Topic 15: Final Evaluation and Reflection on The Practicum Experience (PAPER)

Topic 15: Final Evaluation and Reflection on the Practicum Experience

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Topic 15: Final Evaluation and Reflection on the Practicum Experience

Nurse leadership is the ability to motivate, influence, and inspire health care providers as they work collaboratively to achieve their goals. Nursing leaders influence healthcare organizations at all levels and in every healthcare setting and discipline. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate my leadership practicum project, including its aim, needs, barriers, success, and related personal goals and AONE competencies.

Leadership Project

The leadership practicum project is to facilitate a team-building activity to boost camaraderie, strengthen work relationships, and foster a positive and healthy environment for nurses. The team-building activity was conducted through simulation training, a commonly employed approach for strengthening teamwork in organizations and improving employees’ outcomes (Buljac-Samardzic et al., 2020). The project’s focus is to enhance work relationships among nurses, and as a result, nurses will learn to respect each other. In addition, the project seeks to foster a healthy working environment for nurses, which will significantly reduce nurse burnout, increase nurses’ motivation and productivity, increase staff retention, and lower staff turnover.

During the practicum experience, I realized the importance of teamwork in nursing and healthcare. I learned that teamwork comprises various interactive and coordinated behavioral processes among team members. These processes convert the team’s inputs into outcomes like team performance and satisfaction of the team members (McEwan et al., 2018). Furthermore, I gathered that teamwork is linked to basic variables of team effectiveness, like group solidarity, team performance, collective efficacy, and team members’ satisfaction (Dyer et al., 2019). In addition, I learned that leaders who work on improving team performance in their organizations focus more on the team members’ behaviors, including the behaviors that are apparent before or during preparation for team task performance, during the execution of the task, and following execution of the task.

The project was implemented at Seattle VA Medical Center. Nurses in the facility were grouped into teams and carried out several teamwork activities to improve their interpersonal communication and coordination skills. The training was conducted in an environment mimicking the actual clinical care setting. It was a three-day training to allow all nurses in the hospital to participate in their off-days, which led to a high turnout of 78 nurses.

Project Needs

The project on implementing a team-building activity was driven by the need for nurses in the hospital to work effectively in teams. We realized that the hospital having a group of qualified nursing professionals is not enough to be successful. The nursing team needs to work effectively to attain the organization’s goals and vision. Nurses in the organization had poor teamwork, which significantly affected patients, staff, and organizational outcomes. Rosen et al. (2018) explain that failures in nursing teamwork led to a high incidence of preventable patient harm, compromised quality of nursing care, nurses’ fatigue, burnout, and turnover.

Measuring Project Outcomes

The project’s outcomes will be measured by assessing the organization’s nurses’ retention rate and turnover rate, which will establish the goal of creating a positive and healthy working environment, was achieved. After implementation of the team-building activity, the organization will establish how many nurses leave the organization and those that leave due to poor job satisfaction and lack of motivation (McEwan et al., 2018). The numbers will be compared in the previous years to determine if the project successfully achieved its intended outcomes. Furthermore, a survey will be done three and six months after project implementation to assess nurses’ perception of how the team-building activity has improved interactions among nurses and collaboration.

The project is sustainable since the simulation training activity will equip nurses with knowledge and skills, which will change their attitude on team-building. Nurses will employ the knowledge and skills in the long term throughout their professional practice. Besides, nurses will pass the knowledge to new grad nurses on creating and maintaining strong nursing teams, which makes the project sustainable (Buljac-Samardzic et al., 2020). Nurses who can effectively work in teams can collaborate with other healthcare professionals, leading to strong interdisciplinary healthcare teams in the organization, resulting in better patient outcomes.

Barriers to the Project

Various actual and potential barriers were encountered during the practicum project in relation to the leadership project. I experienced some resistance from some nurses in participating in the team-building activity since they felt it would not significantly address major issues like nurse fatigue, burnout, and nursing shortage. The resistance could have hindered the achievement of the project’s goals and prevented nurses from benefiting from simulation training activity (Connolly et al., 2021). Nevertheless, I addressed the issue by explaining that the team-building activity will equip nurses with team-building skills, enabling them to foster a positive and healthy environment. This will, in return, improve nurses’ morale and job satisfaction resulting in increased retention and ultimately alleviating the nursing shortage and the fatigue and burnout caused by high workloads.

I encountered financial challenges since the project needed funding for the training activity, including purchasing and hiring equipment and materials. I addressed the issue by communicating to the hospital’s leadership team and explained the project’s significance in creating a healthy working environment for nurses. The team was impressed with the project and helped with funding the training since it would have a positive financial impact on the organization through reduced nurse turnover rates.

Topic 15 Final Evaluation and Reflection on The Practicum Experience (PAPER)

The potential barriers I encountered concerning the practicum project include having some nurses perceive their roles in the simulation scenario were inadequate. If some nurses perceive that they are bystanders in the simulation training activities, they would have thought that their standpoints are not valued similarly to other team members. Nonetheless, I mitigated this barrier by ensuring inclusiveness, which is vital in creating an environment where all the nurses participated in the simulation activities (Connolly et al., 2021). As a result, the participating nurses took interpersonal risks like discussing their weaknesses and expressing themselves. Another potential barrier was the inexperience among nurses in simulation training, which could have hindered attaining the expected outcome (Connolly et al., 2021). However, I addressed the barrier through pre-simulation briefing and orientation, which ensured that the nurses were well-versed with how the simulation training would progress.

The success of the project

The team-building activity was successfully implemented through a simulation training activity. According to the responses in the pretest questionnaire, nurses reported that they lacked effective communication skills and collaborative care coordination, which affected teamwork among nurses. Besides, nurses reported that when working in teams, they were not encouraged to share ideas or concerns, ask questions, and discuss probable solutions to patient care. Also, the strengths and skills of each team member were not adequately utilized to promote a favorable patient care experience and workplace satisfaction for nurses. Nurses acknowledged that the failures in teamwork had adversely impacted patient outcomes due to ineffective coordination of care.

During the simulation training, nurses actively participated in the activities. They showed enthusiasm in training by answering questions, giving examples of how teamwork can be employed to improve the delivery of patient care, and suggesting ideas on how they can improve teamwork. By the end of the training, nurses demonstrated an adequate understanding of teamwork skills, including communication, listening, rapport-building, conflict resolution, problem-solving, respectfulness, and tolerance. In the post-test questionnaire, nurses acknowledged the importance of having all team members conversant about the role and responsibilities of other team members and their degree of accountability at the unit and organizational level. Nurses also reported that they had gained immense knowledge on creating effective teams in the clinical setting and would employ the skills when working with their colleagues.

The project’s next steps are to assess how nurses will implement the knowledge and skills gained during the team-building activity in the patient care setting. In addition, I will approach the organization’s leadership and propose to have another team-building activity for other healthcare professionals in the hospital like physicians, pharmacists, radiologists, and support staff. This will create an even better working environment for all employees resulting in increased job satisfaction and improved output.

Goals and AONE Competencies

My goals for the practicum experience and project were to improve my leadership skills and ability to identify and address a practice problem using evidence-based approaches. I sought to improve my decision-making skills and make healthcare decisions backed by research and empirical science. In addition, I aimed to polish my collaborative and team-building skills through the project since effective leadership entails building good working relationships, identifying a common purpose with team members, and mutually working together. Besides, I aimed to implement a sustainable project that would impact patients, employees, and the organization.

I hoped to achieve the AONE competencies in the domains of communication and relationship building, and leadership. Under communication and relationship building, I hoped to improve my communication skills and build collaborative relationships. I also aimed to encourage consensus building and foster a trusting working environment in the organization (Waxman et al., 2018). In the leadership domain, I hoped to adapt my leadership style to the situational needs and act as a change leader. Besides, I hoped to apply my knowledge of traditional and modern systems thinking in decision-making and problem-solving. I also anticipated applying visionary thinking to issues affecting the practicum setting and promoting nursing leadership.

Project Experience Related To the Goals and AONE Competencies

The practicum project experience helped me achieve the goals and AONE competencies. My preceptor has exemplary leadership skills, and she mentored me during the practicum, which helped me polish my leadership skills in communication and decision-making. I improved my collaborative and team-building skills when working with nurses in the project since I had to communicate regularly, build rapport with the nurses, make fast decisions, persuade nurses to participate in the training, and plan the project implementation. In addition, I implemented a sustainable project on team-building activity for nurses to positively impact patients’ outcomes, nurses’ work experience, and the organization through increased profits and reduced employee turnover. I applied visionary thinking by implementing a project that will have a long-term impact on the organization and help it achieve its vision.

Topic 15: Final Evaluation and Reflection on The Practicum Experience (PAPER) Conclusion

The practicum project was a team-building activity aimed at boosting camaraderie, strengthening work relationships, and fostering a positive and healthy environment for nurses. The project was implemented through simulation training, where nurses were trained on teamwork skills at Seattle VA Medical Center. It was a success since nurses reported gaining skills they would apply to create a stronger team in the patient care setting. The project helped me achieve AONE competencies in leadership, communication, and relationship building.

Topic 15: Final Evaluation and Reflection on The Practicum Experience (PAPER) References

Buljac-Samardzic, M., Doekhie, K. D., & van Wijngaarden, J. D. (2020). Interventions to improve team effectiveness within health care: a systematic review of the past decade. Human resources for health, 18(1), 1-42. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-019-0411-3

Connolly, F., De Brún, A., & McAuliffe, E. (2021). A narrative synthesis of learners’ experiences of barriers and facilitators related to effective interprofessional simulation. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/13561820.2021.1880381

Dyer, J. D., Morgan, M. C., Cohen, S., Ghosh, R., Raney, J., Spindler, H., … & Medvedev, M. (2019). Does teamwork and communication improve with simulation training? An evaluation of simulation training videos in Bihar, India. East Afr J Appl Health Monitor, 3, 1-10.Rosen, M. A., DiazGranados, D., Dietz, A. S., Benishek, L. E., Thompson, D., Pronovost, P. J., & Weaver, S. J. (2018). Teamwork in healthcare: Key discoveries enabling safer, high-quality care. The American psychologist, 73(4), 433–450. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000298

McEwan, D., Ruissen, G. R., Eys, M. A., Zumbo, B. D., & Beauchamp, M. R. (2018). The Effectiveness of Teamwork Training on Teamwork Behaviors and Team Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Controlled Interventions. PloS one, 12(1), e0169604. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169604

Rosen, M. A., DiazGranados, D., Dietz, A. S., Benishek, L. E., Thompson, D., Pronovost, P. J., & Weaver, S. J. (2018). Teamwork in healthcare: Key discoveries enabling safer, high-quality care. The American psychologist, 73(4), 433–450. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000298

Waxman, K. T., Roussel, L., Herrin-Griffith, D., & D’Alfonso, J. (2018). The AONE nurse executive competencies: 12 years later. Nurse Leader, 15(2), 120-126.

Lopes Write Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.

Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.

Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?

Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.

Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.

If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.

I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.

As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

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Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:

Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.

Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
Include in-text citations in your response
Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
Follow APA-7th edition
Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
Follow APA 7th edition
Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
Here are some helpful links
Student paper example
Citing Sources
The Writing Center is a great resource

As we begin this session, I would like to take this opportunity to clarify my expectations for this course:

Please note that GCU Online weeks run from Thursday (Day 1) through Wednesday (Day 7).

Course Room Etiquette:

It is my expectation that all learners will respect the thoughts and ideas presented in the discussions.
All postings should be presented in a respectful, professional manner. Remember – different points of view add richness and depth to the course!

Office Hours:

My office hours vary so feel free to shoot me an email at Kelly.[email protected] or my office phone is 602.639.6517 and I will get back to you within one business day or as soon as possible.
Phone appointments can be scheduled as well. Send me an email and the best time to call you, along with your phone number to make an appointment.
I welcome all inquiries and questions as we spend this term together. My preference is that everyone utilizes the Questions to Instructor forum. In the event your question is of a personal nature, please feel free to post in the Individual Questions for Instructor forum I will respond to all posts or emails within 24 or sooner.

Late Policy and Grading Policy

Discussion questions:

I do not mark off for late DQ’s.
I would rather you take the time to read the materials and respond to the DQ’s in a scholarly way, demonstrating your understanding of the materials.
I will not accept any DQ submissions after day 7, 11:59 PM (AZ Time) of the week.
Individual written assignments – due by 11:59 PM AZ Time Zone on the due dates indicated for each class deliverable.

Assignments:

Assignments turned in after their specified due dates are subject to a late penalty of -10%, each day late, of the available credit. Please refer to the student academic handbook and GCU policy.
Any activity or assignment submitted after the due date will be subject to GCU’s late policy
Extenuating circumstances may justify exceptions, which are at my sole discretion. If an extenuating circumstance should arise, please contact me privately as soon as possible.
No assignments can be accepted for grading after midnight on the final day of class.
All assignments will be graded in accordance with the Assignment Grading Rubrics

Participation

Participation in each week’s Discussion Board forum accounts for a large percentage of your final grade in this course.
Please review the Course Syllabus for a comprehensive overview of course deliverables and the value associated with each.
It is my expectation that each of you will substantially contribute to the course discussion forums and respond to the posts of at least three other learners.
A substantive post should be at least 200 words. Responses such as “great posts” or “I agree” do not meet the active engagement expectation.
Please feel free to draw on personal examples as you develop your responses to the Discussion Questions but you do need to demonstrate your understanding of the materials.
I do expect outside sources as well as class materials to formulate your post.
APA format is not necessary for DQ responses, but I do expect a proper citation for references.
Please use peer-related journals found through the GCU library and/or class materials to formulate your answers. Do not try to “Google” DQ’s as I am looking for class materials and examples from the weekly materials.
I will not accept responses that are from Wikipedia, Business dictionary.com, or other popular business websites. You will not receive credit for generic web searches – this does not demonstrate graduate-level research.
Stay away from the use of personal pronouns when writing. As a graduate student, you are expected to write based on research and gathering of facts. Demonstrating your understanding of the materials is what you will be graded on. You will be marked down for lack of evidence to support your ideas.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of claiming credit for another’s work, accomplishments, or ideas without appropriate acknowledgment of the source of the information by including in-text citations and references.
This course requires the utilization of APA format for all course deliverables as noted in the course syllabus.
Whether this happens deliberately or inadvertently, whenever plagiarism has occurred, you have committed a Code of Conduct violation.
Please review your LopesWrite report prior to final submission.
Every act of plagiarism, no matter the severity, must be reported to the GCU administration (this includes your DQ’s, posts to your peers, and your papers).

Plagiarism includes:

Representing the ideas, expressions, or materials of another without due credit.
Paraphrasing or condensing ideas from another person’s work without proper citation and referencing.
Failing to document direct quotations without proper citation and referencing.
Depending upon the amount, severity, and frequency of the plagiarism that is committed, students may receive in-class penalties that range from coaching (for a minor omission), -20% grade penalties for resubmission, or zero credit for a specific assignment. University-level penalties may also occur, including suspension or even expulsion from the University.
If you are at all uncertain about what constitutes plagiarism, you should review the resources available in the Student Success Center. Also, please review the University’s policies about plagiarism which are covered in more detail in the GCU Catalog and the Student Handbook.
We will be utilizing the GCU APA Style Guide 7th edition located in the Student Success Center > The Writing Center for all course deliverables.

LopesWrite

All course assignments must be uploaded to the specific Module Assignment Drop Box, and also submitted to LopesWrite every week.
Please ensure that your assignment is uploaded to both locations under the Assignments DropBox. Detailed instructions for using LopesWrite are located in the Student Success Center.

Assignment Submissions

Please note that Microsoft Office is the software requirement at GCU.
I can open Word files or any file that is saved with a .rtf (Rich Text Format) extension. I am unable to open .wps files.
If you are using a “.wps” word processor, please save your files using the .rtf extension that is available from the drop-down box before uploading your files to the Assignment Drop Box.

Grade of Incomplete

The final grade of Incomplete is granted at the discretion of the instructor; however, students must meet certain specific criteria before this grade accommodation is even possible to consider.
The grade of Incomplete is reserved for times when students experience a serious extenuating circumstance or a crisis during the last week of class which prevents the completion of course requirements before the close of the grading period. Students also must pass the course at the time the request is made.
Please contact me personally if you are having difficulties in meeting course requirements or class deadlines during our time together. In addition, if you are experiencing personal challenges or difficulties, it is best to contact the Academic Counselor so that you can discuss the options that might be available to you, as well as each option’s academic and financial repercussions.

Grade Disputes

If you have any questions about a grade you have earned on an individual assignment or activity, please get in touch with me personally for further clarification.
While I have made every attempt to grade you fairly, on occasion a misunderstanding may occur, so please allow me the opportunity to learn your perspective if you believe this has occurred. Together, we should be able to resolve grading issues on individual assignments.
However, after we have discussed individual assignments’ point scores, if you still believe that the final grade you have earned at the end of the course is not commensurate with the quality of work you produced for this class, there is a formal Grade Grievance procedure which is outlined in the GCU Catalog and Student Handbook.