NURSING nr 603 TDs. Week 8, Reflection,

Week 8, Reflection, Dr. Tom and class, First of all I would like to thank Dr. Tom and my classmates for great session of last seven weeks. It has definitely sharpened by skills as a future advance practice nurse. Reflecting over this class is like adding another building block to the solid foundation of advance practice nurse. Past seven weeks have equipped me to meet the MSN program outcome #4, the MSN Essential IV, and the Nurse Practitioner Core Competencies #7 in following ways: Program Outcome#4 – Evaluate the design, implementation, and outcomes of strategies developed to meet healthcare needs After reviewing this course, I was able to build my skills and improve the knowledge of assessing a patient, zeroing the diagnosis after ruling out all the differential diagnosis, chalking out a treatment plan, and implementing it eventually for the best possible health outcome. Writing SOAP notes every week helped me to strengthen the habit of precise documentation of patients information. Feedback from Dr. Tom and input from class fellows helped me to build a more vast and solid base for each case. Healthcare system and healthcare needs are constantly evolving; program outcome# 4 will help me to meet this demand. Observing my preceptor made me realize each person is unique in his or her own way. The healthcare needs to be customized around that uniqueness. One example of this customized care is weekly case studies. Although the diagnosis was found to be same by each student, each one of us perceived the uniqueness of the scenario differently and we came up with our own care plan. Another example of this would be when a patient comes in with complaint of fatigue. Many prospects of health need to be assessed like anemia, depression, and hypothyroidism. At the same time, the medication list to be cross checked also as there could be a beta blocker there being taken for hypertension which can be potential source of fatigue. Beta-blocker can be replaced with another BP medication to rule it out as the source of fatigue. MSN Essential IV: Translating and Integrating Scholarship into Practice Recognize that the master’s-prepared nurse applies research outcomes within the practice setting, resolves practice problems, works as a change agent, and disseminates results. According to AACN (2011), MSN essential IV stresses that a advance practice nurse gets involved in research, applies the research outcome in practice to get to the bottom of the presenting problem, works as a catalyst to bring the change, and propagates the outcomes. This MSN Essential IV identifies the potential of an advance practice nurse. While reviewing this class, I am better equipped with scholarly knowledge, which needs to be applied as an advance practice nurse. As an advance practice nurse, research becomes integral part of my practice to provide best possible health care in cost effective way. The case studies each week and clinical encounters taught me the significance of research, and the importance of applying research in daily practice as well. One such example will be treating a patient with diabetes and obesity. So many new medications have evolved since insulin. Some of these medications work on both diabetes and obesity. This patient had used several weight loss measures in the past with no results. My preceptor and me went over many scholarly articles and came up with the care plan and ................................................continued...................................................................................................................................................................