Practicum Update

Well, what can I say? My practicum has had its great moments, as well as its frustrating
moments. My preceptor from SUNY Ulster has had a lot going on in her personal life dealing
with two elderly parents without any help from any of her siblings. She is the only one living
here in New York where her parents are. With that being said, it has been challenging to get a
hold of her for anything. I was even just alerted that she didnt complete the survey for NURS
604, so Im panicked a bit! I had to reach out to several of the other instructors so I could at least
get the details on the staff meeting I attended. I had contemplated in the beginning of 605
switching preceptors but for all the work it entailed I wasnt sure if it was necessary. Now I wish
I had switched, as maybe I would be having a better, more organized, less stressful experience. I
was able to complete three of my six learning outcomes thus far, and had an addition of one
outcome as well. I was able to complete a great deal of activities regardless of all the hurdles I
had to cross.
There is a lot to be said for self-motivated students. I believe that Delhi has given me this skill to
accomplish the given tasks at hand with tact, and grace. Its been found that student motivation
directly relates to educational, and career success, as well as better physical, and mental health as
a result (Taylor, et al., 2014). I feel that my motivation relating to the self-determination in
education theory is primarily based on intrinsic motivation, and has little to do with extrinsic
motivation. Im all about having personal volition, and feel that I certainly possess a an internal
locus of causality for sure (I wish I could take credit for that statement, but I will certainly
remember it for the future), (Taylor, et al., 2014 p. 342).
As far as the VLDD class, that is going well. More work than I had originally anticipated, but a
worthwhile, and valuable experience. Although one thing that I find weird is calling my peers
Mr. and Ms. for some reason. Especially since we had spent time together at RAM, and got to
know one another better in a more relaxed type of environment.
Academic Service
Moving on to the nurse educator field, academic service is a very important aspect that always
needs to be remembered. Without this component, we as nurse educators will have difficulty
keeping up with a healthcare environment that is in a constant state of change (Adegbola, 2013).
I feel that a very important main goal for us as we continue in this field is to encourage
engagement, active participation and assist in preparing learners to solve real-life problems
(Adegbola, 2013 para 1). This is just one area that I feel that my practicum experience has truly
been invaluable.
I had two opportunities to participate/attend an academic service experience. These were two
very different formats. One was online using zoom, and the other was face to face at SUNY
Ulster. The face to face meeting at SUNY Ulster was my first experience. There were
approximately eight full time faculty that were present and no adjuncts were present. I had asked
why there were not any adjuncts present and they stated that it is not a requirement for them
since it happens on a Wednesday in the middle of the afternoon, so most of them have prior
commitments. According to Valle & Fuchs (2015), 49% of adjunct faculty report also having
full time employment commitments. At this meeting, not only was nursing curriculum
discussed, but college wide agenda items were also discussed. A lot of the discussion was
focused on finances. You cant do anything without talking about finances. There is a full-time
faculty member who was leaving and they were discussing how they were not replacing her with
another full-time faculty member, but just hiring more adjuncts. Which of course is financially
better for SUNY Ulster, but increases the load on the remaining faculty (Valle & Fuchs, 2015).
As far as the zoom meeting held with the faculty at SUNY Delhi I thought that was a great
opportunity to see the collaborative efforts of the faculty. I believe there were about 31 people
signed into the meeting including advisors, and library staff as well. I thought this was a great
mix of people, invaluable to the nursing program. Some of whom I assumed would be there, and
those that I wouldnt have expected to be there. One topic covered was a citation engine that the
library staff was researching to purchase for the college for use by all students, both graduate and
undergraduate. Even though figuring out a way to better teach students APA format is a common
struggle amongst educators, personally I do not believe an APA citation engine would be the way
to go to teach better strategies to do this (Mandernach, Zafonte, & Taylor, 2016). I like this
article that I found by Mandernach, Zafonte, & Taylo. It relates APA formatting to that of
figuring out a math problem. Now colleges and universities wouldnt purchase software to
directly figure out algebra problems would they? There was a survey done on doctoral
dissertation proposals submitted, and one third of them contained some sort of APA format error.
This is certainly a problem that needs to be addressed at all levels. It seems that the best results
came from a one-hour course in APA formatting, as well as self-mastery (Mandernach, Zafonte,
& Taylor, 2016). I completely agree with these methods. Being held to a high standard here at
Delhi has given me a sense of self mastery with APA, as well as being exposed and obligated to
work with it to get it right. One effective way for students to better their command of APA is to
actually learn from their errors in their own work (Mandernach, Zafonte, & Taylor, 2016). With
that being said, the APA engine is a bad idea, and expensive Im sure. This money would be best
suited in other ways for the students. For example, maybe a subscription to a zoom room so they
can collaborate with each other in a more face to face manor. But I digress.
Reflection
The outcomes that I have completed thus far are:
Assess SUNY Ulsters ADN program
Participate in the emergency preparedness interdisciplinary simulation on April 17, 2017
Attend SUNY Delhi online zoom room staff meeting (an added outcome).
Attend and assist 2nd semester clinical at Health Alliance Broadway Campus (an added
outcome).
The activities that I have completed thus far are:
Attend an ACEN accreditation committee meeting
Attend staff meeting
Assess student learning
Participate in simulation
Additional activities that were completed, but not planned were:
Take floor report in clinical area
Lead pre-conference
Assign students to their patients for the day
Encourage critical thinking throughout the day
Lead post-conference

I am so glad I have been able to pretty much keep on track with my learning outcomes as they
pertain to the class, as well as the learning outcomes that I have set for myself. As far as
outcomes for the class I feel that I have been able to meet the outcome of demonstrating
competence in the advanced nursing role to meet current and emerging health needs of a global
changing society. I was able to complete this by participating in the running a clinical group.
The way that this was completed was that I kept asking them to think outside of the box.
Question the what ifs so to speak. I always incorporate cultural sensitivity as the hospital that I
was working in was in an area of very diverse population. I always challenged the students and
asked so if this patient happened to be a certain religion, how would you treat them differently if
differently at all.
I feel that I have been able to integrate advanced knowledge and theories from nursing and
related disciplines into the nurse educator role by participating in the staff meeting at SUNY
Ulster. I was able to incorporate some of my experience as a past student of that college as well
as my new-found knowledge at the masters degree level. It was so interesting, as well as
rewarding (and proud) to sit around a table and voice my opinion to professors that taught me 11
years ago, and to feel that I was a peer, and not looked at as just a student, or prior student of the
ADN program.
Participating in the simulation at SUNY Ulster was also extremely rewarding and on track with
my outcomes as well as the outcomes of the course. I was able to help organize the participants
at the start of the scenario, as well as to advise the participants what their injuries were and to
even use make-up to do moulage, and make it all look very real. I was able to ask questions of
the nursing students and team leaders as the scenario was unfolding and they were triaging their
patients. I have included a photo of the participants who were patients as well as a few shots of
the students in action as well as the criminal justice students who were participating in the
scenario as well. I really was amazed at the responses during the debriefing after the scenario
itself. The students (who were in their fourth semester, getting ready to graduate in May), really
looked at the activity in a critical way and suggested areas that they know they need to improve
on, as well as areas that they may have done well in during the scenario.
One area of improvement I am hoping to be able to complete in the second half of my practicum
experience is to gain more experience in the lecture portion of the advanced practice role. This is
where I feel I could really use the experience before I get out there in the real world. I feel that I
dont have the skills to gauge how long a lecture will take, and how to complete the amount of
material I have to complete in the allotted time, not going over or under. I am sure this will come
with practice, but I am hoping to practice this before I graduate from the program.
I am so glad that I am able to directly relate the material I have learned throughout the MSN
program here at Delhi to the classroom as well as the clinical environment. I really have come a
long way from when I started and I am so excited to see where the next few weeks will take me
and what other experiences and learning outcomes I can place under my belt so to speak.
~Jenn
References
Adegbola, M. (2013). Relevance of service learning to nursing education. Association of Black
Nursing Faculty Journal, 24(2), 39. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4090603/
Mandernach, B. J., Zafonte, M., & Taylor, C. (2016). Instructional Strategies to Improve College
Students' APA Style Writing. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher
Education, 27(3), 407-412. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov
Maribel, V., & Fuchs, T. (2015). Teaching and learning communities: Empowering adjuncts and
ensuring quality. Journal of Education and Human Development, 4(1), 1-6. doi:
10.15640/jehd.v4n1a1
Taylor, G., Jungert, T., Mageau, G. A., Schattke, K., Dedic, H., Rosenfield, S., & Koestner, R.
(2014). A self-determination theory approach to predicting school achievement over time: the
unique role of intrinsic motivation. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 39, 342-358.
doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2014.08.002