NURS 6531 Practicum Experience Journal

Assignment: Practicum – Week 1 Journal Entry

As a future advanced practice nurse, it is important that you are able to connect your classroom experience to your practicum experience. By applying the concepts you study in the classroom to clinical settings, you enhance your professional competency. Each week, you complete an Assignment such as a Journal Entry or SOAP Note that prompts you to reflect on your practicum experiences and relate them to the material presented in the classroom.

This week, you begin documenting your practicum experiences in your Practicum Journal. Please use the Practicum Journal Template, located in this week’s Learning Resources.

To prepare for this course’s Practicum Experience, address the following in your practicum journal:
Select an aging theory to guide your practice.
Develop goals and objectives for the Practicum Experience in this course. Be sure to consider geriatric competencies.
Create a timeline of practicum activities based on your practicum requirements.

SOLUTION

NURS 6531 Practicum Experience Journal

Practicum Journal

As a future advanced practice nurse in the cardiology field, I plan to undertake my practicum in a certified stroke facility. The majority of patients in such facilities are elderly adults because age if a risk factor in cardiovascular conditions. Therefore, to be able to care for these patients effectively, it is essential to understand the Age-associated changes that contribute to illnesses.

My practice will be based on the autoimmune programmed aging theory. Roy L. Walford developed it in 1969, and it asserts that an individual’s immune system functionality is programed to declines with age, making individuals susceptible to infections (Witkowski & Fulop, 2019).

This progressive decline can be delayed by lifestyle factors like proper diet, exercise, and stress management, but they eventually happen. Once they happen, they are irreversible, and patients can only be given treatment aimed at slowing down the progression, managing symptoms, and artificial devices such as pacesetters to help them cope.

The theory helps in the diagnosis process as I understand the elderly present with multiple comorbidities due to poor immunity. This helps in accurate diagnosis and effective treatment. It also helps me in prescribing the most appropriate care for the elderly and providing care education and counseling to the patient family on what to expect (Gregorini & Colomba, 2016).

Goals and Objectives

My general goals and objective during the practicum include providing quality, safe, competent, and ethical care to all the patients. My specific goals include employing medical technology safely to achieve better outcomes and practice coordinated care with a patient family to ensure a smooth transition of care after discharge.

Another goal is ensuring collaborative nursing with nurses from various departments to promote better outcomes because elderly patients present with multiple comorbidities. It also helps understand a patient’s medical history, thus identify drugs that should be used with caution on a particular elderly individual (Callahan, Tumosa & Leipzig, 2017).

Another objective is applying evidence-based practice and curriculum skills in identifying age-related changes that affect the drug effects in the body. Another objective is to provide health education to patients and their families to adopt lifestyle choices that slow down the disease progression. I also aim at maintaining an accurate patient chart to facilitate the early detection of adverse drug effects, which are common among the elderly.

I aim at providing all-round care; spiritual, medical, mental, and emotional support to patients to ensure patient satisfaction. Another objective is providing culturally competent nursing. This will help in identifying ethno medicines that may hinder effective treatment process using biomedicine.

Timeline of Practicum Activities

My practicum activities aimed at attaining the set goals will be performed according to a set timeline, over the seven weeks. I will spend the first-week observing different procedures in nursing practice and familiarize myself with the protocol. So, by the end of week one, I will be able to follow the right procedures in my nursing care.

I will perfect my communication skills over the second week. By the end of the second week, I will be able to communicate with colleagues in consulting effectively and patient during an assessment, thus establishing positive interpersonal relationship.

During week three, I will familiarize myself with various medical technology like electronic health system and advanced diagnostic equipment. Therefore, by the end of week 3, I will be able to conduct an accurate diagnosis based on information in the EHS, and results from diagnostic tools. Over week four, I will undertake cultural training to ensure culturally competent nursing.

Over week 5, I will learn how to narrow down differential diagnoses to achieve an accurate diagnosis. Over week 6, I will learn how to use the automated prescription system to ensure precise prescription. Over the last week of practicum, I will learn how to provide patient-centered care.

References

Callahan, K. E., Tumosa, N., & Leipzig, R. M. (2017). Big ‘G’and little ‘g’Geriatrics education for physicians. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 65(10), 2313-2317.

Gregorini, A., &Colomba, M. (2016). Bio-genetic theories of ageing.

Witkowski, J. M., &Fulop, T. (2019). T Cell Cycle and Immunosenescence: Role of Aging in the T Cell Proliferative Behavior and Status Quo Maintenance. Handbook of Immunosenescence: Basic Understanding and Clinical Implications, 505-531.

Also check: Change in Sites of Care