CLINICAL
Oldine Pierre
RE: Week 7 Discussion Prompt
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For the first part of the clinical experience course, I was in school nursing. I expected to learn how school nurses manage children with chronic conditions. I was also expecting to learn how to build a trusting relationship with the children. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, I was only able to attend one session. During that one session, I did learn how the school nurse cares for children with asthma. Since I was not able to complete my clinical experience with school nursing, I ended up completing my hours with Feeding South Florida (FSF). I was very disappointed because I did not know how volunteering at a food bank related to nursing. After completing some shifts, at FSF, I realized how important food banks are at keeping people in the community healthy. Although I did not have hands-on experience with patients, I was making a difference in their lives by helping with their basic needs.
Annonan Salomon
RE: Week 7 Discussion Prompt
COLLAPSE
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Class,
When I first started my clinicals I was not sure what my expectations were. I think it was mainly to go to the clinical and see what I learn while I was there. As time has gone on, my expectations about what I have wanted to learn has expanded in scope to being able to understand why we are using a specific dressing and how to perform correct dressing changes on patients. Now as I perfomr my daily routin as a charge nurse I have a better understanding of when a patient comes in with a wound what will be required to cover that wound and why I want that specific dressing. When the doctor comes to see the patient those might change, but when a patient has a dressing it won’t be as daunting when it needs to be changed for some reason. There has been times when nursing that I was unsre about what dressing to use on an ulcer, but now it is clearer on exactly what will be used and if the dressing falls off I can change the dressing appropriately. I did enjoy my time with wound care and the amount of information they taught me has been helpful in clearing up so many questions that I had prior to starting clinicals.
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CAPSTONE
Aileen Obrusnik
RE: Discussion
COLLAPSE
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On our daily duty we will always encounter things that we think it needs a change or transformation to promote safety to both the patients and staffs. I think one of the changes that needs to be implemented is to have a better communication between staff, clinical or non-clinical in the building. I think until now, we still strive for the nurses to communicate better to colleagues or non-clinical staff. Due to poor communication many various things get misinterpreted or things that needs to get done, doesn’t get done. Communication between the team members, IDT, receptionist, and patient is very important to deliver a good quality care to the patient, patient’s family, and makes work easier to everyone. Other than communication, we must always come in with a good attitude, to bring in a positive energy throughout a shift.
Collaboration between the health care teams increases team members awareness of each other’s type of knowledge and skill, and leads to improvement with decision making. Effective teams are characterized by trust, respect, and collaboration. Lack of communication or collaboration between the health care teams can jeopardize the patient’s health. Good communication encourages collaboration and helps prevent errors.
In my unit, we have two different teams each day. I have implemented a communication book in the station, so that we know what to address and what other start we have to focus on. We also have a daily huddle every morning and shift to discuss about new policies and current event. Communicating between the team, made us work better as a team, and delivered a better outcome to our patients.
Kathleen Mendez
RE: Discussion
COLLAPSE
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I was very impressed with the ideas and changes the nurses in the video had made in their units. I do not currently work on the floor but when I did I remember often feeling overwhelmed and swamped and really needing that help and support. The red/yellow/green board seems like a great innovation to support the nursing staff and ultimately provide better patient care. One of the biggest reasons why I left floor nursing, aside from the fact that I love the operating room, was because I went home every day feeling like I had not given good care to my patients because I was so swamped and did not have enough time. This was a horrible feeling! That is partly why I work in the OR because I am able to focus on my patient and work within a team at all times.
A couple of changes I would like to implement in my unit are to improve the “team lead” role and also to improve hand off communication among the nurses. In my unit we have a team lead role that is meant to support two to three rooms/nurses with their line -up for the day. They are supposed to help check in patients, assist with room turnover, get next case ready, etc. but this role has not been clearly defined and/or implemented therefore, the staff are inefficient in this role. I would like to further define the role and really implement it effectively and efficiently so that we can provide safe, quality patient care.
I would also like to improve our hand-off tool within our organizaiton so that this process is standardized and actually followed through with. Studies have shown that “ineffective communication among healthcare professionals is one of the leading causes of medical errors and patient harm” (Dingly, Daugherty, Derieg and Persing, 2016). The compliance among nurses within our organization in utilizing this tool is very minimal. I would like to narrow down the barriers to using it and improve it in the interest of patient safety.
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PUBLIC HEALTH
Shelley Williamson
RE: Discussion Prompt 
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I enjoyed viewing the presentations from my classmates and learning more about the vulnerable populations that I didn’t do research on. I especially learned a lot from the presentation on Native Americans – Navajo. Although COVID-19 has affected all of the United States, very little is about how it is affecting the Native American tribes has been publicized, but they are being hit very hard. In April, only 27,000 tests were administered to the 173,667 people of the Navajo nation, with 3000 of those coming back positive (Smith, 2020) An already vulnerable population is being decimated and their predicament needs to be more widely publicized.
I also learned a lot from the presentation on the immigrant population and their concerns. Another vulnerable population that I did not realize were afraid to seek help when they are sick, but can understand why, due to the nature of the government we have today. We owe it to all of our vulnerable peoples to help them as much as we can.
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Cindy Ngo
RE: Discussion Prompt
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Working in the Emergency Department, one population that I am most nervous working with is the homeless population because there are so many concerns this population encounter on a daily basis. One point that stood out to me from Kevin tutol’s presentation is homeless population may avoid seeking medical care due to encountering healthcare providers who may see the homeless patient as low lives, lazy, dirty rather than spend time educating patients about patient’s condition and referring patients to appropriate resources to empower patient on how to manage condition, prevent complications. In addition, many governmental programs are developed to help children cope and escape poverty. Homeless population are at risk for developing or worsening substance abuse, mental health conditions. How can the public prevent at risk population from becoming homeless? This include those living in poverty, students, those who did not finish high school. For those who suffer from substance abuse, how do we help this population regain control of their life and transition back into the workplace and society.
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