Practicum Experience Journal Entries

Practicum Experience Journal Entries NURS 6431 (Weeks 4–7)

Journal Entries Due Week 7 (References immediately follow the content)

From Week 4:

Journal Assignment—Part 1

After reviewing the Practicum Weekly Resources, record responses to the following in your Journal:

List three insights you gained from the video.

What invention either in the video or on the Singularity University website do you find most intriguing? Why?

Journal Assignment—Part 2

Note: Each week, you are responsible for locating a scholarly journal article in the Walden Library related to your area(s) of interest. Include in your Journal the reference in proper APA format, and provide a brief summary of the article. The article from each week will serve as the genesis of the bibliography in your final Practicum course (NURS 6600), so time spent locating pertinent articles now will be beneficial.

Journal Assignment—Part 3

Practicum Onsite Visits

Summarize the key activities of your visits to your Practicum site (as appropriate), including with whom you met, what you did, and what you gained from the experience.

Week 4 Journal Assignment—Part 1:

One of the main insights I got from the video is that there is so much advancement in healthcare technology that I was unaware of moving at a very rapid pace. Dr. Kraft presented an enlightening and intriguing look at the future of medicine and this was eight years ago. It would be interesting to see him give a talk today to see what has developed since then. A second insight I gathered is just because it is a new breakthrough technology, it does not mean it is financially inaccessible. Dr. Kraft stressed that technology is becoming smaller in size and price. A third insight I gathered from this week’s resources was how Dr. Peter Diamandis (2019) spoke about medication becoming more personalized, as there are many factors that affect the way each person metabolizes different medications.

The invention I found most intriguing is the iPill, a small ingestible that gives a clinical picture of your GI tract as it moves through your digestive system (Kraft, 2011). I am most interested in this as I have celiac disease and am currently being worked up for other GI issues. I personally see a huge benefit in swallowing this pill rather than enduring the recent endoscopy and upper GI I had and colonoscopy I am about to have. These test are expensive, time consuming and not pleasant to say the least.

Kraft, D. (2011). Medicine’s future? There’s an app for that. TED Talks. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_kraft_medicine_s_future.html

Diamandis, P. (2019) The next data-driven healthtech revolution. SingularityHub. Retrieved from https://singularityhub.com/2019/02/22/the-next-data-driven-healthtech-revolution/#sm.00002dtgze13nhfn2tmlvr6w7qfqs

Week 4 Journal Assignment—Part 2 (Practicum Journal Article Summary):

In order to prepare for my interview next week with the CNIO of my organization, I sought out an article that helps define her role. The Chief Nurse Informatics Officer (CNIO) is a relatively new nurse leadership role. This role and its growth can be attributed to the growing need for HIT and someone to support its clinical adaptation. The CNIO combines her clinical expertise and knowledge of technologies to help organizations pursue beneficial technology that will improve patient outcomes and assist clinicians in better caring for patients. Kirby (2015) points out that while nurses represent the largest group of HIT end users, they are also often the first to implement HIT changes. This creates a need for an executive level nurse leader who can advocate for clinicians and their workflows, while also allowing them to have a voice in HIT development that inevitably supports those workflows.

Kirby, S. B. (2015). Informatics leadership: The role of the CNIO. Nursing2018, 45(4), 21-22.

Week 4 Journal Assignment—Part 3 (Practicum Onsite Visits):

This week I attended an IS EHR Upgrade project strategy meeting. This meeting was comprised of a project manager, several different IS analysts from different teams, and the IS Trainer lead for the project. They discussed most recent build that was introduced by Epic and accepted by stakeholders, how this build would be incorporated into the existing system, and what training was needed and for whom. I also reviewed and tested some already existing training materials for nurses for upgrade. This was interesting to see and learn the process of how changes to the system are accepted, built and communicated out to staff. I also met with the project team for a recent implementation of an online policy and procedure management system. Almost all of the hospital’s policies and procedures were recently moved to one location where policies could be created using a project model of assigning tasks for review, editing, and approval online. The system also better aligns with Joint Commission standards in that it archives and provides access to past versions of policies. I assisted in creating some tip sheets for end-users on how to access and search within the system.

It came to light this week that the hospital was over census and the CNIO made an executive decision to have sedation nurses cover some of the inpatient units therefore requiring a different level of EHR access. I assisted the NI in performing a gap analysis of what the sedation nurses would need to know to be able to effectively document on the floor. We also performed an audience analysis to see how many nurses this would effect.

This week was insightful as I got to learn of a new technology for policy management, some of the processes and work involved in a major EHR implementation, and some of the role of the CNIO and how the NI supports that role.