Practicum Experience Plan-Nursing Paper Examples

Overview (Practicum Experience-Nursing Paper Examples)

As advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) offers diverse and specialized mental health services to patients and families in different settings. Thus, PMHNPs should possess high clinical knowledge, skills, and competency to meet patient needs. They should understand that establishing a therapeutic provider-patient relationship will improve health outcomes (Practicum Experience-Nursing Paper Examples).

Working in clinical settings equips PMHNPs with practicum experience, allowing them to gain evaluation and diagnostic reasoning skills, select and use suitable screening tools, interpret results, and provide referrals and recommendations during patient management. For this reason, a PMHNP should devise a practicum plan to create SMART goals and guide the process for them (Walden University Academic Skills Center, 2017). The plan should highlight how the practicum experience will make the PMHNP self-sufficient to achieve desired outcomes (Practicum Experience-Nursing Paper Examples).

My main goal for this practicum is to utilize the objectives that I have set for personal and professional development toward becoming a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP). As such, I will build my skills, abilities, and confidence when dealing with my patients and foster positive relationships to promote healing and recovery (The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties, 2017) (Practicum Experience-Nursing Paper Examples).

I also aim to improve my clinical judgment and decision-making skills to conduct comprehensive psychiatric evaluations, interpret results, and diagnose and devise suitable interventions depending on the identified patient’s problems and needs. Most importantly, I want to achieve desired clinical skills and confidence by the end of this practicum (Practicum Experience-Nursing Paper Examples).

Nursing Theory and Psychotherapy Theory to Guide Clinical Practice

My primary aim is to elevate patients’ experience and ensure patients receive the best care possible. I understand that patient experience is among the indicators of the quality of patient care. Therefore, I aim to adopt Peplau’s theory of interpersonal theory to guide my clinical practice. The theory acknowledges the importance of patients’ experiences of nursing care. The theory promotes the development of nurse-patient relationships, which influence patient experience (Hagerty et al., 2019) (Practicum Experience-Nursing Paper Examples).

Nurses should focus on the patients, their needs, and perceptions of the care they receive. Offering optimal care requires an understanding of patient needs and behavior. I will adopt Freud’s theory of the unconscious mind as a baseline for understanding complex human behavior, which is critical in providing patient-centered care (Themes, 2019). The theory can guide me to identify the root causes of a patient’s suffering by considering the conscious and unconscious influences (Practicum Experience-Nursing Paper Examples). 

Part 1: Quarter/Term/Year and Contact Information

Quarter/Term/Year:

STUDENT INFORMATION:

Student name:

Student phone number (primary):

City/town:

State:

Walden email address:

Alternative email address:

Time zone:

PRECEPTOR AND SITE INFORMATION:

Preceptor name (first and last):

Preceptor credentials (MD, FNP, DO, etc.):

Site name:

Site address:

City/town:

State: 

Preceptor email address:

Preceptor phone number:

Site phone number:

Field Site Clinic hours:

Part 2: Individualized Practicum Learning Objectives

Objective 1: By the end of this practicum experience, I will be confident in conducting psychiatric evaluations of my patients (Practicum Experience Plan-Nursing Paper Examples).

Planned Activities: Comprehensive psychiatric evaluation allows mental health practitioners to identify patients’ problems and needs. As a PMHNP, I will use a literature search strategy to identify accurate and reliable evidence-based information to improve my knowledge and skills (Boland et al., 2022). Thus, improved skills and competency will boost my confidence in identifying signs and symptoms while dealing with my patients.

Mode of Assessment: Verification will be documented in Meditrek (Practicum Experience-Nursing Paper Examples)

PRAC Course Outcome(s) Addressed:

One of the practicum outcomes addressed is the recognition of psychiatric signs and symptoms across the lifespan

The second outcome is improved confidence and comprehensive evaluation of psychiatric patients

Objective 2: At the end of this practicum experience, I will have pharmacotherapeutic skills when treating psychiatry patients.

Planned Activities: I will select and collect instrumental patient care information to assess and monitor patients accurately, create suitable plans, propose optimal prescriptions and educate the patient concerning pharmacotherapy (Carlat, 2017). I will also conduct comprehensive pharmacotherapeutic assessments to understand patient data design and propose appropriate prescriptions based on the patient’s presentation. I will evaluate the patient’s medication response and modify the treatment when necessary to achieve desired outcomes (Practicum Experience-Nursing Paper Examples).

Mode of Assessment: Verification will be documented in Meditrek

PRAC Course Outcome(s) Addressed:

The outcome addressed in this objective is the ability to implement pharmacotherapeutic management. As such, evidence-based pharmacotherapy education and competency-based medical training will aid in improving clinical practice while eliminating potential errors that adversely affect the patients (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2023) (Practicum Experience-Nursing Paper Examples).

Objective 3: By the end of this Practicum, I will have improved my professional skills by identifying ethical and legal dilemmas and devising appropriate solutions.

Planned Activities: I will use critical thinking skills to recognize ethical and legal issues during clinical practice. Ethical dilemmas create conflicts between two actions that may be correct but have varying principles and values viewpoints. I will seek guidance from my preceptor and evaluate health laws and nursing principles to inform my decision-making.

Mode of Assessment: Verification will be documented in Meditrek (Practicum Experience-Nursing Paper Examples)

PRAC Course Outcome(s) Addressed:

One addressed outcome will be improved clinical judgment, decision-making skills, and meeting patients’ needs. I will portray empathy to my patients by identifying, comprehending, and sharing their points of view without being judgmental and biased. Thus, I will put myself in my patient’s situation to connect with their experiences to enhance patient care. Lastly, promoting health equity for all patients, regardless of their cultural practices, values, and belief systems, will improve health outcomes (Pumariega, 2013) (Practicum Experience-Nursing Paper Examples).

Part 3: Projected Timeline/Schedule

I intend to complete the 144 or 160 Practicum hours (as applicable) according to the following timeline/schedule. I also understand that I must see at least 80 patients during my practicum experience. I understand that I may not complete my practicum hours sooner than 8 weeks. I understand I may not be in the Practicum setting longer than 8 hours per day unless pre-approved by my faculty (Practicum Experience-Nursing Paper Examples).

	Number of Clinical Hours Projected for Week	Number of Weekly Hours for Professional Development	Number of Weekly Hours for Practicum Coursework
Week 1	16	6	8
Week 2	24	6	8
Week 3	24	6	8
Week 4	24	6	8
Week 5	16	6	7
Week 6	24	6	7
Week 7	16	6	7
Week 8	16	6	7
Week 9	0	6	6
Week 10	0	6	6
Week 11	0	6	6
Total Hours (must meet the following requirements)	160 Hours	66	78

Part 4 – Signatures

Student Signature (electronic):                                           Date:

Practicum Faculty Signature (electronic)**:                                 Date:

** Faculty signature signifies approval of Practicum Experience Plan (PEP)

Submit your Practicum Experience Plan on or before Day 7 of Week 2 for faculty review and approval.

Once approved, you will receive a copy of the PEP for your records. You must share an approved copy with your Preceptor. The Preceptor is not required to sign this form.

References

  American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. (2023). Toolbox of forms links to an external site. Retrieved November 18, 2020, from https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Member_Resources/AACAP_Toolbox_for_Clinical_Practice_and_Outcomes/Forms.asp

Boland, R. Verdiun, M. L. & Ruiz, P. (2022). Kaplan & Sadock’s synopsis of psychiatry (12th ed.). Wolters Kluwer 

Carlat, D. J. (2017). The psychiatric interview (4th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.

 Hagerty, T. A., Samuels, W., Norcini-Pala, A., & Gigliotti, E. (2019). Peplau’s Theory of Interpersonal Relations: An Alternate Factor Structure for Patient Experience Data? Nursing Science Quarterly, 30(2), 160–167. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894318417693286

Pumariega, A. J., Rothe, E., Mian, A., Carlisle, L., Toppelberg, C., Harris, T., Gogineni, R. R., Webb, S., Smith, J., & American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Committee on Quality Issues. (2013). Practice parameter for cultural competence in child and adolescent psychiatric practice.Links to an external site.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 52(10), 1101–1115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2013.06.019

Themes, U. F. O. (2019, February 3). Relevant theories and therapies for nursing practice. Nurse Key. https://nursekey.com/relevant-theories-and-therapies-for-nursing-practice

The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties. (2017). Nurse practitioner core competencies content. https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.nonpf.org/resource/resmgr/competencies/20170516_NPCoreCompsContentF.pdf Walden University Academic Skills Center. (2017). Developing SMART goals.https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/ld.php?content_id=51901492