Reflection on Clinical Practicum / Project Experience
Reflect on an experience related to your clinical practicum or project. Discuss the experience with your classmates. Use Gibbs’ Reflective Model to frame your discussion.
Include in your post:
- Description of the experience
- Feelings and thoughts about the experience
- Evaluation – how well you think things went
- Analysis – what may have helped or hindered
- Conclusion – what you learned from the experience
- Action Plan – Sum up anything you need to know and do to improve next time
Sample Paper
Reflection on Clinical Practicum / Project Experience
Description
My reflection relates to the first week of my practicum, which involves determining the importance of nurse leaders in quality improvement projects. The central goals of my practicum are to enhance the involvement of nurse leaders in quality improvement projects involving falls, to educate nurses on quality improvement strategies that can help in the reduction of falls in a long-term care unit, to enhance safety communication among nurses, and to contribute to the reduction of falls in a long-term care unit. The different individuals who were involved in my first-week practicum experience included my preceptor, unit managers, life enhancement leaders, quality improvement director, professional development leaders, and nurses working in the long-term care units.
Feelings
During the first week of my practicum, I felt excited to meet my preceptor and discuss various ideas I had related to my project. After meeting my preceptor, I was able to observe her experience and significant resourcefulness in understanding my problem of interest. Having worked in the facility for an extended period of time, my preceptor was able to provide me with good ideas and valuable input on how to go about implementing my quality improvement project. During the first week of the practicum, I was also excited to meet different nurse leaders in quality improvement meetings and ask them for their support in my improvement project. The only negative feeling I had during the first week of my practicum was related to the restrictions brought about by covid-19, which made it difficult for me to meet some nursing staff and leaders and to access some units in the long-term care facility.
Evaluation
In the first week of my practicum, I generally believe that things went well because I had a successful meeting with my preceptor and was able to gain a lot of insight and guidance and leverage her significant experience in the long-term care unit. Attending quality improvement meetings was also another positive experience in the first week of my practicum. This meeting helped me to understand the different safety issues in the long-term care units and come up with a clear area of focus. In my first week, all people, including my preceptor, nurse leaders, and nurses in the long-term care units that I visited, were welcoming and willing to collaborate with me in my improvement project.
Analysis
In the first week of my practicum, I believe that the closures as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic significantly hindered my project because I was not able to meet essential contributors to my project, and some units in the long-term care facility were closed down. However, having adequate communication skills and having a good mentor assisted me significantly in making progress in my quality improvement projects related to falls. My preceptor provided good mentorship, including asking me to attend quality improvement meetings involving various leaders in the long-term care units and establishing a good rapport with the leaders for future cooperation.
Conclusion
Considering the first week of my practicum experience, I believe that I could have responded effectively to challenges related to the lockdowns brought about by Covid 19 by utilizing technology. By using technology, I would have been able to meet with different individuals that could be important to my quality improvement project remotely. In the first week of my practicum, I have learned that it’s crucial to involve an interdisciplinary team in implementing a quality improvement project.
Action Plan
In the following weeks of my practicum, I will need to use more technology to reach out to essential individuals that can contribute to my quality improvement project involving falls. This can include relying on teleconferencing tools to ensure that my project is not affected by any disruptions brought about by the Covid19 pandemic.
