Nurses play a vital role during and before a disaster. It is important for nurses as well as the community to be prepared for any disaster that may come. Nurses can educate the community about disaster preparedness and what people can do to prevent a disaster from happening but also what to do and where to go if a disaster should happen. Nurses can provide immunizations against diseases that may spread throughout a community in order to prevent pandemics such…
Since completing this project, I learned a lot about the importance of accurate documentation of intake and output, especially for cardiac patients. I thought a lot about different barriers and situations that nurses can run into throughout their shift that could cause inaccurate documentation of intake and output. Barriers such as people bringing drinks to patients without documenting, patients using the restroom without notifying the nurse or forgetting how much fluid a patient got when sitting down to document it. As a team we thought about…
The COVID-19 pandemic was a physical virus that strayed the focus from mental health even though due to the financial stress, caregiver role strain, isolation and anxiety surrounding spreading the virus allowed for increased mental illness throughout the population. As nurses it is important to recognize signs of mental illness not only in their patients but in themselves as well to ensure they are not developing caregiver role strain or other mental health problems. It is also important to focus…
During one of my clinicals with UNE, I was working at Maine Medical Center caring for an older gentleman who was no longer in need of hospital care but had no other place to go. Due to the fact that our unit was considered an outbreak unit because of a positive case of COVID-19, there was no assisted living or other healthcare facility that would take him. He had tested negative and was fully vaccinated for COVID-19 yet was still…
Death with dignity has been a controversial topic since I remember hearing about it for the first time in high school. At the time it didn’t make much sense to me because I thought “why would someone want to know when they are going to die?” However, as I have learned more about it through this class, it has become clear to me that death with dignity is the best gift that can be given to a person with a…
For our project, my group decided to focus on the importance of accurately documenting intake and output. Since our clinical rotation this semester was on a cardiac floor, this issue was especially prevalent due to the number of patients who were admitted because of a heart failure exacerbation and/or were being diuresed because of a fluid volume overload. We noticed that this was an issue based on the key performance indicator posted on the bulletin board in the break room…
My personal preconceived thoughts about the use of electronic health records in nursing is that it makes it easier to communicate with other healthcare providers because everyone on the patients’ healthcare team is able to see the information right in front of them. Electronic health records also make it easier on the patient as they are also able to look at their health records and be more involved in their plan of care. It makes it easier on health care…
Exposure to trauma impacts not only the mental well-being of a person, but the physical, spiritual, environmental and social well-being as well. A patient who experienced trauma may exhibit physical symptoms such as GI symptoms (most common in children), headaches, respiratory symptoms, cardiac issues, inability to sleep and decreased immunity on top of the psychological response of increased anxiety, depression, and inability to focus. Trauma may distance a person from their spirituality and their social competence may decrease. The patient…
Public Health Nursing is integrated into all nursing. It involves thinking about the health of the entire population, how to prevent disease and promote wellness throughout the entire community, not just one patient. However, some factors can become a barrier to the success of public health. These factors include individual factors such as financial stability, environmental factors such as location, and societal factors such as stigma which all effect the success of overall community health. The ability to be able…
This team dissemination project will be accomplished through teamwork, communication and participation by each team member in the group. This may be difficult because there are a larger number of people in the group, all with different schedules and different thoughts/opinions. The amount of people in the group could also be a benefit towards our project because the more people working on a project, the less stress each team member has to endure as long as everyone in the group…
