NRS 490 Reflective Journal Week 1 to 10 (NR490)

Exam (elaborations) NRS 490 Reflective Journal Week 1 to 10 (NR490) REFLECTIVE JOURNAL 2 Week 1, May 29th – June 4th, 2017 This introductory week was largely spent acquainting myself with the concept of evidence-based nursing practice (or EBP), and how these ideas would be applicable in my own nursing studies. From the lessons that I gathered from previous studies and the lecture notes, it is clear that EBP is a resourceful tool useable not only for purposes of research, but also is utilizable in finding new methods as well as technologies (Ellis, 2016; LoBiondo-Wood et al, 2013). Moreover, EBP offers important facts and empirical evidence to support potential changes in the field of nursing, and which can be used in teaching new useful methods as well as techniques that have the potential to bring remarkable contributions to the profession (Stevens, 2013). Ultimately, this resource offers excellent research as well as clinical guidelines that are necessary towards the improvement of the nursing practice. During this week, I was able to identify and develop a mentor-mentee relationship with unit manager, who will be an important source of support and guide in my nursing education and practice. With my new mentor, we had a productive discussion on the goals and potential milestones to cover in this course, besides a review of my ideas and perspectives for an evidence-based nursing change, and the strategy of our communication throughout the period of class. Week 2, June 5th – 11th, 2017 During this second week, I had a chance to choose my EB change topic. I will be exploring the effect connection between obesity disorder and PTST incidence in veterans, and find out potential clinically generated evidence-based strategies for mitigating against the incidence of obesity in veterans with PTSD, as well as the roles nursing care in this regard (Church, 2013). I also made use of the campus library to access peer-reviewed journal articles as secondary sources and support for my EB change. Upon data collection, I was able to organize the information and prepare a plan for the conceptualized EB change. This study source was downloaded by from CourseH on :39:55 GMT -05:00 This study resource was shared via CourseH REFLECTIVE JOURNAL 3 I had a meeting with my mentor where we discussed the planned EB change and the best strategy for its implementation. I had productive guidance on my strengths as well as my weaknesses as a leader and I proposed my personal goals to enhance them. Moreover, we met clinical coordinating team to review the acuity model, its potential benefits the unit, commencement date, as well as their role in the planned EB change. Finally, I offered baseline surveys to the target nursing staff. Importantly, these nursing surveys will be indicative of the nurses’ perceptions before the actual implementation of the planned EB change (Church, 2013). Week 3, June 25th – June 30th, 2017 This week, with my unit manager, we discussed the evidenced based change with our medical surgical nursing Director for her approval of the selected EB change intervention. During the discussion, it was found that the proposed had wide support among several nursing professionals with some level of exposure to previous EBP. Nonetheless, some few nurses were unreceptive to the change, prompting further education and awareness amongst the staff. There is strong survey-based evidence on the link between obesity and PTSD among veterans, which necessitated effective nursing strategies to help veterans present and reduce cases of obesity (Church, 2013; Conard& Sauls, 2014). During this week’s meeting with my mentor, we had a discussion on the challenges of the capstone project, my shortcomings, as well as strategies for improving the proposed EB change. We recognized the need for additional staff education and an adoption of a standardized approach for purposes of establishing the target patient population’s acuity. Moreover, the discussions also covered strategies for balancing nursing assignments to ensure the proposed evidence-based nursing interventions were modeled around positive outcomes for both the target patients and the nursing practitioners. Week 4, July 2nd – 7th, 2017 During this fourth week, we used the spreadsheets provided to complete nursing and patient acuity assignments in the context of clinically generated evidence-based strategies for This study source was downloaded by from CourseH on :39:55 GMT -05:00 This study resource was shared via CourseH REFLECTIVE JOURNAL 4 mitigating obesity in veterans with PTSD, and important role nurses play in this regard (Church, 2013; Fitzpatrick et al, 2016). There is a greater understanding among the nurses for the need for the intervention model, the reasons for change implementation, pointing to a positive reception and greater support for the evidence-based study (Ellis, 2013). Finally, we had a discussion with my mentor on the ethical challenges in nursing and how personal values and ethics can impact nursing practice, and the proposed study. We also conducted an extensive research on various nursing databases for peer-reviewed articles on the need for ethical soundness in evidence-based interventions. Generally, the articles point to the need for nurses to be self-aware and have self-knowledge of professional as well as personal values that are key when dealing with ethical situation in practice and study settings (Grove, Burns, & Gray, 2014; LoBiondo-Wood et al, 2013). Week 5, July 3rd – July 7th, 2017 During the fifth week, the evidenced based study was largely positive. The weekly surveys reported an improvement in nurse satisfaction, and the need to help veterans prevent and reduce cases of obesity. Nurses had a positive response in terms of improved workloads and ability to gain extra time which could further be used for targeted patient education in an effort to not only improve health outcomes for veterans with obesity connected to posttraumatic stress disorder, but also generally improving community health and reduce healthcare cost burden (Fitzpatrick et al, 2016). During this week’s meeting with my mentor, we conducted a research on strategies employed by WHO for monitoring and combating global health problems, and how the organization is distributing resources to combat the epidemic of obesity in low-income countries. In addition, our search also covered strategies the public health systems is utilizing to combat the rising cases of obesity among veterans, focusing on those veterans with PTSD. Week 6, July 10th – 14th, 2017 This study source was downloaded by from CourseH on :39:55 GMT -05:00 This study resource was shared via CourseH REFLECTIVE JOURNAL 5 Over the sixth week, the unit experienced a surge in patient visit and an increase in nurse workload. Nonetheless, nurses were generally satisfied with regard to the weekly nurse surveys, despite the increased stress associated with the increase in patient visits, with only a small deep in overall patient education and care. This week’s education was invaluable in terms of highlighting on the need for increased direct nurse delivered patient care in order to meet patient perceptions and expectations, thereby contributing towards improved patient satisfaction, even for VA supported institutions benefiting from Medicaid and/ Medicare reimbursements. Finally, an important lesson we learned with my mentor was on the role of health policy and its influence on nursing profession. Based on the discussion, there is growing evidence on how evidence-based practice change is increasingly being employed in nursing advocacy for