Learning Outcome #6

The BSN learning outcome #6 states, "Manage the direct and indirect care of individuals, families, groups, communities, and populations to promote, maintain, and restore health." I met this outcome by completing my volunteer hours and community service paper for nursing 4020, and by completing my elder assessments assignments in nursing 3700. 

Nursing 4020 Community Service Paper:
For my community service hours I decided to do two things. I volunteered at Sunrise Ridge Intermediate School helping in a skills day for a career day class. I also volunteered at the Doctor’s Volunteer Clinic located in St. George. Through these two experiences I learned that community service is important, especially for nurses. For the purpose of this paper, I will focus on my time spent volunteering at the Doctor’s Volunteer Clinic. The population being serviced at this facility is the entire population of St. George, mainly the uninsured population. Risk factors for this community of people include the risk of not getting yearly checkups because of their lack of healthcare insurance. My grandpa is a retired emergency room physician and he volunteers there a few days a week. My grandpa let me follow him around and help in any way he needed. I found myself getting him supplies and learning new procedures that I had never seen done before. I noticed that a lot of people that go to this clinic were those who are uninsured. They had a lot of basic problems such as colds, or step throat. These people couldn’t afford to go to a primary care physician, so they came to the volunteer clinic. Most of these people were grateful for the services offered and appreciated my grandpa’s offer of his time. I learned that volunteering in anyway I can, as a nurse, makes a difference. These people were so grateful that there was a place that they could go get healthcare services. If the patient’s condition was too serious to treat, we did have to send them to the ER, but most of the time we were able to treat them. We did a lot of education and telling patients some ideas of how to get better on their own. I also learned that education is key when sending these patients home, because most of them have no knowledge of medical remedies. This experience taught me a lot, and I will incorporate my experiences into my future nursing practice. 

Nursing 3700 Elder Assessment Journal: 

Part 1: I felt that my time spent with my elder this week went well. There was a lot of assessing to do, but I got a lot of good information from the assessments. One thing that went really well was when I was assessing my elder's activities of daily living, she seemed proud that she scored a perfect score. I think it made her realize that she can still do a lot of things independently. A challenging situation was when I was trying to discuss advanced directives with her. She didn't know too much about them and didn't seem interested in them. I decided to print her out a handout that gave information about advanced directives and give it to her, and she seemed more willing to read about it than discuss it. A perception that changed for me was that even though the elderly know they are getting into the end stages of life, they may not want to talk about it. I realized that it must still be extremely difficult for older adults to discuss end of life manners. I think that as a nurse, I need to be sensitive to that issue and take the time to sit and talk to my patients about their concerns about end of life care.

Part 2: I did notice a correlation between the weekly discussion and the elder assessment this week; they both had to do with nutrition. My elder, overall, has good nutrition, but there is always room for improvement. I came to the conclusion this week that education about nutrition is key for out patients. By education our patients about nutrition, we can help them live the healthiest life possible. After educating my elder about nutrition, she told me that she was going to try her best to eat healthy. Sometimes all it takes is 10 minutes of education in order for our patients to be healthier. During this assessment, I noticed that I need to become better at talking to patients about hard topics such as advanced directives. Sure, if they don't want to talk about it, I can just give them a handout for them to read, but I want to be able to approach it in a way that they feel comfortable talking about it. I think I can do this by practicing talking about it, and asking experienced nurses what the best way to approach it is.

Reflection: 
Both the community service paper and the elder assessments helped me become competent in learning outcome #6. The community service project and paper helped me promote health to the community. The elder assessments helped me manage the direct and indirect care of an individual in the community. Through these assignments I became a better member of my community, and a better overall nurse.