Practicum
Practicum Focus Sheet
Assessment 3
Note: Expect to spend at least 2 hours with the patient, family, or group you’ll be working with
during this portion of your practicum, exploring issues of technology, care coordination, and
community resources associated with the health problem you’ve defined. This includes time
spent in consultation with subject matter or industry experts.
For this portion of your practicum, discuss in depth how health care technology, the coordination
of care, and the use of community resources can be applied to address the problem. Consider
the following questions to help guide your exploration of these aspects of the problem and make
the most of your time:
Technology
• Do they use a device, such as a blood pressure cuff, pulse oximeter, or glucose monitor,
to monitor the problem?
• Have they used a smartphone app to help manage the problem?
• Would telehealth be an option to help manage the problem?
• Are any websites used to obtain more information about the problem?
Care Coordination and Community Resources
• Have home care, physical therapy, dialysis, or other types of care been used to manage
the problem?
• Is transportation available to travel to problem-related appointments?
• Have support groups been helpful in addressing the problem?
• Hav religious institutions been helpful in managing the problem?
Assessment 3 Instructions: Assessing the Problem: Technology, Care Coordination, and Community Resources Considerations
• PRINT
• In a 5-7 page written assessment, determine how health care technology, coordination of care, and community resources can be applied to address the patient, family, or population problem you’ve defined. In addition, plan to spend approximately 2 direct practicum hours exploring these aspects of the problem with the patient, family, or group you’ve chosen to work with and, if desired, consulting with subject matter and industry experts. Document the time spent (your practicum hours) with these individuals or group in the Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience Form. Report on your experiences during the second 2 hours of your practicum.
Introduction
As a baccalaureate-prepared nurse, you’ll be positioned to maximize the use of technology to achieve positive patient outcomes and improve organizational effectiveness. Providing holistic coordination of patient care across the entire health care continuum and leveraging community resource services can lead both to positive patient outcomes and to organizational improvements.
Preparation
In this assessment, you’ll determine how health care technology, coordination of care, and community resources can be applied to address the health problem you’ve defined. Plan to spend at least 2 direct practicum hours working with the same patient, family, or group. During this time, you may also choose to consult with subject matter and industry experts.
To prepare for the assessment:
• Review the assessment instructions and scoring guide to ensure that you understand the work you will be asked to complete and how it will be assessed.
• Conduct sufficient research of the scholarly and professional literature to inform your assessment and meet scholarly expectations for supporting evidence.
• Review the Practicum Focus Sheet: Assessment 3 [PDF], which provides guidance for conducting this portion of your practicum.
Note: As you revise your writing, check out the resources listed on the Writing Center’s Writing Support page.
Instructions
Complete this assessment in two parts.
Part 1
Determine how health care technology, the coordination of care, and the use of community resources can be applied to address the patient, family, or population problem you’ve defined. Plan to spend at least 2 practicum hours exploring these aspects of the problem with the patient, family, or group. During this time, you may also consult with subject matter and industry experts of your choice. Document the time spent (your practicum hours) with these individuals or group in the Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience Form. Use the Practicum Focus Sheet: Assessment 3 [PDF] provided for this assessment to guide your work and interpersonal interactions.
Part 2
Report on your experiences during the second 2 hours of your practicum.
• Whom did you meet with?
o What did you learn from them?
• Comment on the evidence-based practice (EBP) documents or websites you reviewed.
o What did you learn from that review?
• Share the process and experience of exploring the effect of the problem on the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.
o Did your plan to address the problem change, based upon your experiences?
o What surprised you, or was of particular interest to you, and why?
Capella Academic Portal
Update the total number of hours on the NURS-FPX4900 Volunteer Experience Form in Capella Academic Portal.
Requirements
The assessment requirements, outlined below, correspond to the scoring guide criteria, so be sure to address each main point. Read the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed. In addition, note the additional requirements for document format and length and for supporting evidence.
• Analyze the impact of health care technology on the patient, family, or population problem.
o Cite evidence from the literature that addresses the advantages and disadvantages of specific technologies, including research studies that present opposing views.
o Determine whether the evidence is consistent with technology use you see in your nursing practice.
o Identify potential barriers and costs associated with the use of specific technologies and how those technologies are applied within the context of this problem.
• Explain how care coordination and the utilization of community resources can be used to address the patient, family, or population problem.
o Cite evidence from the literature that addresses the benefits of care coordination and the utilization of community resources, including research studies that present opposing views.
o Determine whether the evidence is consistent with how you see care coordination and community resources used in your nursing practice.
o Identify barriers to the use of care coordination and community resources in the context of this problem.
• Analyze state board nursing practice standards and/or organizational or governmental policies associated with health care technology, care coordination, and community resources and document the practicum hours spent with these individuals or group in the Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience Form.
o Explain how these standards or policies will guide your actions in applying technology, care coordination, and community resources to address care quality, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.
o Describe the effects of local, state, and federal policies or legislation on your nursing scope of practice, within the context of technology, care coordination, and community resources.
o Explain how nursing ethics will inform your approach to addressing the problem through the use of applied technology, care coordination, and community resources.
o Document the time spent (your practicum hours) with these individuals or group in the Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience Form.
• Support main points, assertions, arguments, conclusions, or recommendations with relevant and credible evidence.
• Apply APA style and formatting to scholarly writing.
Additional Requirements
• Format: Format your paper using APA style. APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX] is provided to help you in writing and formatting your paper. Be sure to include:
o A title page and reference page. An abstract is not required.
o Appropriate section headings.
• Length: Your paper should be approximately 5–7 pages in length, not including the reference page.
• Supporting evidence: Cite at least five sources of scholarly or professional evidence that support your central ideas. Resources should be no more than five years old. Provide in-text citations and references in APA format.
• Proofreading: Proofread your paper, before you submit it, to minimize errors that could distract readers and make it more difficult for them to focus on its substance.
Competencies Measured
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria:
• Competency 4: Apply health information and patient care technology to improve patient and systems outcomes.
o Analyze the impact of health care technology on a patient, family, or population problem.
• Competency 5: Analyze the impact of health policy on quality and cost of care.
o Analyze state board nursing practice standards and/or organizational or governmental policies associated with health technology, care coordination, and community resources and document the practicum hours spent with these individuals or group in the Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience Form.
• Competency 6: Collaborate interprofessionally to improve patient and population outcomes.
o Explain how care coordination and the utilization of community resources can be used to address a patient, family, or population problem.
• Competency 8: Integrate professional standards and values into practice.
o Support main points, assertions, arguments, conclusions, or recommendations with relevant and credible evidence.
o Apply APA style and formatting to scholarly writing.
• SCORING GUIDE
Use the scoring guide to understand how your assessment will be evaluated.
VIEW SCORING GUIDE
Assessing the Problem: Technology, Care Coordination, and Community Resources Considerations Scoring Guide
CRITERIA NON-PERFORMANCE BASIC PROFICIENT DISTINGUISHED
Analyze the impact of health care technology on a patient, family, or population problem. Does not describe the impact of health care technology on a patient, family, or population problem. Describes the impact of health care technology on a patient, family, or population problem. Analyzes the impact of health care technology on a patient, family, or population problem. Conducts an astute analysis of the impact of health care technology on a patient, family, or population problem. Cites credible and balanced evidence of the advantages and disadvantages of specific technologies. Provides clear insight into current technology use in professional practice, as well as potential barriers and costs.
Explain how care coordination and the utilization of community resources can be used to address a patient, family, or population problem. Does not describe the value of care coordination and the utilization of community resources in addressing health care challenges. Attempts to describe the value of care coordination and the utilization of community resources in addressing health care challenges. Explains how care coordination and the utilization of community resources can be used to address a patient, family, or population problem. Provides a convincing explanation of how care coordination and the utilization of community resources can be used to address a patient, family, or population problem. Cites credible and balanced evidence of the benefits of care coordination and the use of community resources. Provides clear insight into current use in professional practice, as well as potential barriers.
Analyze state board nursing practice standards and/or organizational or governmental policies associated with health technology, care coordination, and community resources and document the practicum hours spent with these individuals or group in the Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience Form. Does not describe state board nursing practice standards and/or organizational or governmental policies associated with health technology, care coordination, and community resources, and does not document practicum hours in Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience Form. Attempts to describe state board nursing practice standards and/or organizational or governmental policies associated with health technology, care coordination, and community resources, and/or does not document practicum hours in Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience Form. Analyzes state board nursing practice standards and/or organizational or governmental policies associated with health technology, care coordination, and community resources and documents the practicum hours spent with these individuals or group in the Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience Form. Conducts an astute analysis of state board nursing practice standards and/or organizational or governmental policies associated with health technology, care coordination, and community resources. Clearly articulates the implications for ethical professional practice of applying standards and/or policy guidance or legislative requirements to the problem. Documents the practicum hours spent with these individuals or group in the Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience Form
Support main points, assertions, arguments, conclusions, or recommendations with relevant and credible evidence. Does not support main points, assertions, arguments, conclusions, or recommendations with relevant and credible evidence. Sources lack relevance or credibility, or the evidence is not persuasive or explicitly supportive of main points, assertions, arguments, conclusions, or recommendations. Supports main points, assertions, arguments, conclusions, or recommendations with relevant and credible evidence. Supports main points, assertions, arguments, conclusions, or recommendations with relevant, credible, and convincing evidence. Skillfully combines virtually error-free source citations with a perceptive and coherent synthesis of the evidence.
Apply APA style and formatting to scholarly writing. Does not apply APA style and formatting to scholarly writing. Applies APA style and formatting to scholarly writing incorrectly and/or inconsistently, detracting noticeably from good scholarship. Applies APA style and formatting to scholarly writing. Applies APA style and formatting to scholarly writing. Exhibits strict and nearly flawless adherence to stylistic conventions, document structure, and source attributions.
Resources: Health Care Information Technology
• PRINT
• The following resources provide information about how technology is used in health care settings to address health problems, such as the one you’ve selected for your capstone project.
• Khanna, G. (2020). AHRQ advances new frontiers in digital healthcare. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. https://www.ahrq.gov/news/blog/ahrqviews/digital-healthcare.html
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2019). Health information technology research: 2018 year in review. https://digital.ahrq.gov/2018-year-review
• Health IT Buzz. (n.d.). Consumer engagement. https://www.healthit.gov/buzz-blog/category/consumer
• HealthIT.gov. (2020). National health IT priorities for research: A policy and development agenda. https://www.healthit.gov/topic/scientific-initiatives/national-health-it-priorities-research-policy-and-development-agenda
• Pazinski, S., Karras, P., Caban, T. Z., & Chaney, K. (2020). Mapping the path forward in health IT. Health IT Buz. https://www.healthit.gov/buzz-blog/health-it/mapping-the-path-forward-in-health-it
Complete the following multimedia simulation:
• Assessing a Health Problem 3.
o In this simulation, you’ll examine current models of health care delivery and how health care technology and the use of community resources can be applied to address a patient, family, or population health problem.
