My understanding of nurses’ contribution to ethical conduct of research and implementation of research findings has changed significantly over the course of the semester. I have learned that there are multiple ways for nurses to contribute to the overall wellness and research of our communities. I did not realize the impact and chance that nurses could have to contribute to research opportunities. This is a valuable part of the profession as it is a major factor driving the future of nursing care and knowledge forward. It is so important because this heavily plays a role on our patient outcomes and the overall health of nurses. I think that it is important for nurses to understand the history and principles of research ethics because it will give them the knowledge of what it actually is and the impact it can have on our patients. This course has allowed me to see the nursing profession in a different light. It has shown me the importance of providing the highest quality care possible and the importance of never settling. Always continue your education no matter your age because there is always something new to learn that could change the trajectory of somebody’s life.
I have learned a lot about the importance of clear communication and expectations, continuing education, and teamwork. I am eager to always be a part of making small contributions to improve the profession for the patients we serve. Reflecting back on the team process, there wasn’t much team in the process. Which I will take 50% of the responsibility for because I did not clearly communicate. I should have been more upfront and honest which is hard for me to do when asking somebody to do something. I feel bad to ask people for help or ask people to pull their weight when they are not. To better myself for the next project I will be honest and set clear expectations for myself and work with my team to set some as well. This way we will all truly be on the same page because they will be written down. Overall, the one thing that was lacking was honest communication.
We discovered through our research that nurse-patient ratios do impact patient outcomes. It is not a black and white answer as there are other variables that have been found to impact positive or negative patient outcomes that go beyond just the ratio. The literature and synthesis did not change my assumptions about the topic. Our findings will impact my future nursing practice as it reflects the importance of self-care before you can take care of others. It was also made apparent that the working environment plays a large role in the outcomes as well. We did arrive to the same conclusions throughout the research process. My relationship with my team member became very difficult as she relied on me to explain exactly what to do every time, towards the end of the project I started to say that she needs to read the directions as well, so she has an understanding of what is going on. It started to reflect negatively in our grades towards the end due to last minute efforts made by team members other than myself.
I have been working in a hospital for 4 years and I have heard next to nothing about research in nursing. I most recently heard about CLABSI rates but other than that barely anything. I think that nurses contribute to ethical conduct of research and implementation of research findings every day. Every patient is a statistic, every nurse and patient interaction is ultimately a statistic in my mind. The data that is collected subconsciously every day may never be used or not for a number of years, however I believe that it is happening every shift. I think data collection is something that happens daily in a hospital. Analysis and compiling that data into something is not necessarily an everyday process. I look forward to learning more about how the skills learned in this course will play a role in my day to day nursing career.
Yes, we did revise our PICOT question. We did not totally alter the topic or anything. It was corrected with wording and better phrasing. This revision helped us when it came time to search for our articles. Our biggest challenge this far was finding articles that are deemed appropriate by Dr. Kramlich. This has been an extremely frustrating and agonizing process but with determination we were able to get through it. We have been communicating and working very efficiently as a team. We have not faced any challenges with each other. The main challenge as stated above was finding the research articles that are deemed appropriated by Dr. Kramlich. The next obstacle was figuring out which rapid appraisal worksheets to use for one of our articles, the other two we did not have any trouble with.
In my opinion there is so much stigma around mental illness due to assumptions around those people being incurably crazy. When there is no difference between a mental illness and cancer or some other type of physical disease. Once we know that someone has a mental illness I think it automatically knocks them down on the ladder and we assume that they are incapable of functioning as a “normal” citizen. The factors that I think contribute to self-stigma are: social media, peers/family members, insecurities, fear of being punished, stereotypes, and lack of support.
Someone’s culture can greatly impact their response and the response of their support system in some very negative ways and in some cases some positive ways. Some negative impacts are vulernability, fear of rejection, lack of resources (money and ways to get help), and having their support system turn their backs on them. On the other hand there can be some very positive impacts, it can bring people together, provide the individual with new supports in their life that they did not have before, and could create new opportunities for them to bring more success to their life. The reaction of those surrounding the individual will play a huge role in how they overcome this hurdle. In my opinion it is a sink or swim situation, if there are positive impacts the person will hopefully be able to find new ways to thrive, with negative impacts this could drag the person down preventing them from living their life to the fullest.
I anticipate this project going well as it appears to be well planned out step by step. I am also working with one of my peers who we have similar working styles and opinions which will shine through with this project. We plan to set goals for each week that we will split the work. For example, I will have task A done by Friday and she will have task B done by Friday to ensure that we are both being held accountable for the workload. For conflict management we will talk things out over the phone beforehand to eliminate this altogether, with such a busy semester approaching there is no time for nonsense. We might encounter some different scheduling needs as she has clinicals on Tuesdays and I have clinicals on Thursdays as well as play a varsity sport here at UNE. With impeccable communication this should not be an issue. We have been talking about this for a while and know our plan. Good communication skills are imperative in nursing. There is nothing more important than communication and I believe that this will not be an issue.
My Wellness Reflection
In order to be a successful nurse you have to take care of yourself before you can take care of your patients. This semester I made two wellness goals to improve self-care. Even though these goals may seem simple to other people, they were hard for me to achieve. It took a lot of discipline and reflection to attain them. At first, I was not remotely in the range of being able to achieve them. Nursing is more than being smart academically, it is more important to be the best you, you can be. If you cannot take care of yourself, you cannot expect to take quality care of your patients.
My Wellness Goals
In the beginning of the semester I came up with two wellness goals that would improve my overall self-care. While there are many goals that I could set for myself, the two that I chose were the ones that could improve my life/self-care in bigger ways.
These goals are important to me because in order to set myself up for success in school and support my overall immune health I needed to improve my sleeping and fluid intake habits, along with recognizing when I need to take a break from studying. When I get frustrated with studying is when I know I have gone too far and should have taken a break sooner. It is important to me that I don’t get frustrated because I will be able to retain more information and be more efficient using my time more effectively. I was successful in attaining my goal of taking more study breaks and being more efficient with my studying however, I was not successful with drinking more water and getting more sleep. While I was studying, I would set timers for 30 minutes or less depending on what I was studying. After each block of time I had to take 10 minutes and drink some water, move, or go on my phone. I tried to set timers for going to bed but that simply just did not happen. Often there are not enough hours in the day to be student athlete and get all my homework done. As for drinking enough water I would make myself drink 2 of my yetis before 12 p.m. and then 3 after 12 p.m. Being in class and not really being able to drink water and then not finding time to fill up my water bottle were the two biggest barriers in me not being able to drink enough water.
Prochaska’s Transtheoretical Model
Prochaska’s Transtheoretical Model is basically people’s willingness to change and readiness to commit to making those desired changes (Behavioral). My willingness to change has slowly declined throughout the semester, because at this point, I am just trying to make it through to the end. It’s sad to say but I don’t care how or what I need to do to make it through as long as my grades are good, and I am alive at the end of it. For next semester I will try to get more rest from the very beginning so that I do not start behind in that aspect of my goals. I want to implement better usage of my planner to be more efficient and effective. When applying this to patient care it is extremely important that I practice what I preach. In order to meet my goals, I will implement more timers, alarms, and better usage of my planner. I will also recognize when I am getting mentally drained. Preventing myself from being mentally over worked will be key to achieving my wellness goals. As I start to get frustrated or annoyed that will be how I know that I am in need of a break. I will also need to put timers on for my breaks because I need to get back into my work in a timely manner before I lose my motivation to actually get the work done.
Conclusion
Throughout the semester this class has made me more aware of my self-care habits. It has really reaffirmed the importance of taking care of myself before I can do my schoolwork and in the future be a good nurse. For next semester I will definitely be more disciplined from the start to make sure that I can be successful in achieving these goals.
Works Cited
Behavioral Change Models. (n.d.). Retrieved November 02, 2020, from https://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/mph-modules/sb/behavioralchangetheories/behavioralchangetheories6.html
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