Students will outline what they have discovered about their professional practice, personal strengths and weaknesses that surfaced, additional resources and abilities that could be introduced to a given situation

Students are required to maintain weekly reflective narratives throughout the course to combine into one course-long reflective journal that integrates leadership and inquiry into current practice as it applies to the Professional Capstone and Practicum course. In your journal, you will reflect on the personal knowledge and skills gained throughout this course. The journal should address a variable combination of the following, depending on your specific practice immersion clinical experiences:

1.New practice approaches

2.Intraprofessional collaboration

3.Health care delivery and clinical systems

4.Ethical considerations in health care

5.Population health concerns

6.The role of technology in improving health care outcomes

7.Health policy

8.Leadership and economic models

9.Health disparities

Students will outline what they have discovered about their professional practice, personal strengths and weaknesses that surfaced, additional resources and abilities that could be introduced to a given situation to influence optimal outcomes, and finally, how the student met the competencies aligned to this course. While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and in-text citations and references should be presented using APA documentation guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion. You are required to submit this assignment to Turnitin.

I have attached a sample to follow

Benchmark – Professional Capstone and Practicum Reflective Journal

	1 Unsatisfactory 0-71% 0.00%	2 Less Than Satisfactory 72-75% 75.00%	3 Satisfactory 76-79% 79.00%	4 Good 80-89% 89.00%	5 Excellent 90-100% 100.00%
100.0 %Content
10.0 % New Practice Approaches	New practice approaches are not present.	New practice approaches are present, but incomplete or otherwise lacking in required detail.	New practice approaches are present. Some minor details or elements are missing but the omission(s) do not impede understanding.	New practice approaches are present and complete. The submission provides the basic information required.	New practice approaches are present, complete, and incorporates additional relevant details and critical thinking to engage the reader.
10.0 %Intraprofessional Collaboration (4.3)	Intraprofessional collaboration information is not present.	Intraprofessional collaboration information is present, but incomplete or otherwise lacking in required detail.	Intraprofessional collaboration information is present. Some minor details or elements are missing but the omission(s) do not impede understanding.	Intraprofessional collaboration information is present and complete. The submission provides the basic information required.	Intraprofessional collaboration information is present, complete, and incorporates additional relevant details and critical thinking to engage the reader.
10.0 % Health Care Delivery And Clinical Systems (4.1)	Health care delivery and clinical systems information is not present.	Health care delivery and clinical systems information is present, but incomplete or otherwise lacking in required detail.	Health care delivery and clinical systems information is present. Some minor details or elements are missing but the omission(s) do not impede understanding.	Health care delivery and clinical systems information is present and complete. The submission provides the basic information required.	Health care delivery and clinical systems information is present, complete, and incorporates additional relevant details and critical thinking to engage the reader.
10.0 % Ethical Considerations In Health Care (5.4)	Ethical considerations in health care information is not present.	Ethical considerations in health care information is present, but incomplete or otherwise lacking in required detail.	Ethical considerations in health care information is present. Some minor details or elements are missing but the omission(s) do not impede understanding.	Ethical considerations in health care information is present and complete. The submission provides the basic information required.	Ethical considerations in health care information is present, complete, and incorporates additional relevant details and critical thinking to engage the reader.
10.0 %Population Health Concerns (5.3)	Population health concerns information is not present.	Population health concerns information is present, but incomplete or otherwise lacking in required detail.	Population health concerns information is present. Some minor details or elements are missing but the omission(s) do not impede understanding.	Population health concerns information is present and complete. The submission provides the basic information required.	Population health concerns information is present, complete, and incorporates additional relevant details and critical thinking to engage the reader.
10.0 % The Role Of Technology In Improving Health Care Outcomes (4.3)	Information on the role of technology in improving health care outcomes is not present.	Information on the role of technology in improving health care outcomes is present, but incomplete or otherwise lacking in required detail.	Information on the role of technology in improving health care outcomes is present. Some minor details or elements are missing but the omission(s) do not impede understanding.	Information on the role of technology in improving health care outcomes is present and complete. The submission provides the basic information required.	Information on the role of technology in improving health care outcomes is present, complete, and incorporates additional relevant details and critical thinking to engage the reader.
10.0 % Health Policy	Health policy information is not present.	Health policy information content is present, but incomplete or otherwise lacking in required detail.	Health policy information content is present. Some minor details or elements are missing but the omission(s) do not impede understanding.	Health policy information content is present and complete. The submission provides the basic information required.	Health policy information content is present, complete, and incorporates additional relevant details and critical thinking to engage the reader.
10.0 %Leadership And Economic Models	Information on leadership and economic models is not present.	Information on leadership and economic models is present, but incomplete or otherwise lacking in required detail.	Information on leadership and economic models is present. Some minor details or elements are missing but the omission(s) do not impede understanding.	Information on leadership and economic models is present and complete. The submission provides the basic information required.	Information on leadership and economic models is present, complete, and incorporates additional relevant details and critical thinking to engage the reader.
10.0 % Health Disparities (1.5)	Information on health disparities is not present.	Information on health disparities is present, but incomplete or otherwise lacking in required detail.	Information on health disparities is present with minor elements missing that do not impede understanding.	Information on health disparities is present and complete. The submission provides the basic information required.	Information on health disparities is present, complete, and incorporates additional relevant details and critical thinking to engage the reader.
5.0 %Presentation	The piece is not neat or organized, and it does not include all required elements.	The work is not neat and includes minor flaws or omissions of required elements.	The overall appearance is general, and major elements are missing.	The overall appearance is generally neat, with a few minor flaws or missing elements.	The work is well presented and includes all required elements. The overall appearance is neat and professional.
5.0 % Mechanics of Writing (includes spelling, punctuation, grammar, language use)	Surface errors are pervasive enough that they impede communication of meaning. Inappropriate word choice or sentence construction is used.	Frequent and repetitive mechanical errors distract the reader. Inconsistencies in language choice (register), sentence structure, or word choice are present.	Some mechanical errors or typos are present, but they are not overly distracting to the reader. Correct sentence structure and audience-appropriate language are used.	Prose is largely free of mechanical errors, although a few may be present. A variety of sentence structures and effective figures of speech are used.	Writer is clearly in command of standard, written, academic English.
100 % Total Weightage

This introductory week was largely spent acquainting myself with the concept of evidence-based nursing practice (or EBP), and how these ideas would be applicable in my own nursing studies. From the lessons that I gathered from previous studies and the lecture notes, it is clear that EBP is a resourceful tool useable not only for purposes of research, but also is utilizable in finding new methods as well as technologies (Ellis, 2016; LoBiondo-Wood et al, 2013). Moreover, EBP offers important facts and empirical evidence to support potential changes in the field of nursing, and which can be used in teaching new useful methods as well as techniques that have the potential to bring remarkable contributions to the profession (Stevens, 2013). Ultimately, this resource offers excellent research as well as clinical guidelines that are necessary towards the improvement of the nursing practice.

During this week, I was able to identify and develop a mentor-mentee relationship with unit manager, who will be an important source of support and guide in my nursing education and practice. With my new mentor, we had a productive discussion on the goals and potential milestones to cover in this course, besides a review of my ideas and perspectives for an evidence-based nursing change, and the strategy of our communication throughout the period of class.

Week 2, June 5th – 11th, 2017

During this second week, I had a chance to choose my EB change topic. I will be exploring the effect connection between obesity disorder and PTST incidence in veterans, and find out potential clinically generated evidence-based strategies for mitigating against the incidence of obesity in veterans with PTSD, as well as the roles nursing care in this regard (Church, 2013). I also made use of the campus library to access peer-reviewed journal articles as secondary sources and support for my EB change. Upon data collection, I was able to organize the information and prepare a plan for the conceptualized EB change.

I had a meeting with my mentor where we discussed the planned EB change and the best strategy for its implementation. I had productive guidance on my strengths as well as my weaknesses as a leader and I proposed my personal goals to enhance them. Moreover, we met clinical coordinating team to review the acuity model, its potential benefits the unit, commencement date, as well as their role in the planned EB change. Finally, I offered baseline surveys to the target nursing staff. Importantly, these nursing surveys will be indicative of the nurses’ perceptions before the actual implementation of the planned EB change (Church, 2013).

Week 3, June 25th – June 30th, 2017

This week, with my unit manager, we discussed the evidenced based change with our medical surgical nursing Director for her approval of the selected EB change intervention. During the discussion, it was found that the proposed had wide support among several nursing professionals with some level of exposure to previous EBP. Nonetheless, some few nurses were unreceptive to the change, prompting further education and awareness amongst the staff. There is strong survey-based evidence on the link between obesity and PTSD among veterans, which necessitated effective nursing strategies to help veterans present and reduce cases of obesity (Church, 2013; Conard& Sauls, 2014).

During this week’s meeting with my mentor, we had a discussion on the challenges of the capstone project, my shortcomings, as well as strategies for improving the proposed EB change. We recognized the need for additional staff education and an adoption of a standardized approach for purposes of establishing the target patient population’s acuity. Moreover, the discussions also covered strategies for balancing nursing assignments to ensure the proposed evidence-based nursing interventions were modeled around positive outcomes for both the target patients and the nursing practitioners.

Week 4, July 2nd – 7th, 2017

During this fourth week, we used the spreadsheets provided to complete nursing and patient acuity assignments in the context of clinically generated evidence-based strategies for mitigating obesity in veterans with PTSD, and important role nurses play in this regard (Church, 2013; Fitzpatrick et al, 2016). There is a greater understanding among the nurses for the need for the intervention model, the reasons for change implementation, pointing to a positive reception and greater support for the evidence-based study (Ellis, 2013).

Finally, we had a discussion with my mentor on the ethical challenges in nursing and how personal values and ethics can impact nursing practice, and the proposed study. We also conducted an extensive research on various nursing databases for peer-reviewed articles on the need for ethical soundness in evidence-based interventions. Generally, the articles point to the need for nurses to be self-aware and have self-knowledge of professional as well as personal values that are key when dealing with ethical situation in practice and study settings (Grove, Burns, & Gray, 2014; LoBiondo-Wood et al, 2013).

Week 5, July 3rd – July 7th, 2017

During the fifth week, the evidenced based study was largely positive. The weekly surveys reported an improvement in nurse satisfaction, and the need to help veterans prevent and reduce cases of obesity. Nurses had a positive response in terms of improved workloads and ability to gain extra time which could further be used for targeted patient education in an effort to not only improve health outcomes for veterans with obesity connected to posttraumatic stress disorder, but also generally improving community health and reduce healthcare cost burden (Fitzpatrick et al, 2016).

During this week’s meeting with my mentor, we conducted a research on strategies employed by WHO for monitoring and combating global health problems, and how the organization is distributing resources to combat the epidemic of obesity in low-income countries. In addition, our search also covered strategies the public health systems is utilizing to combat the rising cases of obesity among veterans, focusing on those veterans with PTSD.

Week 6, July 10th – 14th, 2017

Over the sixth week, the unit experienced a surge in patient visit and an increase in nurse workload. Nonetheless, nurses were generally satisfied with regard to the weekly nurse surveys, despite the increased stress associated with the increase in patient visits, with only a small deep in overall patient education and care. This week’s education was invaluable in terms of highlighting on the need for increased direct nurse delivered patient care in order to meet patient perceptions and expectations, thereby contributing towards improved patient satisfaction, even for VA supported institutions benefiting from Medicaid and/ Medicare reimbursements.

Finally, an important lesson we learned with my mentor was on the role of health policy and its influence on nursing profession. Based on the discussion, there is growing evidence on how evidence-based practice change is increasingly being employed in nursing advocacy for improved outcomes for not only the patients, but also the nurses as well as the overall success of professional nursing (Walker et al., 2015; Ellis, 2016). From our discussions, it was clear that nurses are the majority among healthcare professionals and ought to play active role in influencing health policy, especially due to their close interactions with the patients and a direct awareness of their particular healthcare needs. Through advocacy, nurses can contribute to the healthcare system by influencing better health policy to meet community needs as well as the different cultural needs in society (Blais et al, 2015).

Week 7, [Dates]

During week 7, the nursing acuity model, nursing tasks as well as assignments, and general cohesion of the nursing unit were fairly on point. The weekly surveys reported an improvement in nurse satisfaction, and the need to help veterans prevent and reduce cases of obesity. Targeted patient education was continued at the similar levels from the previous week in an effort to create awareness among the affected patients on the strategies for weight management and control, improved physical exercise patterns towards improved health outcomes for veterans suffering from obesity that springs from posttraumatic stress disorder, but also generally improving community health and reduce healthcare cost burden (Fitzpatrick et al, 2016; Ellis, 2016). New practice approaches were also identified from research related to the management and control of obesity, and informed the content of the patient educational interventional strategy. Some of these included population-based models targeting veterans and multilevel, environmental focus and potential clinical policy change, along with those requiring participation from players in a multiplicity of sectors.

During this week’s meeting with my mentor, we had a constructive discussion on my continuing transition into a more leadership-focused role in the course of the progression of the evidence based change. I received positive remarks on my personal ability and my engaging nature throughout the course of the evidence-based change. Overall, I have more confidence in the educational and guidance strategies aimed at promoting nursing best practices with a view to improve the health status of patients. I believe this EB practice change has been valuable not only to my nursing experience but also to the target population of patients.

Week 8, [Dates]

This week starts the closing weeks for the EB change. A great deal of time was spent on patient educational strategies in an ongoing effort to provide a strong emphasis on the need to promote awareness on technologies that meet self-management goals of obesity and PTSD control and management. Health information technology offers tools that patient may need in the management of illness based on guidance from primary care team (Heart & Kalderon, 2013; Blais et al, 2015).

Week 9, [Dates]

This week marked the closing week for the EB change project. During this, the clinical coordinator managed to attend the meeting with my mentor. We had a constructive discussion on the possibility of continuing with the evidence based practice change after the completion of my nursing course. Thus far, the progress of the EB change has been positive and the mentor and the clinical coordinator were happy with the way it has unfolded to this end, and therefore expect to observe positive health outcomes for veterans specifically, but generally for patients affected by the PTSD-obesity linkages.

Week 10, [Dates]

This final week of the course we were involved in the compilation of clinical observations gathered over the duration of the evidence based practice change. After conducting the statistical analysis on the compiled data, the information was reported on the capstone project. The mentor meeting for this week was largely focused on a review of the clinical evaluation tool for practice immersion. Also, we had a wide-ranging discussion on my future nursing career and professional development goals, upon recognition that professional management of a nursing career is never an accidental event, since it requires planning and support from multiple sources (Coyne, & Chatham, 2015; Blais et al., 2015).

References

Blais, K., Hayes, J. S., Kozier, B., & Erb, G. L. (2015). Professional nursing practice: Concepts

and perspectives (p. 530). Prentice Hall.

Church, D. (2013). Clinical EFT as an evidence-based practice for the treatment of psychological

and physiological conditions. Psychology, 4(08), 645.

Conard, P. L., & Sauls, D. J. (2014, January). Deployment and PTSD in the female combat

veteran: A systematic review. In Nursing forum (Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 1-10).

Coyne, M. L., & Chatham, C. (2015). Advancing and Managing Your Professional Nursing

Career. Role Development in Professional Nursing Practice, 185.

Ellis, P. (2016). Evidence-based practice in nursing. Learning Matters.

Fitzpatrick, S. L., Wischenka, D., Appelhans, B. M., Pbert, L., Wang, M., Wilson, D. K., &

Pagoto, S. L. (2016). An evidence-based guide for obesity treatment in primary care. The

American journal of medicine, 129(1), 115-e1.

Grove, S. K., Burns, N., & Gray, J. (2014). Understanding nursing research: Building an

evidence-based practice. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Heart, T., & Kalderon, E. (2013). Older adults: are they ready to adopt health-related

ICT? International journal of medical informatics, 82(11), e209-e231.

LoBiondo-Wood, G., Haber, J., Berry, C., & Yost, J. (2013). Study Guide for Nursing Research:

Methods and Critical Appraisal for Evidence-based Practice. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Stevens, K. (2013). The impact of evidence-based practice in nursing and the next big ideas. The

Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 18(2).

Walker, D. K., Barton-Burke, M., Saria, M. G., Gosselin, T., Ireland, A., Norton, V., & Newton,

S. (2015). Everyday advocates: nursing advocacy is a full-time job. AJN The American

Journal of Nursing, 115(8), 66-70.

Title of Paper

Student Name

Grand Canyon University

Title of Paper with no bold

New Practices Approach