Practicum Experience Journal Entry Comprehensive Nursing Paper Sample

Practicum Experience Journal Entry Comprehensive Nursing Paper Sample

Explain the degree to which you achieved each during the practicum experience.

A comprehensive reflection on my personal and professional development of my practicum experience allows me to recognize strengths and opportunities for development. Through the reflection, I have also gained immense knowledge, skills, and competency for future nursing practicums. My goals for the practicum experience plan are to gain confidence to recognize clinical signs and symptoms of psychiatric illness across the lifespan, improve my medicine prescription knowledge and documentation of all adverse outcomes, and learn how to exercise my professional roles within the scope of nursing practice by the end of this practicum. I have achieved 80% of my goals towards the end of this practicum. Through the knowledge and skills learned in the course, I have improved my confidence in identifying clinical signs and symptoms of psychiatric conditions among diverse patients. I have also gained immense medication prescription skills and the importance of documenting adverse outcomes to prevent complications. I have learned my roles and responsibilities as a nurse. By doing so, I have been able to collaborate with other healthcare professionals to meet the diverse needs of my patients.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Comprehensive Nursing Paper Sample)

Reflect on the three (3) most challenging patients you encountered during the practicum experience. What was most challenging about each?

The most challenging patient I encountered was an American Asian male who was highly opposed to Western medicine. The patient did not like his hospital stay, failed to comply and adhere to instructions, and demanded to be taken to a spiritual healer since God was the only answer to his condition. The second patient I encountered was a schizophrenic patient who was challenging to deal with owing to her aggressive and violent behavior. The third challenging patient was an American Indian who did not understand English. The patient has been brought by a well-wisher who found her stranded. It was challenging to assess the patient, although I managed to use a translation app to communicate with the patient.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Comprehensive Nursing Paper Sample)

What did you learn from this experience?

One major takeaway from my practicum experience is that healthcare professionals have a huge mandate to provide care to individuals and communities. Therefore, nursing practicum experience offers nurses an opportunity to identify their strengths and opportunities for development necessary to provide optimum care to their patients. As a nurse, I learned to prioritize the needs of my patients before my own to ensure I offer quality care and protect patient safety.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Comprehensive Nursing Paper Sample)

   What resources did you have available?

I had adequate resources necessary to complete this practicum experience. First, I used the knowledge I acquired from class and weekly readings to complete my clinical tasks. My preceptor was also an instrumental resource by providing me guidance and support to deal with challenging issues such as complex ethical decision-making during the practicum. I also received positive reinforcement from my colleagues with whom we could discuss and address challenging patient care issues for improved outcomes(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Comprehensive Nursing Paper Sample).

What evidence-based practice did you use for the patients?

I used evidence-based practice to improve the quality of care, safety, and experience of my patients. Through my research skills, I translated the knowledge acquired in class, reading, and online scholarly sources into clinical practice. One major strategy I utilized to support evidence-based practice was using the DSM-V-TR to promote accurate diagnosis of my patients. Therefore, EPB allowed me to offer the best available care to my patients, leading to improved outcomes (Traupman et al., 2022).  (Practicum Experience Journal Entry Comprehensive Nursing Paper Sample)

What new skills are you learning?

I have challenges in communicating and creating rapport with patients. However, I have used this practicum as an opportunity to learn interpersonal communication with my patients. Through interpersonal communication, I will be able to communicate effectively with my patients, allowing me to identify their problems and address them successfully (Arnold & Boggs, 2019). I will also build positive and therapeutic relationships with my patients through adequate communication, thus gaining their trust while improving their health outcomes and experience.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Comprehensive Nursing Paper Sample)

What would you do differently?

Through this practicum experience, I have learned to conduct comprehensive assessments and come up with accurate primary diagnoses for my patients. However, I have challenges with coming up with the differential diagnoses. Thus, one thing that I would do differently is learn and research diverse mental health conditions to come up with differential diagnoses for my patients.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Comprehensive Nursing Paper Sample)

How are you managing patient flow and volume? 

I observed that most patient appointments take longer, while there is also a high volume of patients who require mental health services. Therefore, I learned to focus and concentrate during my interaction with patients to utilize my time maximally. I also strictly followed appointment schedules to ensure that the patients I was attending had booked appointments. However, I prioritize patients with emergency needs regardless of their appointments. I will apply my growing skill set to establish interpersonal relationships with individual patients and their communities to identify and set strategies aimed at addressing mental health problems across lifespans (Arnold & Boggs, 2019).  (Practicum Experience Journal Entry Comprehensive Nursing Paper Sample)

Communicating and Feedback

One strategy that can improve my knowledge and skills is conducting adequate research to gain accurate, credible, and up-to-date information concerning diverse patient issues. I can also foster inter- and intra-professional collaboration and teamwork to ensure that I gain more knowledge and skills required to deliver the best available care to my patients. I am doing well during this practicum experience. I have made notable positive progress, such as improved confidence when dealing with diverse patients. However, I have minimal skills and knowledge in dealing with children and adolescents, especially when conducting assessments. However, my preceptor’s guidance has been instrumental in overcoming the problem. Subsequently, I received positive formal and informal feedback from my instructor. My preceptor awarded me excellent feedback and demonstrated that ability to demonstrate high-quality care and meet patient needs in formal feedback. My preceptor commented on the need to improve my skills and knowledge when dealing with children and adolescents. My preceptor congratulated me for my exemplary performance and hard work in the informal feedback.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Comprehensive Nursing Paper Sample)

References

Arnold, E. C., & Boggs, K. U. (2019). Interpersonal relationships e-book: professional communication skills for nurses. Elsevier Health Sciences(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Comprehensive Nursing Paper Sample). https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XC2GDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=interpersonal+communication,+I+will+be+able+to+communicate+effectively+with+my+patients+allowing+me+to+identify+their+problems+and+address+the+successfully&ots=Nq_o810LQY&sig=Nyg7meKfgOWjkvf-6yhP2v8kmXA

Traupman, E. K., & Dixon, M. A. (2022). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia for primary care: review of components and application for residents in primary care. The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 57(5), 423-433.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Comprehensive Nursing Paper Sample) https://doi.org/10.1177/00912174221112466