Reflective Journal Entry- Week 15

1. Share what you had expected to learn about the topic before beginning the unit.

This week I expected to learn about patient safety measures and ways that as a nurse I would be able to better these standards and apply them into my daily practice. I also expected to learn about the different patient safety measures that may need improvement based of current research. 

2. What you actually learned from the unit.

After completing the assignments and discussions for this week I feel that I learned exactly what I expected to learn plus more. I learned about patient safety measures, what safety measure need to be improved based off of current research and I was able to learn more about other aspects of patient safety such as the psychological safety that patients deserve but is often looked over. 

3. Discuss your feelings/experiences from the activities (individual and team)?

I enjoyed the activities that were provided this week. I think the discussion was beneficial because I was able to better learn what other nurses would do in the same situation which gave me ideas of better or different ways to think of a situation. I also enjoyed the literature search because it was something we have not done a lot this semester and was beneficial because I was able to research something that I enjoyed and applied to my current job. Last, as usual, I enjoyed the case study because it presented a different side of patient safety and care that I had not been exposed to and gave the time for me to think about the different steps I might have taken in that situation. 

4. How you will utilize the information learned in your nursing practice.

I will utilize the information that I have learned to week by remembering the different aspects of patient safety that I need to work on so that the patients that I care for on a daily basis will get better care. This will also allow me to give better care to the patients families. The case studies that were done this week have also given me the chance to go through a type of situation I might have to deal with so I already know how I want to react without the pressure of being in a stressful moment. 

5. You personal feelings about the material covered.

I feel that this information that was covered is very important to nursing practice and care. In my opinion it is one of the most important aspects of what we do as nurses. However, I got opened up to a lot of new aspects of patient safety that I did not know about before, specifically from the case study, that helped me to better my nursing practice. 

Reflective Journal Entry- Week 13

1. Share what you had expected to learn about the topic before beginning the unit.

After looking at the title of this unit I expected to learn about how to make our patients feel safe while caring for them in an unsettling environment. I also expected to learn about how certain steps to take in order to create an environment of safety with the families of patients while they are worried about their family member.

2. What you actually learned from the unit.

I learned exactly what I expected to learn from this unit. I was able to learn the best ways to create a safe environment for patients by being a patient advocate and educating myself as a nurse to always be up to date on the most current practices in healthcare. Being educated and being willing to be a patient advocate will give my patients the safety that they deserve while I am caring for them. 

3. Discuss your feelings/experiences from the activities (individual and team)?

I enjoyed the activities that we did this week in the module. I have been enjoying the case study's that we have been doing the past couple of weeks because it gives me the opportunity to apply the things that I have learned into things that I may face in my career. I also enjoyed thinking through how to gain information when it is not directly given to you. 

4. How you will utilize the information learned in your nursing practice.

I can utilize the information that I learned this week on a daily basis because it is important to create a culture of safety for every single patient you care for on a daily basis. I can use the information that I learned by making sure that I am always asking questions so that I am knowledgeable about my patients situation and so I can educate the patient as well. 

5. You personal feelings about the material covered.

I enjoyed the information that we talked about this week because I feel like it is very applicable to every nurse no matter what stage of your career that you are at. I also feel like this is one aspect of nursing care that makes a nurse great compared to average in the eyes of the patient. The safer the patient feels the faster they recover and the more likely they will trust the healthcare workers that are caring for them. 

Reflective Journal- Week 12

1. Share what you had expected to learn about the topic before beginning the unit.

Before beginning the assignments for this unit I expected to learn more about common errors and mistakes that occur in the healthcare field. I also expected to learn about ways that these errors and mistakes can be prevented or worked on in order to improve the healthcare field. 

2. What you actually learned from the unit.

After completing all of the assignments for this unit I feel that I learned exactly what I expected to learn at the beginning of the unit. I learned about different errors that occur in the healthcare field and the steps that are taken in order handle these errors and prevent these errors from occurring again. 

3. Discuss your feelings/experiences from the activities (individual and team)?

I feel that all of the activities for this week were relevant to the topic of the unit. It also helped me to can even further education and knowledge on the topic because we worked with the same case study throughout the majority of the assignments. I liked being able to continue to learn more about the case study and how to prevent and improve those methods that were missed by those healthcare workers. 

4. How you will utilize the information learned in your nursing practice.

I will utilize this information by being more aware of those common errors and near misses. I will also use the information that I have learned to motivate myself to continue with evidence based practice and keep up to date with research, policies and procedures of the facilities that I work at. 

5. You personal feelings about the material covered.

I feel that the information that was covered this week was extremely important because it is a huge topic within healthcare and is something that is always needing improving. I feel like this topic could be continued for more units because I feel like there is so much to learn. 

Reflective Journal Entry- Week 11

1. Share what you had expected to learn about the topic before beginning the unit.

This week I expected to learn more about how to create a culture of safety for the patients I am caring for currently, as well as, how to create this culture as a manger of a hospital unit.

2. What you actually learned from the unit.

After completing this unit I better learned how to create a culture of safety and what that entails. I learned that there are multiple ways to accomplish this and that this will better the quality of care that each patient receives during their stay at the hospital. 

3. Discuss your feelings/experiences from the activities (individual and team)?

I enjoyed the activities this week, especially the case study because it was good to see this type of safety issue be realized in a real life situation. This was a good learning exercise for me to better learn how these issues could be solved and the best way to go about solving them. I also enjoyed the discussion because this is a common thing that happens in the workplace where there are not enough workers for patients due to nurses being sick. I liked coming up with ideas on my own and reading the opinions of my teammates. This is something that could be easily fixed as long as there are certain policies and procedures in place. 

4. How you will utilize the information learned in your nursing practice.

I will utilize this information by making sure that I always have patient centered care and am using teamwork in order to prevent unsafe things from happening to my patients. I feel like these two components are most important for me to implement into my nursing practice for me to provide a culture of safety for my patients that I currently care for. 

5. You personal feelings about the material covered.

I really enjoyed the material that was covered this week. I think the real life case study really helped me to better grasp the concepts that we needed to learn and helped me to realize how I can apply things into my nursing practice. Creating a culture of safety for our patients is really important so that the patients can focus on recovering and not worry about being safe during their hospital stay.