UNE Nursing Student

Category: NSG 202 Posts

Preparation for Licensure and Transition to Professional Practice

While doing each ATI and remediation I try to look at the assignment as a whole before performing my remediation. I look at each section and find my individual score for each of the content areas listed. I compare how I performed in each content area to see if there are specific areas that I significantly perform worse on than others. I compare my scores to the national and program scores to see how I performed compared to my peers. Once I have taken a look at all of that, then I go into each content area section and look at the individual questions that I did not perform well on, and I start formulating my remediations. 

When I first started taking ATI exams they overwhelmed me because I was not used to the format in which they ask questions. Now they are so routine and I am able to think them through using my nursing frameworks and knowledge. I have worked on taking more time on each question to focus on figuring out specifically what the question is asking me before I take a look at the answer options that are listed. This helps me get an idea of what I think may be the answer before the answers change my mind at all. I establish my gut feeling and then compare it to the answer choices. I will always use what I have learned from ATI because we have taken so many practice and proctored tests about every single different type of nursing and I think it has adequately helped prepare me for the NCLEX exam. 

I have noticed that I do not often do similar remediation topics. This is a good feeling because if I was remediating the same topics over and over then I must not be learning from what I have written. But since I do not repeat the same topics very often, spending time on the remediations must be helping me learn more about the topics that I have missed. Another thing that I have focused on is scheduling time for myself to just focus on reading my textbooks. I noticed in the past few semesters that reading the chapters was falling by the wayside because I was so focused on completing graded assignments on time and it was affecting my grades. This semester I scheduled myself time to just read the book and not do any assignments during that time. This has definitely helped me focus more on the content in my classes and helped with my grades this semester.

Obtaining and Protecting Your Professional Nursing License

I intend on becoming licensed by examination here in Maine. Maine is a Nurse Licensure Compact state which means that if someone has a nursing license from another compact state they can then practice in that other state without applying for licensure there unless they want to make Maine their new primary state of residence. The application is web-based and can be submitted online on the Maine State Board of Nursing website. Things that they require while applying for the NCLEX  are proof of legal residency, a certification of school form that is filled out by the applicant’s nursing program administration, and a final transcript is only required for applicant’s that are getting their degree from an out-of-state program. Maine requires applicants to complete a fingerprinting process to complete a criminal background check in order to apply. This process is done through an exclusive vendor called IdentoGO and applicants must go to the Maine State Board of Nursing website and fill out that they would like to obtain the criminal background check and they will be entered into the fingerprinting process (Department of Professional & Financial Regulation Board of Nursing State of Maine, 2017).

Some examples of disciplinary action that could occur against nurses if something is violated would be a warning, censure, reprimand, civil penalty, education, specific conditions of probation, suspension, and loss of license. Some grounds for disciplining a nurse would be alcohol or substance abuse, violation of law, rule, board order, incomplete or unprofessional conduct, inappropriate or unprofessional conduct, inappropriate prescribing, conviction of a crime, or fraud and deceit in obtaining a license. There is a program in Maine called Medical Professionals Health Program MPHP and this organization works towards helping healthcare professionals. There are many resources on their website and detailed information on how to seek help when struggling with substance abuse or mental health problems. There is also a link on the board of nursing website to a website full of helpful educational books for nurses struggling with substance abuse. You can also find a list on this website of all nurses that the Maine Board of Nursing has taken action against and have been disciplined. The board can take non-disciplinary or disciplinary actions based on the scenario (Department of Professional & Financial Regulation Board of Nursing State of Maine, 2017).

I will always make sure that I am documenting everything very thoroughly. I want to always make sure that I am caught up on charting because I cannot be one of the nurses that leaves all the charting for the end of the day because I will forget things. So I need to either make sure I write stuff down or periodically throughout the day take enough time to chart my assessments. I will also always make sure to do all my rights of medication administration so that I do not make any medication errors because those can be the most detrimental. I will make sure to witness wastes correctly and never allow someone to sign my name unless I have actually witnessed it or actually went in and checked the IV medication if that is what needed to happen. I will make sure to always ask for consent before touching a patient and never touch them without asking because no matter how gentle, it could still be assault if it was unwanted. 

References: Department of Professional & Financial Regulation Board of Nursing State of Maine. (2017). License by Examination: Licensing. Maine.gov. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://www.maine.gov/boardofnursing/licensing/examination.html 

Prepare for Transition

Pertaining to the close future of graduation, licensure, and obtaining my first nursing job, I am most excited about looking at actual job descriptions of many different types of nursing to narrow down what fields that I would like to apply to. I am excited to apply to many hospitals and see which one offers me the best contract. I am also excited to begin training in the hospital and get comfortable with being an actual nurse. Pertaining to the close future of graduation, licensure, and obtaining my first nursing job, I am most anxious about picking the right specialty. I am interested in many specialties and am unsure where I would really thrive. I think looking at specific job descriptions will help me with this. It also helps me to know that nursing is such a big field with a lot of room for change.

I will celebrate victories and progress toward my nursing career goals with my nursing friends. We always make sure to go out to breakfast/dinner after taking an exam to reward ourselves for the hard work and all the time we spent preparing for the exams. I also like to reward myself with a day of self care filled with some cleaning to make my space more comfortable, maybe doing my nails, reading a book, and doing yoga. To prepare and plan for my weekly study time and stay focused and on track, I have created an assignment tracker on google sheets. I added in times for studying and added in which chapters I should be spending time on reading each week for each class. This keeps me on track and allows me to keep track of my goals and progress. 

Three new things I learned from each Nursing Logic 2.0 modules:

  • Nurse Logic 2.0 Module: Knowledge and Clinical Judgment-  1) Some strategies for success with school and in clinical settings are staying organized, managing your time effectively, and reading and listening effectively. Being prepared for clinical and class will help decrease stress and improve learning outcomes. 2) There are different ways that people learn best. Some people learn best visually, some are auditory learners, while others are tactile learners. 3) Sticking to a routine will be helpful for staying successful because you are less likely to forget tasks and help you stay organized. 
  • Nurse Logic 2.0 Module: Nursing Concepts- 1) Goals of client-centered care are creating an efficient environment that is cost effective for the client, providing the best quality of care, and creating a level of client satisfaction with care. 2) Collaborating with an interdisciplinary team is one of the most important aspects of a healthcare job. Collaboration promotes trust, invites group process and teamwork, coordinates client care successfully, and allows all the individuals involved with care to be on the same page. 3) Client education is important to ensure that patients continue to be safe and their health keeps improving after discharge. 
  • Nurse Logic 2.0 Module: Priority Setting Frameworks- 1) It’s not very new, but one thing I learned from the priority setting questions. I always struggle with these types of questions because I can see reasoning about why more than one answer may be correct. I am getting better at recognizing which answers may only be correct sometimes and throwing those out and choosing the answer that will always be the priority answer. 2) Revisiting Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs was a good refresher: physiological needs, safety and security needs, love and belonging needs, self esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. 3) When answering priority questions you always have to keep in mind: airway, breathing, circulation, safety and risk reduction and least invasive first. 
  • Nurse Logic 2.0 Module: Testing and Remediation: 1) Using priority setting frameworks like listed in the last section is the best way to approach nursing questions. 2) Eliminating incorrect questions can help you narrow down what you may think the correct answer is. 3) There can be between 75-265 questions on the NCLEX and the maximum time allowed is 6 hours.

Presenting Change

I brought our project to our floor at Maine Medical Center. I spoke with the charge nurse on R2 and explained that we had done a dissemination project about preventing CLABSI infections and that our project was for our evidenced based practice class at UNE. She said our project looked amazing and took the copies to put up in a few spots where the nurses could see them. She said that the infographics would catch people’s attention and nurses would love to read it.  Nurses on that floor are always so supportive and happy to learn new things so they were excited to see new posters. CLABSI prevention is something that is talked about so frequently in hospitals that anyone would be interested to know some statistics about them and the best ways to prevent the infections. 

I loved working with my team because we always supported each other at clinical and always made the best out of our time together. We made sure that all of our work was done successfully for this class and helped each other whenever we needed. I would want future employers to know that we took the time to educate ourselves about successful evidence based practice initiatives for quality improvement and we are ready to enter the nursing world. We are ready to recognize when change could occur and help implement change for the good whenever possible. Medicine is always changing and no one is too small to voice their opinions if change needs to happen. The thing that this team helped me out with a lot was making sure to get work done early. I get stuck in passing things in right on time but my group really worked on getting our projects and stuff done well before the due date so that we could take the time to double check that we did it to the best of our ability and are ready to pass it in. 

After working on this project and completing both EBP I and EBP III, I feel confident in my abilities to research healthcare topics and figuring out places in which change needs to occur and doing my research successfully. I know where to look for peer reviewed evidence based practice journal articles that are reliable, within the past five years, and have pertinent information to the topic that I am researching. I learned a lot about pulling multiple sources together and coming out with one research project from all the scattered information. 

Final Reflection

Annie and I chose this topic because it was something that we have thought about and wondered about before. As a woman I have always thought breastfeeding was a beautiful thing and often heard about mothers that had difficulties with it. I wondered how the alternatives to breast milk compared to it and we thought that it would be the perfect topic for this paper. 

We learned how to find articles that met up to verification standards and that had information that would specifically apply to our topic and question. We then analyzed the journal articles and pulled the most important and relevant information from all of the research and were able to compare outcomes from each source.

Working in a team was great  because we split the work perfectly and really bounced ideas off each other in order to write the best paper we could. We worked really well at reminding each other about due dates and reminding each other what sections  of the work each of us needed to complete and it was always so respected both ways.

Ethical Considerations for EBP

My views have mostly stayed the same. I think it is so important to know  the history and  evolution of principles of ethics to understand that patient care  has evolved in its entirety in order to provide the best care possible for the patients.  Achieving our course objectives have definitely increased my knowledge about research and its role in ethics and in the healthcare setting. Evidence-based practice is what drives innovation in the  science world and it helps to  create the safest outcomes for patients possible  based on practices implemented after trials and research of its own.

Critical Care Post

Demonstrate the use of therapeutic communication and the application of beginning nursing skills as a basis for practice. This is one of the learning objectives for Nursing 202. This learning outcome connects to a chapter in Critical Care that I really connected to called First Death.

Mary, a cancer patient that had lungs that were completely taken over by the cancer, was admitted to the oncology unit because she had no treatment options left. Normally patients at this level of disease would be in the ICU, but Mary had a DNR order so she stayed in the oncology unit where Theresa Brown worked as a student nurse. One day Mary presented with tachycardia and told her nurses that she felt really bad, which is never a good sign. The doctor eventually decided that she needed to be given adenosine which can be extremely painful for the patient because it is essentially restarting their heart so it can reach a normal rhythm again. Mary’s husband Al sat in the room while Mary was administered this medication that sent her in a writhing fit of pain, shaking and panicking. Theresa Brown mentions that as this is happening she turns and looks at Al and can see that he loves her so much and is in complete agony watching her being in that much pain. The moment that really stuck with me from this chapter is when Theresa smiled at him and connected with him. This is an example of therapeutic communication and even though it is nonverbal, this communication meant so much to Al. Even if it was an extremely brief interaction, it helped Al feel not so alone and secluded in that situation. I feel like the biggest part of the job of being a nurse is to help people feel like they are not alone anymore like they have someone fighting for and caring about them. Theresa felt like even though she was not much help in the Mary situation in the role of a nursing student, she was able to help Al feel not so alone which is powerful. 

Gratitude and Self Care

Gratitude is important for a professional setting so that the professionals feel fulfilled with their job and feel like they are doing it well. Gratitude allows professionals to let other professionals that they work with, know that they are doing a good job. Something as simple as, “Good job with that proposal!” or “This chart looks great!” can show someone that they are performing well at their job and this will make them want to continue working and to do even better. Professionals can show gratitude in small comments like mentioned previously, or even as simply as saying thank you or smiling.

When I am feeling stressed or overwhelmed I like to make a list of things that I need to get done and the due dates so that I feel more organized. After making the list I break it up into a day by day schedule so that I can choose how much work I am getting done each day and then I feel less overwhelmed. I also do yoga once I finish the things on the list that I needed to get done for that day. In nursing I can make mental lists of things that need to get done during my work day and then do yoga or meditate once I get home from my shift to decompress from the shift.

Revisiting the Image

Another very important quality that nurses have is resilience. This part of nursing is not usually represented in fictional nurses because resilience comes after long strenuous hours of being a nurse. Nurses work usually for an upwards of 12 hours, which are usually overnights. Resilience is such an important quality because you have to be able to bounce back from any challenging scenario that may be thrown at you during your shift and still be able to be the best nurse you can be for the rest of the shift. If something bad happens at the beginning of your shift, you cannot let it get to you. Nurses have to be able to deal with difficult situations in the moment, process them, and move on to the next task. I chose the image above because its a nurse saying we can do it! Nurses can do so many incredible things.

Image of Nursing

This is my cousin Josie Heath. She is a nurse at Maine Med in Portland. This image really encapsulates the job of being a nurse. Even though she had to wear all the protective gear because of COVID-19, she was just as excited to do her job and had the best attitude about it. I strive to be as dedicated to my job and as excited about being a nurse as her.

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