health disparities.

The Role of Technology in Improving Health Care Outcomes

Information technology presents the healthcare industry with numerous opportunities to improve care delivery, patient safety, communication, and patient outcomes. In the practicum, I witnessed how technology impacts healthcare outcomes. For example, the use of electronic health records as opposed to manual documentation improved efficiency, communication, minimized errors and eventually led to better health outcomes (Kruse & Beane, 2018). Similarly, through telehealth, it was possible to monitor patients after discharge and those with chronic conditions. I learned that telehealth not only improved healthcare outcomes but also reduced healthcare costs. Professional Capstone and Practicum Reflective Journal.

However, sometimes staff would resist the introduction of new technologies. This challenge can be addressed by using technology experts and change champions to enlighten the staff about the technology.

In future practice, I will utilize the implemented technologies to ensure efficient care delivery, save healthcare costs, and improve health outcomes.

Health Policy

Nurses influence practice and care standards and thus can advocate for policies (Benjamin, 2018). During the practicum, nurses would propose evidence-based healthcare changes to legislators and policymakers. However, influencing policy would take so much time and effort from nurses because sometimes legislators and other important policymakers would be unavailable or hard to convince. Professional Capstone and Practicum Reflective Journal.

During my future practice, I plan to advocate for patients and influencing the implementation of policies that support improved care provision, patient safety, and better patient outcomes.

Population Health Concerns

Population health concerns refer to health issues significantly impacting populations. Examples of the issues are obesity; HIV; cardiovascular diseases; food safety; hypertension; prescription drug overdose; diabetes, etc. (Ariosto et al., 2018). The majority of patients who I attended during my practicum reported or were diagnosed with health issues like hypertension, diabetes, opioid overdose, and cardiovascular diseases. Healthcare providers in collaboration with the management passionately addressed the public health issues. For instance, a multidisciplinary team had been formed to address health issues such as hypertension and diabetes for the local community.

In my future practice, I plan to be proactive in addressing population health concerns by developing population-focused interventions to address such health concerns (Salmond & Echevarria, 2017).

Health Care Delivery of Clinical Systems

A health-care delivery system includes an organized and systemic response to population health issues (Huang et al., 2018). In my practicum, the care delivery system of the organization focused on the community’s health needs. The healthcare providers in collaboration with the administration would determine the most pressing health needs and implement the appropriate care systems. However, the process of determining the priority health needs to address for very hectic. In the future, I plan to be proactive in identifying the population health needs and propose evidence-based strategies to address such needs. Professional Capstone and Practicum Reflective Journal.

Leadership and Economic Models

Leadership plays a vital role in healthcare organizations. Throughout the practicum, I learned various leadership skills especially with the head nurse who used transformational leadership styles to lead and inspire nurses. The transformational leadership style has been demonstrated to be effective in inspiring and motivating followers and modeling suitable actions and behaviors. Transformational leaders also provide a supportive and good working atmosphere (Sfantou et al., 2017). Similarly, I plan to utilize the transformational leadership style during any leadership role that I take. Professional Capstone and Practicum Reflective Journal.

Conclusion

The reflective journal reflects the knowledge gained throughout my practicum. I plan to utilize evidence during practice and collaborate with other professionals during care delivery. I also plan to use different technologies to improve care delivery and address the health concerns of the populations. Finally, I will act as a patient advocate and influence policy changes and use effective leadership styles such as transformational leadership style. Professional Capstone and Practicum Reflective Journal.