NSG 316 - Professional Nursing Practice for the Baccalaureate Nurse

I began my first online course in the Summer I session of 2015 and was my first classroom experience in over ten years. The initial course, Professional Practice of the Baccalaureate Nurse, provided insight into the nursing profession that I had not been exposed to in many years. My career until that point focused on building and educating in the cath lab and helping the growing needs of the department. Nursing 316 helped me to see how my own practice was suffering as a result of not staying abreast of current trends for nursing and the demands of a changing system on nursing for the future. Our assignments made me understand more about what kind of nurse I am and want to be down the road. I gained the most insight from the required readings by the ANA, Institute of Medicine (IOM), and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) as I had not been exposed to these groups and their agendas in my current position. The course helped me to solidify my belief in continuing education for myself and others to improve practice standards.

NSG 321 – Introduction to Health Assessment

I was impacted by Gerontological Nursing and End of Life Care more than I realized. Looking back on this class, I was able to solidify my thoughts and feelings for end of life care though a discussion board assignment. I have always looked at end of life care as an exceptional opportunity to serve my patient and their families. End of life for me is a transition to death and knowing that families each approach it very differently. My style to end of life nursing is no longer is geared towards healing the patient but assisting the families to transition towards accepting the patient’s death. Everyone must be on the same page and working towards the same goal. My focus becomes more about the patient’s comfort and the family being able to not only say goodbye but what the patient and family can expect over the next days, hours, and sometimes minutes before death. Many of my fellow classmates have the same thought process.

I was also impacted by the presence of elder abuse. I did not realize the prevalence of the abuse and through discussion my eyes were opened, wide. I learned about the signs of elder abuse and immediately changed the way I assessed my patients to include asking questions about potential abuse. I realized the increase in prevalence could be related to the elderly being cared for by their children in their homes and how that places stress on everyone, especially the older children that are caring for their parents and younger children. This never excuses any type of abuse but made me realize to look towards these families when I am completing an admission assessment and question them a bit more intensely.

Another element of this course that has changed my nursing practice is the gerontology assessment. One piece of the assessment that I incorporated is the functional assessment. It is important to remember what the patient was able to perform at home prior to any hospital admission. This is helpful when planning for needs out of the hospital and when considering services that will be needed after discharge.

NSG 323 - Introduction to Health Assessment

NSG 404 - Health Policy

NSG 406 - Leadership and Management in Nursing

NSG 415 - Research in Nursing

NSG 480 - Transcultural Health Care (If you took a different elective that that elective here)

NSG 482 - Pathophysiological and Pharmacological Evidence Based Care

NSG 408 - Population and Community Health Nursing

NSG 484 - Professional Nursing Capstone