Journal Entry
Learning from Experiences
• Reflect on the 3 most challenging patient encounters and discuss what was most challenging for each.
The three most challenging patients include a well-woman who is coming for a comprehensive analysis. The patient is trying to recall anything with difficulty. The patient requires a pap smear for the breast exam but the results are not important for the psychiatric analysis.
The second patient involves an older lady without updated tests and lacks essential knowledge about his healthcare. The patient did not bring her medical reports and recent DC from the hospital and previous mental status data.
The third challenging patient encounter is a woman with young children. The encounter with the patient is a learning curve for my practice. The patient is trying to have children with difficulty due to a history of miscarriages and abortion at a younger age. The patient was referred to a specialist for further examination.
• What did you learn from this experience?
I have learned that I need to expand my knowledge on how to manage different patients. Managing different patients is an eye-opener that can widen my experience.
• What resources did you have available?
My resources include current and previous mentors, and the books required. I had access to the peer-reviewed resources on the university database. The materials are vital to boost my knowledge (Bozorgzad et al., 2021).
• What evidence-based practice did you use for this patient?
The evidence-based practices that I used for the patient include screening and management of chronic conditions such as diabetes, and counseling to achieve a healthy weight, and smoking cessation can be advanced within a well-woman visit to promote health. Well-woman preventative services may include physical assessment, preventative screening, and risk factor assessment (Fitzpatrick, 2019). Other medical procedures include immunization, counseling, and patient education.
• What new skills are you learning? I am doing the pap smears, EKG, and working more on the diagnosis. I would like to do a biopsy and stitching. It will be critical to learn about communication in healthcare settings.
• What would you do differently? I think as it relates to this class not much more except to continue the task and learning not for well women much and no OB area at all.
• How are you managing patient flow and volume? I and managing the flow fair and since I am to make up the time I will definitely be reviewing my tasks and studying.
Communicating and Feedback
Respond to the following reflective questions:
• How might I improve on my skills and knowledge, and how to communicate that back to my Preceptor? The best way for me to reflect is to continue and utilize her much as possible. Reflecting on past experiences can improve communication (Galatzan & Carrington, 2021).
• How am I doing? What is missing? I wish we had a skills lab as I had when first starting in a hospital setting in different areas. I will strive to learn the missing or weak skills.
• What type of feedback am I receiving from my Preceptor? Great feedback and reference to her on outside items when needed. The positive feedback is an encouragement to my experience.
References
Bozorgzad, P., Najafi Ghezeljeh, T., Haghani, H., & Fallah, B. (2021). The productivity and quality of work life in emergency nurses. Iran Journal of Nursing, 34(130), 0-0.
Fitzpatrick, J. J. (2019). A new model for preparing research-savvy nurses. Nursing education perspectives, 40(3), 132.
Galatzan, B. J., & Carrington, J. M. (2021). Communicating Data, Information, and Knowledge in the Nursing Handoff. Computers, Informatics, Nursing: CIN.
