Practicum Time Log and Journal

JOURNAL AND PRACTICUM TIME LOG

Clinical Time Log and Journal

Student Name: 

E-mail Address: 

Practicum Placement Agency's Name:  

Preceptor’s Name:

Preceptor’s Telephone: 

Preceptor’s E-mail Address:

Time Log

Note: Add rows as needed.

Total: Weeks 1-3

Total Weeks 4-7

Total: Weeks 8-11

Total Practicum Hours Completed for Course

WK

Date

Time

# of hour

Learner Objective *Bloom’s Taxonomy

Course Objective

(Walden)

AACN Essential**

Projected Goal

Activities Completed

Status of completion

 1 and 2

 To (understand) - construct meaning from patient’s subjective and objective information to develop an evidence-based patient care plan

 To define emerging and actual problems related to aggregate systems and students’ specializations

 DNP graduates engage in faculty-designed learning experiences that involve both indirect and direct care experiences (AACN, 2021).

 To be able to develop effective treatment plans from patients’ subjective and objective information

 Assessing, diagnosing, and prescribing medication or therapy to address patients’ mental health needs

 Complete

 3 and 4

 To (Apply) - using procedures learned theoretically to address a situation in a practical setting.

 To acquire healthcare management skills at the aggregate, organizational, and systems level

 Students are molded to demonstrate effective student outcomes and competencies required by applicable for organizational, specialty, and national certification

 To be able to put into practice an evidence-based procedure in mental health as a way of addressing patients’ mental health needs

 Engaging patients’ families in the development of treatment plans and administration of medication for maximum mental health outcomes.

 complete

 To analyze existing processes to identify one area of improvement informed by evidence-based practice (analyze)

 To apply leadership skills and knowledge gained in evaluating a healthcare practice within the practicum organization

 Immersion practicum experiences (AACN, 2021)

 To recommend an evidence-based practice to address an identified area of weakness in healthcare management

Identification of the high incidence of medication errors as an area of improvement

Held a series of meetings with the site leader to discuss the problem and medication safety training for staff as a possible evidence-based practice for addressing the same

Complete 

 To evaluate the change process to assess effectiveness and how it fits into the overall mission, structure, and purpose of the organization (evaluate)

 To formulate an intervention to address the healthcare problem or issue based on experience and evidence available

 Simulation learning experiences (AACN, 2021)

 To be able to carry out effective evaluation of current systems at the organizational and aggregate levels as a means to streamline healthcare management

 Met with the organizational leader (CEO) and management team to assess organizational readiness and how well the proposed education intervention fits into the structure and mission

 Completed

 Disseminate the findings for adoption as a best practice (create new knowledge)

 Completion of a scholarly product or project to guide professional practice (AACN, 2021)

 Carried out an individual synthesis of available evidence assessing the effectiveness of staff education

Prepared a presentation for disseminating the gathered evidence to the hospital management team in a bid to obtain site approval to carry out the project

 Completed

Journal

The learner’s objective between weeks 4 and 7 was to use the theoretical knowledge obtained to analyze existing processes and identify an area of improvement guided by evidence-based practice. Reviews of hospital patient records, observation of staff at work, and interviews with the hospital management showed that there was a high incidence of medication errors at the facility. Thus, this was selected as the area of weakness to be addressed using evidence-based practice. In week 5, I met with the hospital CEO (site leader) to discuss the identified problem and possible evidence-based solutions. From the meeting, it became evident that the hospital has standard procedures around medication administration in addition to an alarm notification system that notifies nurses whenever patients are due for medication. I proposed a medication safety education program for staff covering a range of topics around medication administration (Tariq et al., 2022). The next week, I held a meeting with the CEO, medical superintendent, nurse director, and the appointed project mentor to assess the organization’s readiness for the proposed change. The meeting looked at the staff’s confidence, determination, and willingness to implement the change as well as how well the change aligned with the organization’s mission and vision. Upon receiving the team’s go-ahead to gather evidence, I conducted a literature review to assess the effectiveness of education interventions in reducing the incidence of medication errors. From this, I filled out the individual evidence tool outlining the findings and limitations of the reviewed studies, as well as the synthesis process and recommendations tool, which recommended that a medication safety education program was a feasible intervention to address the problem of medication errors (Abukhader & Abukhaer, 2020; Farzi, 2020; Bourne, 2022). This was then summarized in a presentation that was disseminated in the week 7 dissemination meeting to support the proposed project. I believe that the series of meetings with the project team helped me, as a nurse leader, rise above the nursing norm of caring for patients, to a new role of leading inter-disciplinary teams towards innovative change in a practical setting guided by evidence-based practice.