PRACTICE SUMMARY PAPER

NURS 403 Career Pathway- Expand Horizons

Practice Summary Paper

Purpose of the Assignment

The purpose of this paper is to guide you through a process of self-reflection and selfevaluation to discover the scope of your personal and professional development while
enrolled in the RN>BSN nursing program at Old Dominion University.
Approach to the Assignment
I reflected on my academic and professional growth throughout my short career. I have
grown immeasurably since starting my concurrent enrollment in the ADN and RN to
BSN programs.
Reason for Inclusion
This paper reflects directly upon my growth as a BSN student through academics and
direct contact nursing care.
Critical Thinking
Uses nursing and other appropriate theories and models to guide professional
practice.
In this assignment I discuss how my practice is guided by Orems Self -Care Theory
because the fundamental duty or function of a nurse is to enable the patient to meet his or
her own self-care needs to achieve the patients best possible state of health. My practice
and volunteer involvement subscribes to the Transcultural Theory of Nursing, which

looks at the care of an individual based on that persons environment, culture and
beliefsthat a person is a sum of all of their experiences and life.
Engages in creative problem solving.
The Therapeutic Nursing Intervention paper allowed me to develop and propose ways to
combat polypharmacy problems, such as: checklist for effective medication hand-off
between departments and nurses and implementing a check in policy for all visitors.
Revises actions and goals based on evidence rather than conjecture.
I needed to think critically to assess each situation and patient to develop possible
solutions to prevent further instances of self-medication and make recommendations
based on evidence-based practice.
Nursing Practice
Applies appropriate knowledge of major health problems to guide nursing practice.

This paper illustrates various personal experiences and assignments that illustrate my
knowledge of health issues that guided my daily practice.
Implements traditional nursing care practices as appropriate to provide holistic health

care to diverse populations across the lifespan.

In this paper I address this characteristic while taking care of a patient with ovarian
cancer. I tailored my nursing care plan around the patients mental, physical and spiritual
needs to include pain medication and rest. I tried to optimize her physical health so that
she could focus on her varied emotions regarding her health.
Demonstrates an awareness of complimentary modalities and their usefulness in

promoting health.

This paper illustrates instance where I used different modalities like environmental
changes and healing touch in the ovarian cancer patient and encouraging the sister of the
middle eastern patient to bring culturally appealing food to try to get the patient to eat.
Also complimentary modalities were used in the Teaching Project Summary and Needs
Assessment to properly educate and communicate with staff and elderly clients.
Communication
Expresses oneself and communicates effectively with diverse groups and disciplines

using a variety of media in a variety of contexts.

The needs assessment and discerning the types of learners of the target audience enabled
effective training of staff in teaching strategies that could be applied to all client
education opportunities, and most especially with the elderly.

 Uses therapeutic communication within the nurse-patient relationship

This paper gives examples in therapeutic communication using real life situations
(Ovarian cancer patient, middle eastern patient, elderly clients). The Teaching Project
Summary paper specifically dealt with effective verbal and non-verbal communication
and how to enable the elderly clients in a veterinary setting to better understand their
home care of their pets.
Adapts communication methods to patients with special needs
See above. Communication with middle eastern patient also required interpreter and
family to effectively communicate because the patient spoke little English.
Teaching
Provides teaching to patients and/or professionals about healthcare procedures and
technologies in preparation for and following nursing or medical interventions
Evidence for this characteristic is mentioned in the Health Planning Project (Healthy
People 2020) and the Teaching Project Summary paper.
Provides relevant and sensitive health education information and counseling to
patients, and families, in a variety of situations and settings.
This characteristic is demonstrated in the personal experiences throughout the paper.
Research
Differentiates between descriptive nursing literature and published reports of nursing
research.
The Business Case Analysis paper was chosen as an example for this paper because I
needed to use evidence-based practice and research results to propose solutions for shortstaffing. Nursing literature gave me the nurses perspective to understand the effects of
short-staffing but I needed research and data to support solutions.
Applies research-based knowledge from nursing as the basis for culturally sensitive
practice.
This paper highlights several assignments and personal experience to support this
characteristic.
Evaluates research that focuses on the efficacy and effectiveness of nursing
interventions.
The Safety Performance Improvement/Change Theory paper used data analysis to
identify driving/restraining forces for the problem, evidence based solutions to combat
the problem and develop a teaching plan to correct the problem of misidentifying

patients.
Shares research findings with colleagues.
Teaching Project Summary and The Safety Performance Improvement/Change Theory
paper demonstrate this characteristic.
Leadership
Articulates the values of the profession and the role of the nurse as member of the
interdisciplinary health care team
Image of a Nurse Powerpoint and Nurse Leader Interview paper highlights in my Practice
Summary paper my values in my for my career and the roles of a nurse.
Initiates community partnerships to establish health promotion goals and implements
strategies to meet those goals.
The assignment highlights this characteristic in the Healthy Planning (Healthy People
2020) paper in which my group had to develop an education plan for the community of
New River Valley. Research identified successful programs in other communities to
implement into the New River Valley health programs. New strategies for providing
Virginians with information, tools and resources for promoting healthy eating and access
to proper nutrition options and encouraging and reinforcing active lifestyles and
behaviors
Organizes, manages, and evaluates the development of strategies to promote health
communities.
See above section
Professionalism
Understands the effect of legal and regulatory processes on nursing practice and health
care delivery, as well as limits to ones own scope of practice.
The Safety Performance Improvement/Change and Business Case Analysis defined in
this paper illustrated this characteristic. The Safety Performance Improvement/Change
defines standards and safety goals used by the Joint Commission as a basis for practice in
hospitals. The Business Case Analysis highlights patient care and the legal effects of
short staffing to a hospital.
Advocates for professional standards of practice using organizational and political
processes.
The Safety Performance Improvement/Change paper mentioned in this paper seeks to
develop standards of practice to prevent patient identification problems.

Culture
Integrates knowledge of cultural diversity in performing nursing interventions.
This characteristic is demonstrated in the personal experience with the middle eastern
patient and the discussion on professionalism. They way a nurse behaves or appears to a
patient directly affects the patients perception of their care and a patients culture
directly affects their perception of the nurse.
Articulates an understanding of how human behavior is affected by culture, race,
religion, gender, lifestyle and age.
The Wikicountry Bonaire project mentioned in this paper illustrates how the culture of
the native inhabitants, the Papamientu, directly drives the rates of teenage pregnancy,
proliferation of STDs and poor quality of the soil leads to a lack of access to fresh,
affordable food which directly affects their health.

Communication
Expresses oneself and communicates effectively with diverse groups and disciplines
using a variety of media in a variety of contexts.
The needs assessment and discerning the types of learners of the target audience enabled
effective training of staff in teaching strategies that could be applied to all client
education opportunities, and most especially with the elderly. That way when a staff
member discharges a patient, the verbal telling of instructions, demo of any treatments
needed for aftercare and written handouts should appeal to all types of older client learning
types.
Teaching
Evaluates the efficacy of health promotion and education modalities for use in a variety
of settings with diverse populations
The needs assessment survey allowed for accommodation of individual learning types to
best construct a successful program to improve communication and instruction to the
elderly for proper care of their pets. The need assessment survey stressed the use of
common language to ensure understanding of all learners (staff and clients).