Week 1 Discussion
My expectations for this course are high as I thrive in a hands-on environment. I learn better with an actual patient before me and often make connections quicker when practically applying what I have learned. It has been found that the “academic achievement of a student does not depend on intellectual ability but also on the individual’s unique learning styles…there is no one instructional strategy that can fit for all students (Shamsuddin, 2020, p.196)”. It is because of the varied instructional strategies that nursing programs allow that ensure a well-rounded learning style approach. As much as I view my hands-on experience as one of my strengths and I do have an excellent bedside manner, I often struggle to produce facts or statistics off the top of my head, and this often leads to me not being able to answer a question straight away pertaining to the nurse practitioner literature/scope of practice. I am optimistic that the practical and didactic courses combined will enable me to combine these two significant factors of practicing as an NP: practical application and intellectual knowledge. It has been found that “higher education systems continue to evolve in response to societal and technological changes. An example of this evolution in nursing education is merging traditional face-to-face learning systems with educational and communication technology, creating new blended methods to deliver nursing education curriculums (Leidl, 2020, p.1)”.
My career goal is to work in primary care, and this course will help me delve into that area and learn what that position entails. Research has found that “nurses are arguably best placed to provide this flexible and responsive healthcare, as they constitute one of the largest groups of professionals delivering frontline care (Torrens, 2020, p.2)”. My main objective this semester is to link academic knowledge with the presenting patient and effectively and confidently care for my patients.
Reference
Leidl, D. M., Ritchie, L., & Moslemi, N. (2020). Blended learning in undergraduate nursing education–A scoping review. Nurse Education Today, 86, 104318.
Shamsuddin, N., & Kaur, J. (2020). Students’ Learning Style and Its Effect on Blended Learning, Does It Matter?. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education, 9(1), 195-202.
Torrens, C., Campbell, P., Hoskins, G., Strachan, H., Wells, M., Cunningham, M., … & Maxwell, M. (2020). Barriers and facilitators to the implementation of the advanced nurse practitioner role in primary care settings: a scoping review. International journal of nursing studies, 104, 103443.
Career Goals: Strengths and Challenges
During this class alongside a clinical rotation, I hope to be more knowledgable and competent about how to diagnose and treat conditions seen in a family practice. As a FNP, there are several competencies that need to be met in order to practice well. I hope to continue to build my knowledge and foundation of scientific processes as this is one of the core competencies of an NP (The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties, 2012). I hope to not only learn though the context and assignments of a course, but to also be diligent and attentive during clinical rotations to ask questions and learn through my preceptor.
One strength that I have is the ability to have good conversation with my patients, that is something I have never really had a hard time with during my time as a bedside RN. One thing that is helpful in that role is knowing the history of my patient in order to ask directed questions to help fully asses them. This is something that took a while for me to learn and will need to be an area of work when I start clinical. Since each patient comes with a drastically different chief complaint, the choice of questions will change from patient to patient. One thing that will be challenging is distinguishing between symptoms that point towards a disease or those that are not of significant importance. For example, a runny nose could mean the common cold or it could be CSF and lead to something more important! Taking time to learn the symptoms and risk factors of diseases will help me in diagnosing each patient I see. Being proficient in clinical skills will be an area I need to work on since I have not been able to practice a majority of them yet. I will be interested to see if a simulation of clinical skills will be comparable to doing them in person since simulations has been a “well documented methodology to teach and learn procedural skills” (Howard & Collins, 2019, para. 3).
Throughout my time in the program, I have set goals and changed them as needed. One of my current goals is to be present and active throughout my clinical rotations. It could also be written as a SMART goal: in the first two weeks of my clinical rotation, I want to be confident in assessing a patient and distinguishing important findings to report to my preceptor to aid in diagnosing. By the end of my rotation, I want to be confident in prescribing some medications to patients. I also want to be more knowledgeable in chronic conditions as there is a large population who will be entering their older age and suffering from chronic conditions (Schluenegger et al., 2022). Being able to educate my patient and families is another goal I set for myself. I love to educate my patent’s families inside the hospital because they are, most of the time, receptive to my teaching. Schluenegger et al. notes the importance of NPs working with patients and families since it will be a significant amount of their responsibilities (2022).
I am excited to start rotations since I learn better with hands on experience that is mixed with reading. I hope to achieve each goal and to continue setting goals for myself as I go through the rest of this program.
References
Howard, S., & Collins, T. (2019). A simulated clinical experience for nurse practitioner students to develop skill-based competencies. Journal of Nursing Education, 58(11), 674–674. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20191021-12
Schlunegger, M. C., Aeschlimann, S., Palm, R., & Zumstein‐Shaha, M. (2022). Competencies of nurse practitioners in family practices: A scoping review. Journal of Clinical Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.16382
The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties. (2012). Nurse practitioner core competencies. Nurse practitioner core competencies.
https://www.pncb.org/sites/default/files/2017-02/NONPF_Core_Competencies.pdf
