Once A Year Isn't Bad, Is It?

As I begin my last semester (hopefully!) of my MS-DNP course work, I am brought back to my blog created in my first semester.  Thanks, CTLE 6510!  I will be learning about creating an online course.  I am intimidated, but figure this is a great way to overcome that fear.  Computers are great to have and do so many wonderful things, yet I dread sitting at a desk or elsewhere reading a screen and all the other un-active things that can be done because of a computer.  I have incorporated exercise breaks, and this has helped.  Also, there seems to be an endless list of activities, responsibilities, assignments that must be finished before heading home.  Oh, well!  I can either hide in a cave or learn to use this technology to bless my life and others lives.

So, CTLE 6510, I hope you are not the end of me.  I hope to stand conqueror in December.  Then, back to my family and students.  It is great to continue to learn, but sometimes when you are told what to learn for so long, it feels good to make your own choice.  I have a stack of books to read and topics to learn, of my own choice, waiting for me.  Before that, there are children to play with and a wife to adore.  What a life!  I am so blessed.  Thankfully, I know where to look for Happiness and Joy.  I thank my Heavenly Father for this knowledge and for His Son, making it possible.

Nurse Teachers...Module 4

In my professional role, the sort of teaching that happens is great, i hope.  I am a nurse educator.  I am a faculty member of BYU-Idaho.  This semester I am a clinical instructor.  I am able to work with students as they practice their newly learned (at least they have been shown how and have practiced on each other or a mannequin) skills.   Being able to be with them as they experience learning in the practice arena is a great blessing.  They are wanting to learn.  For the most part, it is all new to them.  I am able to help them assimilate theory and past life experiences to their clinical experience.

One of the things my students and I have benefited from is the use of Smartphones.  When there is a question we cannot answer, we are able to look things up and get answers.  I use my Davis Drug Guide app for my iPhone every clinical.  One of the reasons for this is I was an ICU nurse and now I work with students on the "floor."  There are so many PO meds that I do not know.  We also have the option to look on UpToDate,which is a medical reference website.  This is very technical and can give plenty of information you did not know you needed. If you want to check out a wiki page that is about mobile devices in nursing education and clinical practice, check out this link: mobile devices in nursing education arenas

The reality is, nursing is an educator role.  As much as we want to stick someone with an IV or place a foley catheter or hold someones hand who just heard some bad news, we must never forget to teach.  We have a captive audience.  President Obama would give anything to have a captive audience.  People count on us to help them understand the world of healthcare.  In all the chaos about the future of healthcare, nursing will continue to be the piece (and peace) our patients will be able to rely on for information.  If you are in healthcare, teaching is your bread and butter. 

Don't you just love how this blog is in WORLD SERIES CHAMPION ORANGE AND BLACK!!!!!  GO GIANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

N6004 Module 2: Becoming involved in IS at work

I would actually like to be involved as an end user consultant.  I really only have an elementary working knowledge of computers.  What some people can do and create is fascinating.  When my previous employer went to computer charting, it was frustrating.  Those responsible for rolling it out to the end user need to say right up front that computer charting will take longer than paper charting, for many things.  They need to help us see ways it can improve our job.  At our finger tips is so much information, in one place, which used to be in multiple places throughout the hospital.  They need to make sure not to tell us that computer charting makes it easier on the auditors.  Those that just had their manageable paper charting taken from them are not interested in hearing that things are easier for the paper pushing pen wielding desk job person.  I know we all choose our path, which is what is great about America, but come on. 

Learning curves.  As Yoda would phrase it, “Interesting, they are!”  No matter how great or poor the system is, learning how to use it will come with time.  Maybe that is why it is hard to change.  It is hard to see the benefit when the learning curve is coming at you at 89 miles per hour.  The better designed the “new kid” is, the better the transition.  Now, if Matt Williams (Go Giants!) can learn to hit that curve ball and become a 4-time Silver Slugger and 5-time All-Star during his 17 year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, then I can learn a new computer system.  Do not think Matt is the only one to overcome the mighty curve ball.  Will “The Thrill” Clark (Go Giants!) enjoyed a 15 year MLB career hitting a lifetime average of .303 while being a 6-time All-Star and 2-time Silver Slugger winner (www.baseball-reference.com).   Not to be outdone, Buster Posey (Go Giants!) is…

Hello! My name is...N6004 Module 1

Hello, out there.  Here I am blogging.  Honestly, I would not be doing this if it wasn't for my course work.  If I am going to do it, I might as well have fun with it and enjoy the new adventure it brings.

I am in the MS-DNP 2012 Cohort at the University of Utah.  I will be a BYUtah grad when I complete this program.  

Information management has become an essential element of most every profession and job.  In nursing, nurses are responsible for multiple patients with varied concerns and questions.  No one can know all there is to know.  Knowing what I know and knowing how to manage information I don't know will help me better take care of the client.  Nursing Informatics (technology in nursing) will help me access and distribute personalized care and information to those in need.  As I care for clients, I must be competent and considerate.

IT is slowly gaining ground in the world I experience.  In the hospitals, lab and diagnostic information is readily available.  Nurse charting is 99% on the computer.  MAR's are almost exclusively electronic.  Unfortunately,there is a large portion of nurses and doctors who are aging, and with that comes some reluctance to embrace technology for the good it can bring.  It is so easy to see the good and the ugly of technology.  If technology is something that is a little daunting, then the ugly is worse than the good. 

If healthcare providers could correlate the understanding that research, care modalities, and patient safety are where they are today due to technology, maybe technology would be embraced and championed in the areas of orders, MAR's, and notes.

These are generalized statements.  I acknowledge that.  I am one that has to be forced to embrace technology.  I realize that.  We can all work harder to be a little better.