NR 509 Week 8 Reflection

Week 8 Reflection on Learning

Chamberlain University College of Nursing NR 509: Advanced Physical Assessment

Program Outcome 1: Delivering Holistic, High-Quality, Safe, Patient-Centered Health Care

How Course Assignments and Activities Help Achieve Program Outcome 1

Teaching future Advanced Practice Nurses (APNs) to deliver holistic, high-quality, safe, patient-centered health care is the primary focus of Chamberlain’s Program Outcome 1. The assignments and activities in NR 509: Advanced Physical Assessment have significantly contributed to my development of profound knowledge and critical thinking skills essential for achieving this outcome.

The NR509 Advanced Physical Assessment course has provided me with a tremendous amount of knowledge in specific disease processes, critical thinking skills on how to assess, diagnose, and treat these diseases, as well as the confidence to effectively provide high-quality and safe patient-centered care. The course began with engaging discussion topics on ethical dilemmas, such as social determinants of health and challenging client encounters. These discussions were both stimulating and challenging, offering insights into how social determinants impact patients' choices, such as how access to education influences health management decisions. I also explored various strategies for effectively communicating with challenging patients, including flirtatious ones, enhancing my ability to navigate complex patient interactions.

By completing the iHuman virtual scenarios required for the course, I can better recognize patients in distress requiring immediate treatment. I am also more familiar with the process of establishing care with a patient, which includes the patient’s history, physical assessment, diagnosis and tests, treatment plan, and follow-up. Familiarity with this process makes it easier to provide safe, patient-centered care because I am ensuring that I do not miss any important symptoms or concerns that my patient might have. Similarly, the weekly group study questions have helped me achieve this program outcome as well. By creating textbook-style questions and answering other peer-written questions, I am expanding my knowledge of specific disease processes. While creating and answering these weekly questions, I am recalling more detailed disease process information that will help me provide higher quality and safer care to my future patients.

The iHuman assignments provided a comprehensive learning experience by combining scenarios with pathophysiology, pharmacology, and physical assessment knowledge. This integration of previous knowledge with advanced assessment skills forms a solid foundation for providing holistic, high-quality, safe, and patient-centered care. These assignments also better prepared me for upcoming practicum courses and for establishing professional relationships with patients I will encounter in my practice.

AACN Essentials Domain 1: Understanding Nursing’s Distinct Perspectives and Shared Views with Other Disciplines

How Course Assignments and Activities Help Achieve an Advanced-Level Nursing Education Competency from AACN Essentials Domain 1

One of the advanced-level nursing education competencies from AACN Essentials Domain 1 is to demonstrate an understanding of the discipline of nursing’s distinct perspectives and where shared views exist with other disciplines. This course has been instrumental in achieving this competency by fostering in-depth critical thinking during patient medical history taking and physical examinations.

The weekly assigned readings and iHuman program scenarios were particularly effective in promoting the application of studied material in practical settings. By expanding on my knowledge from the required textbook readings every week, I am therefore expanding my knowledge base on each disease process, including symptoms, diagnostic tests, treatment, and management. As the weeks continued in the course, the iHuman scenarios became easier to diagnose and treat. This was due to my increasing familiarity with the process of a patient-provider scenario, including how to ask patient history questions, how to perform a proper physical exam, what diagnostic tests are needed, and how to manage and treat specific disease processes.

Moreover, as an advanced practice nurse, it is crucial to be an active participant and leader in influencing healthcare policy-making at local, state, and national levels. This course emphasized the importance of collaboration with other healthcare professionals, including physicians, physician assistants, pharmacologists, and policymakers. Understanding and sharing perspectives with other disciplines, along with providing competent patient care, are essential components of professional practice. The iHuman scenarios have helped enforce my knowledge from the classroom and apply it to real-life scenarios, in which I am then able to provide effective clinical judgment not only on a patient’s diagnosis and treatment options, but also on how to provide the safest and most effective management of their care after their diagnosis as well.

NONPF Independent Practice Competency

How Course Assignments and Activities Help Achieve a NONPF Independent Practice Competency

One National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) Independent Practice Competency is to provide patient-centered care recognizing cultural diversity and the patient or designee as a full partner in decision-making. The assignments, clinical practice guidelines, discussions, and iHuman scenarios in this course encouraged me to take a more active role as a healthcare provider, aligning with this competency.

The week 1 assignment on social determinants of health significantly contributed to my understanding of this competency. In this assignment, I researched Healthy People 2030’s statistics and resources on education access and quality in the United States. After completing the assignment, I had strengthened my knowledge of public school education as well as the disadvantages that lower-income students face and the amount of struggles they face to graduate high school. A large part of providing patient-centered care is ensuring that patients have the proper resources and access to treatment they are prescribed. As a provider, if I do not consider that my patients may not have access to things such as transportation, healthy foods, or sufficient financial resources, then they may not be as compliant in their treatment plan as they would be if they did have access to these things.

Another assignment that helped me achieve this competency was NR 509’s week 4 assignment on client challenges during the interview and physical examination. In this assignment, I created a scenario in which a patient was making flirtatious comments to their provider and provided examples of how a provider would shut these comments down while also maintaining a respectful and professional relationship. Although advances by patients should be discussed and shut down immediately, it is important to still be respectful and try to find out other factors the patient may be experiencing that are causing them to be flirtatious towards the provider. These can include depression, an increase in anxiety or stress, loneliness, and more.

Through this course, I gained advanced physical assessment skills necessary to recognize, treat, and/or refer patients to specialty or higher levels of care based on their medical conditions. The course emphasized the importance of comprehensive patient assessments and history taking to formulate accurate diagnoses and treatment plans grounded in evidence-based practice. The head-to-toe assessment videos were particularly helpful in boosting my confidence in my assessment skills, knowledge, and readiness for my clinical practicum. Additionally, the iHuman program enhanced my ability to take thorough patient histories and generate appropriate diagnoses and treatment plans.

In conclusion, the assignments and activities in NR 509: Advanced Physical Assessment have been instrumental in helping me achieve Program Outcome 1, an advanced-level nursing education competency from AACN Essentials Domain 1, and a NONPF Independent Practice Competency. The knowledge and skills gained through this course have prepared me to deliver holistic, high-quality, safe, patient-centered care and to excel as an independent advanced practice nurse. I am excited to further my knowledge and skills as I continue throughout the Chamberlain MSN/FNP curriculum and am very thankful for my professor and faculty for providing me with resources and support throughout the course.