Pursuing a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree in acute care nursing

¶ … Nursing Practice Application at UIC

Since I have been in a high school, my goal is to assist people especially when they are at a desperate moment in their life. I decide to choose a Nursing because it assists me to fulfil goal, which gives a sense of enjoyment and pride to care for patients. Typically, I consider caring for people as my ultimate responsibility because my experience in a nursing profession makes me to understand that my lifelong goal is to become a nursing practitioner. When I joined the nursing school, I got to know that nursing profession was the right profession for me because it gives me the opportunity to care for patients. My study in DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice) will give me the opportunity to provide a nursing education for student nurses, and health education for patients and their families. My interest is to assist in changing health policy backed with an evidence-based practice.

After my study in the DNP, my major aim is to work in the acute care setting to help staff nurses and hospital personnel. I will also like to work very close to Nursing Facilitators to assist in formulating policy for the Nursing profession. By working hospital personnel, I will be able to assist hospitals meeting the quality standards to improve patient safety, and satisfaction. Thus, my accumulated knowledge as a staff nurse and from DNP study will make me to satisfy the patients and nursing staff needs. My accumulated knowledge in nursing will also help to close the gap between provider, nurse and patient.

Attaining my DNP program will help me to provide the best level of care to my patients and make a difference in many lives. The DNP degree will also open up many additional opportunities for me, which will assist to provide care in the acute care setting. Moreover, I will be able to help the next generation nurses by teaching them the nursing theories and applications.

I choose the University of Illinois Nursing Schools because the school will give me an excellent foundation to fulfil a lifetime career in a nurse since the UIC is one of the best Nursing schools in the nation. Moreover, the UIC is the top nursing school in Illinois that commands a great respect and honor. I choose the school because the UIC mission and vision is to transform a healthcare, and educate future leaders from different backgrounds. The UIC's vision is also to be a leader in advancing healthcare, which is of great importance to me. Thus, I choose the UIC because this is where the university commands its respect and honor.

I had my first experience in EBP (evidence-based practice) at St. John's school of nursing, which was stressed in my overall Accelerated BSN. I also had the opportunity to learn the EBP at clinical setting in my Capstone class at St. John's College. Part of my project in the leadership class was to follow the process of an actual research project. The process allowed me to understand the process of recruiting patients with inclusions and exclusions for the stem-cell research. It was an excellent opportunity to witness a research conducted and how the research can turn into EBP.

In September of 2015, I started my role as Pain resource champion for the surgical/trauma / Neuro ICU at Memorial medical center. My role in this position serves as a resource for the unit. I also had the opportunity to interact with nurses, collaborate with providers, and educate patients and families. Each unit in the hospital has a pain champion. The champions meet at least once a month to collaborate and work with the facilitator to implement EBP. My role in the unit is to carry out the Audit charts for proper pain documentation and check if the right interventions are being used. I was also a resource to unit because I delivered pain education on the proper method to follow on pain management.

I am currently working with MMC (Maine Medical Center). My project involves providing patients with hypoglycemia, blood glucose and rechecks within 30 minutes. This project will be finished by March of 2016. I am also working on a TRIP (translation into practice). My TRIP sheet will be over whether prehospital IV insertion lines need to be replaced or not.

I started my Nursing career in a level 1 Trauma/Surgical/Neurological ICU unit. As a staff RN, I came across a wide range of patients. In my nursing career, I have earned the trauma nurse common core certification (TNCC), ACLS, PALS, and NIH stroke scale certified We treat patients with traumatic injuries, burn patients, surgical patients, craniotomy patients, External Ventricular drains, Intra-cranial pressure, patients with major strokes, transplant patients, MI patients, intubated patients, sedated patients, and end of life care patients.

In my role, I work very closely with physicians, residents, Nurse practitioners, Physician assistants, pharmacists and dieticians and an ethics panel. I am extremely lucky that the SIU school of medicine work with our unit. The teaching has stirred my interest in the acute care setting. In the trauma ICU, we give updates and collaborate with other branches of health care to determine the plan of care for the patient.

As a student, I will contribute towards the mission and vision by furthering research and put the EBP into practice. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care ACT research and EBP will be at the fore front of my interest to make healthcare safer, faster and better. Being a leader in the research field will assist the health research to be more relevant. The advanced research will lead to better health policies nationwide and globally. Having a diverse background will help me to identify different cultures and life styles.

Being an alumni from the UIC will provide me a great honor to help educating the next generation of nurses and healthcare providers. Life is changing at all times and I have had some very hard times in my life. One of the biggest challenges in my life was my divorce. This was an extremely hard time in my life making me to get motivated to go back to school, be a nurse and help people in need. Typically, I found school very rewarding, which assisted me to refocus on my life. In the school, I discovered how much I enjoyed going to class to learn and excel compared to when I was in the high school. I also wanted to be the very best role model for my children. I feel that I am already an excellent role model to my kids by being a Grain farmer. Being a nurse also helps to show my kids that being diverse is the best thing, which can assist them doing whatever they want to in life.