Module 6

1. What is one new thing you learned in this module, or something that you knew but had forgotten?

One thing new I learned in this module is the “10 tips to secure your laptop”. I was not aware of the steps we can take while traveling or the frequency. I was aware of the WPA2 because that is what is used in my work place. How to save battery life was also a tip I did not know, probably because I haven’t flown lately. Connecting through “Linksys”, I did not realize was a problem. I know several people that connect that way all the time. I will be passing the information along to them to be more careful. I wondered where that name would come from on a connection. Now I know about the “evil twins” and well help others to be aware as well.

Module 5

How did the readings influence your perception of your own clinical decision-making?

After doing the readings, I started to look at the safety measures that were used in the hospital when I worked there. Some of the things that we had to use made a lot of sense. For example when it came to scanning the medication and the patient's ID. But some of the orders and the way they had to be checked seemed more of a burden. Now that I have done the readings it make more sense to orders and procedures standardized. Unfortunately, the setting I now work in is a community setting and has not standardized very much and is still influenced greatly by public opinion. I feel those involved receiving services would benefit much more with standardized orders and procedures.

The nurses I work with are good so that really isn’t the problem. It’s more that they are forced to follow a procedure that is not best practice because of pressure of non-medical personnel and the public opinion. Even if a family member thinks they are the best advocate for their child, it isn’t always in their best interest to do what the family wants because they usually don’t have the medical training. Instead, they have read about it on the Internet. I guess it is safe to say I have a newfound respect for the programs that are used when caring for patients. It’s nice to have these types of programs to back you up and act as a check for clinical decisions.

Module 4

What sort of teaching is done in your professional role? Is there any nursing/health care provider role that does not involve teaching in some manner?

Some days it feels as though all I do is teach in my professional role. I think nurses teach all the time. It is easy to forget that everyone doesn't have the training we have received. As we work with other nurses we have discussions about nursing subjects all the time. When a person that isn't a nurse asks a question I sometimes have to stop and think about what I say so they will be able to understand what I am saying. People seem to always have a question when they find out you are a nurse. It doesn't seem to matter what the specialty is. I don't believe that there is any type of nurse that doesn't do some type of teaching, somewhere, sometime, somehow.

I am working in the community as a district nurse in a school district. I have students that are scared or have questions and I need to stop and talk with them. The scared student can be put at ease when they are taught about what is going on with a cut or sore. Other students have questions about things they have heard. When the students aren't asking questions, I have parents and staff members that have questions. They want to understand something about their health or someone they know. There have been times that I wasn't sure of the answer so I had to quickly study information and they be able to explain it to the one with the question. I have been asked to teach classes from washing hands to maturation. I believe that if I had nothing else to do, I could spend my whole day teaching when it comes to nursing. One thing about being a nurse, I'll probably never stop teaching and never stop learning.

Wiki site: http://editthis.info/nurs_6004_mobile_devices/Main_Page
My post: http://www.drugs.com/pill_identification.html

Module 3

How do you anticipate that this assignment will help you in your graduate coursework? 
This assignment helped me review what I need to do to find the research I am looking for by a few different routes. I still am surprised at how well Endnote works for assisting with this. Since I will need to use various studies when I put together my thesis/synthesis as part of my graduate work, I am go glad there are programs that can assist in the search. I only wish I hadn't had to wait till graduate school to be introduced to this type of a program. When thinking of all the papers I have written in the past, I realize how much more efficient it would have been to have this type of a program. I like that I can do a general search and continue to narrow my search with MeSH terms. I know that I will continue to use these tools even after I graduate as I search to find best practice in evidence based practice.

Module 2

I can become involved in the information system in my workplace by letting the "IT" people know the needs of the nurses. In the past there hasn't been much communication and we end up trying to "make do" with whatever we seem to have. By expressing our needs in a format the can be understood by "IT" people, I think we can have the information systems more friendly to our responsibilities. I realize that if a programmer has not worked in our role they would not understand the problems we would face in using a program that may work great in another area like accounting or teaching.

I need to work to improve communication with all involved and be able to express our needs in a format that is understood by those in the computer world.

Module 1

Hi, my name is Jeri. My graduate area is Psych APRN. I, as a graduate level nurse, need to know about information management because we received a lot of information the we are require to synthesize. We need to have access to the information and be able to call it up as needed. The days are gone when we can ask others to wait a minute while we pull out a book or chart and review the information. In my practice setting, I struggle with other nurses that are just comfortable with opening their email. Trying to move into the digital era can be a challenge. If co-workers don't understand the need using IT, it is difficult to get the needs met for our practice. When others are used to writing everything by hand, they don't always see a need to have it on the computer.