Practicum Experience Journal Entry
PRAC-6665-45 (02/27/2023-05/14/2023)-PT27
Week 11: Assignment
Week 11: Assignment
Start Assignment
- Due May 14 by 10:59pm
- Points 100
- Submitting a text entry box or a file upload
- Attempts 0
- Allowed Attempts 2
JOURNAL ENTRY
Critical reflection of your growth and development during your practicum experience in a clinical setting has the benefit of helping you to identify opportunities for improvement in your clinical skills, while also recognizing your strengths and successes.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students)
Use this Journal to reflect on your clinical strengths and opportunities for improvement, the progress you made, and what insights you will carry forward into your next practicum.
RESOURCES
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity. Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.
TO PREPARE
- Refer to the “Population-Focused Nurse Practitioner Competencies” found in the Week 1 Learning Resources, and consider the quality measures or indicators advanced nursing practice nurses must possess in your specialty of interest.
- Refer to your Clinical Skills Self-Assessment Form you submitted in Week 1, and consider your strengths and opportunities for improvement.
- Refer to your Patient Log in Meditrek, and consider the patient activities you have experienced in your practicum experience and reflect on your observations and experiences.
JOURNAL ENTRY (450–500 WORDS)
Learning From Experiences
- Revisit the goals and objectives from your Practicum Experience Plan. Explain the degree to which you achieved each during the practicum experience.
- Reflect on the three (3) most challenging patients you encountered during the practicum experience. What was most challenging about each?
- What did you learn from this experience?
- What resources were available?
- What evidence-based practice did you use for the patients?
- What would you do differently?
- How are you managing patient flow and volume?
- How can you apply your growing skillset to be a social change agent within your community?
Communicating and Feedback
- Reflect on how you might improve your skills and knowledge, and communicate those efforts to your Preceptor.
- Answer the questions: How am I doing? What is missing?
- Reflect on the formal and informal feedback you received from your Preceptor.
BY DAY 7 OF WEEK 11
Submit your Journal.
SUBMISSION INFORMATION
Before submitting your final assignment, you can check your draft for authenticity. To check your draft, access the Turnitin Drafts from the Start Here area.
- To submit your completed assignment, save your Assignment as WK11Assgn+last name+first initial.
- Then, click on Start Assignment near the top of the page.
- Next, click on Upload File and select Submit Assignment for review.
Rubric
PRAC_6665_Week11_Assignment_Rubric
PRAC_6665_Week11_Assignment_Rubric
CriteriaRatingsPts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeAssimilation and Synthesis: Content Reflection
50 to >44.0 pts
Excellent
Reflection demonstrates a high level of critical thinking in applying and integrating key course concepts and theories from readings, lectures, and/or experiences. Insightful and relevant connections are made through contextual explanations and examples.
44 to >39.0 pts
Good
Reflection demonstrates moderate level of critical thinking in applying and integrating key course concepts and theories from readings, lectures, and/or experiences. Connections are made through explanations and/or examples.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students)
39 to >34.0 pts
Fair
Reflection demonstrates minimal critical thinking in applying and integrating key course concepts and theories from readings, lectures, and/or experiences. Minimal connections made through explanations and/or examples.
34 to >0 pts
Poor
Reflection lacks critical thinking. Superficial connections are made with key course concepts and resources, and/or assignments.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students)
50 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeAssimilation and Synthesis: Personal Growth
30 to >26.0 pts
Excellent
Expresses solid evidence of reflection on own work. Demonstrates substantial personal growth and awareness of deeper meaning through inferences, well developed insights, and significant depth in awareness and challenges. Synthesizes current experience into future implications.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students)
26 to >23.0 pts
Good
Expresses moderate evidence of reflection on own work. Demonstrates satisfactory personal growth and awareness through some inferences, insights, and challenges. There is mention of the future implications of student’s current experience.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students)
23 to >20.0 pts
Fair
Expresses minimal evidence of reflection on own work. Demonstrates less than adequate personal growth and awareness through limited or simplistic inferences made, insights, and/or challenges that are not well developed. Minimal thought of future implications of student’s current experience.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students)
20 to >0 pts
Poor
Expresses inadequate evidence of reflection on own work. Personal growth and awareness are not evident and/or demonstrate an impersonal experience. Lacks personal insights, challenges, inferences, and/or future implications are overlooked.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students)
30 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeWritten Expression and Formatting
15 to >13.0 pts
Excellent
Well written and clearly organized using standard English, characterized by elements of a strong writing style and basically free from grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling errors.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students)
13 to >11.0 pts
Good
Above average writing style and logically organized using standard English with minor errors in grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students)
11 to >10.0 pts
Fair
Average writing style that is sometimes unclear and/or with some errors in grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling.
10 to >0 pts
Poor
Poor writing style lacking in standard English, clarity, language used, and/or frequent errors in grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling. Needs work.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students)
15 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeAPA
5 to >4.0 pts
Excellent
Contains no APA errors.
4 to >3.5 pts
Good
Contains one to two (1–2) APA errors.
3.5 to >3.0 pts
Fair
Contains three to five (3–5) APA errors.
3 to >0 pts
Poor
Contains more than five (>5) APA errors.
5 pts
Total Points: 100
Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students
Learning from Experiences
Critical reflection on practicum experience allows nurses to grasp the contextual meaning of the situation and reconstruction of their experiences (Kim et al., 2019). In this case, critical reflection helps nurses to convert their experiences into practical knowledge. According to Ozdemir (2019), nurses can identify opportunities to improve their clinical skills and recognize key strengths through critical reflection. In this journal entry, I will outline the key objectives of my practicum experience, explain the degree I achieved each, and reflect on the most challenging patients I encountered.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students)
Goals and Objectives from my Practicum Experience Plan
My first goal was to develop advanced mental status examination skills by the end of the practicum. Specifically, the experiences I gained during the practicum enhanced my mental status examination skills and helped to effectively identify mental health problems experienced by my clients and recommend to them the most appropriate treatment option. My second goal was to acquire new knowledge and skills needed for the independent formulation of psychiatric diagnoses by the end of the practicum(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students). I always wish to be a competent nurse. However, I did not have the required skills before participating in the practicum. Fortunately, this experience enhanced my personality and communication skills as I empathized with the service users. My third goal was to develop knowledge and skills for selecting suitable psychiatric screening instruments for my clients by the end of the practicum. During my practicum, I learned how to use Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6+), among the most effective psychiatric screening tools. My enhanced personality and communication skills positively influenced my ability to achieve this goal.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students)
The three most challenging patients I encountered during the practicum experience
The first and most challenging experience involved a violent patient. Specifically, this patient had aggressive behaviors caused by intoxication and comorbid substance use. While caring for this patient, I learned the importance of remaining calm and attentive when managing psychiatric patients. Caring for this patient allowed me to appreciate and address the care needs of each patient irrespective of their health complexity. I can apply the skillset I gained from caring for this patient to be a social change agent within my community by encouraging the need to include patients and their families in the care plan. Furthermore, I can use newly developed skills from this experience to sensitize the community about the negative consequences of comorbid substance use on mental health.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students)
The second challenging patient I attended to declined to share his history. I needed to get more information from him about his mental health status. However, this was impossible as he did not share detailed information about his mental health. This experience taught me the importance of patience when caring for psychiatric patients. I chose to set aside time to talk with him with no distractions(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students). I also had to assure him that everything he shared with me would be confidential. During the interview, I kept all my questions open-ended and focused on talking about self-care. Furthermore, I listened carefully to every detail he shared with me and actively engaged him during the interview. I can apply the skillset I gained from caring for this patient to be a social change agent within my community by encouraging the need to include patients and their families in the care plan. Although the patient is not ready to communicate, the psychiatric nurse is responsible for creating a conducive environment with no destruction to allow the patients to share their insights about the mental health problem they are experiencing.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students)
The third challenging patient I cared for was convinced his family was persecuting him. The patient believed that his poor mental health was caused by negative experiences he encountered in his family setting. Based on the information he shared with me, the patient was experiencing PTSD. Specifically, he linked his poor mental health status with his negative childhood experiences where he was a victim of sexual abuse. In this case, convincing this patient that his family had nothing to do with his negative mental health status was challenging. I had to apply good communication skills, such as showing empathy, to calm him down. From this experience, I acknowledged the importance of allowing psychiatric patients to share every detail about their mental health without disrupting them. Furthermore, I included his family in the case plan to collect more detailed information about his mental health, including the probable factors that led to his poor mental health. I can apply the skillset I gained from caring for this patient to be a social change agent within my community by encouraging the need to include patients and their families in the care plan.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students)
Communicating and Feedback Reflection to Improve My Skills and Knowledge
The practicum experience allowed me to identify my key strengths and limitations. I have improved my communication skills by becoming an active listener, empathetic, and making personal connections with patients. However, I still experience many challenges in adequately planning interview sessions with my clients. I often spend a lot of time interviewing patients, where I collect irrelevant information. The informal feedback I received included an everyday casual conversation regarding the work, while the formal feedback included documented communications such as patient care plans. This feedback has been essential in working on my weaknesses and improving healthcare delivery.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students)
References
Kim, J. S., Gu, M. O., & Chang, H. (2019). Effects of an evidence-based practice education program using multifaceted interventions: a quasi-experimental study with undergraduate nursing students. BMC Medical Education, 19, 1-10.
Ozdemir, N. G. (2019). The development of nurses’ individualized care perceptions and practices: Benner’s novice to expert model perspective. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 12(2), 1279-1285.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is practicum experience important in nursing?
Practicum experience is vital in nursing as it provides hands-on exposure to real-world healthcare settings, allowing students to apply theoretical knowledge in a practical context. This experience enhances clinical skills, critical thinking, and decision-making abilities, while also fostering patient interaction and communication proficiency. Overall, practicum experience bridges the gap between classroom learning and the complex, dynamic challenges nurses face, preparing them for successful and effective patient care.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students)
What happens in nursing practicum?
A nursing practicum is a hands-on clinical experience where nursing students apply theoretical knowledge gained in the classroom to real-world healthcare settings. Under the guidance of experienced nurses and instructors, students engage in patient care, practice essential nursing skills, and develop their clinical judgment. This immersive learning opportunity helps students develop the practical competencies and confidence needed to transition successfully into the nursing profession.
What is the role of reflective journaling in the nursing student’s learning process?
Reflective journaling plays a vital role in the nursing student’s learning process by fostering self-awareness, critical thinking, and professional growth. It enables students to explore their clinical experiences, emotions, and decisions, leading to deeper insights and improved patient care. Through regular journaling, students refine their clinical skills, enhance empathy, and develop a heightened understanding of the complexities of healthcare delivery.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students)
How do you start a nursing paper?
To begin a nursing paper, start by crafting a clear and concise thesis statement that outlines the main focus of your paper. Provide a brief overview of the importance of the topic in the field of nursing, and then introduce the key concepts or issues you will be addressing. Finally, conclude your introduction by outlining the structure of your paper and how you intend to explore and analyze the chosen topic.(Practicum Experience Journal Entry Essay for Nursing Students)
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