Journaling provides a valuable tool for recording, reflecting on, and reviewing your learning. This approach provides an opportunity for you to \”connect the dots\” and observe the relationships between and among activities, interactions, and outcomes.
Unlike a personal journal of thoughts and feelings, this leadership journal is a record of your activities, assessments, and learning related to this academic experience.
Journal entries should include a record of the number of hours spent with your nurse leader each week.
Write a journal entry of 750-1,500 words on the subject of provision, including the following:
Practicum Activities Reflection: Provide observations and thoughts on the activities in your practicum during Weeks 8 & 9.
Application of Leadership: Describe how your nurse leader/preceptor uses quality improvement indicators in their leadership role. How does this impact patient outcomes? What impact does this have on the organization?
Practicum Project Preparation: Describe any potential and/or actual barriers you have encountered as you prepared for project implementation. If you have not encountered any, what could present a barrier in the future? How do you plan to approach and overcome or handle these barriers?
Leadership Video Reflection: Reflect on at least two things you learned from the \”Servant Leadership – Issue of Headship\” video.
Use the \”Leadership Journal Template\” to complete this assignment.
APA style is not required, but solid academic writing is expected.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.
Leadership Journal
Name:
Weeks Covering:
Preceptor/Mentor:
Clinical/Practicum Site:
Hours Worked (past 2 weeks):___
Total Hours: ____/150 total of all hours worked up to this point
Practicum Activities Reflection:
Reflecting on practicum activities each week enables nursing students to evaluate their understanding of the concepts covered and to identify their strengths and weaknesses. The practicum activities covered during weeks 8 and 9 generated insights into the role of the nurse leader in facilitating quality improvement initiatives within a practice setting. I have managed to spend 25 hours completing practicum activities with the guidance of my preceptor. An important lesson learned from the experiences is the nurse leader of the facility spent much of her time ensuring the successful implementation of quality improvement programs. The practicum site recorded an increase in admission of elderly patients with joint-related issues. The nurse leader was charged with the responsibility of overseeing the renovation of the older adults’ ward to prevent patients from falling. According to Iijima and Aoyama (2021), older adults with joint-related issues are at an increased risk of falling. In this respect, hospitals must take appropriate measures to maximize patient safety in the wards where older adults with musculoskeletal problems are hospitalized.
During weeks 8 and 9, I participated in community programs that were organized by the practice setting to entice the community about health promotion. I spent about 3 hours engaging with the community and educating them about the importance of vaccination and screening for chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, psychological disorder, and obesity. Bahl et al. (2021) found a link between full vaccination and reduced rates of emergency visits during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. I also educated the community about the risks of chronic illnesses and how to avoid them. The practicum setting believes that one of the best ways to reduce caseloads of patients with chronic diseases is to educate the community about these diseases and how to avoid them. The nurse leader worked hard to help the organization to realize this goal by motivating employees and encouraging teamwork both within the organization and in the community outreach programs.
Application of Leadership:
My nurse leader and preceptor use quality improvement indicators in their leadership roles. This approach to quality positively impacts patient outcomes and the organization. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2022) defines quality indicators as evidence-based metrics that healthcare organizations use to measure the quality of health care. The specific quality improvement indicators used in the practice setting include rates of patient falls, rates of emergency visits post-discharge, length of stay, rates of hospital-acquired infections, patient satisfaction, and healthcare costs. For example, the rise in rates of patient falls among older adults with chronic diseases in the facility was a sign of poor performance in terms of quality. This influenced the organization to renovate the ward in order to reduce the rates of falls. The use of quality improvement indicators positively improves patient outcomes in the organization (Willmington et al., 2022). Besides, it helps the organization to acquire a positive public image and save on healthcare costs.
Practicum Project Preparation:
The process of implementing a project can be affected by numerous obstacles or barriers. One of the barriers is time constraints. I have found it challenging to balance between project and job activities considering the huge workloads in both areas. However, I have managed to overcome this barrier by creating a timetable of activities. The timetable has helped me to manage my time well up to this moment. Ahmady et al. (2021) found a correlation between proper time management and increased academic achievement as well as reduced stress. Another obstacle that I have encountered so far is getting time to discuss the project’s progress with my preceptor. My preceptor has some other commitments and I have to wait until she is free to discuss the progress of my project, especially regarding project aspects that I do not properly understand. According to Farrelly-Waters and Mehta (2022), working with preceptors helps students to confidently transition from one stage of learning to the next. Although this challenge has delayed project completion, I must admit that making good use of the time created for me by my preceptor has helped me to move forward in the project.
Leadership Video Reflection:
Servant leaders are expected to demonstrate headship in their leadership roles. This requires that they understand the meaning of headship and how to apply it to different leadership situations. In the ‘Servant Leadership-Issue of Headship’ video, Dr. Darryl has explored in detail, the meaning of headship and what servant leaders are required to do to prove that they indeed take responsibility for their roles. One of the lessons that I have learned from the video is that headship is all about taking responsibility. I have also learned that servant leaders have a responsibility to create an environment where their followers feel protected and honored. In this respect, they should always be ready to listen to their followers’ concerns and take actions to address emerging issues to make them feel safe.
References
Ahmady, S., Khajeali, N., Kalantarion, M., Sharifi, F., & Yaseri, M. (2021). Relation between stress, time management, and academic achievement in preclinical medical education: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 10, 32. https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_600_20
Bahl, A., Johnson, S., Maine, G., Garcia, M. H., Nimmagadda, S., Qu, L., & Chen, N. W. (2021). Vaccination reduces need for emergency care in breakthrough COVID-19 infections: A multicenter cohort study. Lancet Regional Health. Americas, 4, 100065. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lana.2021.100065.
Farrelly-Waters, M., & Mehta, J. (2022). The impact of preceptorship for newly graduated orthoptists on clinical confidence and attitudes towards public health. The British and Irish Orthoptic Journal, 18(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.22599/bioj.248
Iijima, H., & Aoyama, T. (2021). Increased recurrent falls experience in older adults with coexisting of sarcopenia and knee osteoarthritis: a cross-sectional study. BMC geriatrics, 21(1), 698. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-021-02654-4
Willmington, C., Belardi, P., Murante, A. M., & Vainieri, M. (2022). The contribution of benchmarking to quality improvement in healthcare. A systematic literature review. BMC Health Services Research, 22(1), 139. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-07467-8