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.
Category: PICOT
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.
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.
