The Walden School of Nursing is a learning institution that aims to ensure that its students are practically equipped and towards social transformation. The practicum has had a great impact on my DNPO project, which deals on teamwork towards quality service delivery in the health sector. Working under a supervisor symbolizes how teamwork can be used to improve the skills of nurses and all workers in the health care sector. One can work under a more skilled and experienced person hence there are many lessons that can be learnt from the teamwork.
As a nurse leader, I have the responsibility of ensuring that nurses are able to provide quality health care services in a conducive working environment. People think more about the welfare of patients, but they fail to realize the role that nurses play in ensuring that patients receive quality health care services. The practicum period gives one a better understanding of the things learnt in class, it is an exciting experience where one learns to apply what was learnt theoretically in class. Many practical lessons are learnt during this period; one gets to work in a hospital environment and gets a clear understanding of practical nursing. During the practicum period, I was able to visit different departments and understand how they operate. Teamwork in any health institutions requires the cooperation of all departments. As a director of nursing, one needs to understand the policies that have been implemented in the nursing towards quality service delivery (Normand, 2010). These policies are best learnt during the practicum period since there is a better understanding of the policies and how they can be improved towards enhancing teamwork (Giffor, Davies, Tourangeau & Lefebre 2011).
There were some challenges, which I encountered during this period, most of the challenges were not unique, and most nurses in my specialty admitted having encountered them. As a director of nursing one is supposed to address the challenges facing nurses nationally, during the practicum period one gets to work in only one health facility hence the scope of learning is limited. Many nurses even the registered nurses are not allowed to practice independently and such a policy hinders the professional development of many nurses. There should be a provision that allows nurses especially those in management to practice in a wide environment and not one field. There is also a need to provide one with at least two supervisors since many physicians are always busy, therefore, one cannot rely fully on one supervisor (Vaughan & Slinger, 2013).
Learning in nursing is a continuous process, even after carrying out this project there will be other important issues that will need to be addressed in my professional journey. There are new challenges that are emerging, and many nurses are finding it difficult to cope with this challenges, continuous learning policy in nursing would ensure that I achieve professional growth. As a director in nursing, there is a need to be involved in policy implementation since this would ensure that my research findings and analyses is applied in improving the quality of health care services( Normand ,2010). Nurses cannot work in isolation and teamwork starts with the government that is the policy maker being on the front line in supporting stakeholders in the health sector. One cannot grow professionally in isolation, and I believe working as a team is the first strategy towards professional growth.
References
Vaughan, L., & Slinger, T. (2013). Building a Healthy Work Environment: A Nursing Resource Team Perspective. Nursing Leadership, 26(sp), 70-77.
Gifford, W., Davies, B., Tourangeau, A., & Lefebre, N. (2011). Developing team leadership to facilitate guideline utilization: planning and evaluating a 3-month intervention strategy. Journal of Nursing Management, 19(1), 121-132.
Normand, C. (2010). Review: How can we build skills to transform the healthcare system?. Journal of Research in Nursing, 15(2), 149-150.
