Assignment: Clinical Practice Learned In Geriatric Unit

Assignment: Clinical Practice Learned In Geriatric Unit

Assignment: Clinical Practice Learned In Geriatric Unit

In each week’s entry the Students are required to maintain weekly Reflective Narratives (no more than 350 words is necessary), you should reflect on the personal knowledge and skills gained. Your entry should address a variable combination of the following, dependent on the specific practice immersion clinical experiences you encountered that week based on an example of clinical practice learned in Geriatric Unit)

1.New practice approaches

2.Intraprofessional collaboration

3.Health care delivery and clinical systems

4.Ethical considerations in health care

5.Population health concerns

6.The role of technology in improving health care outcomes

7.Health policy

8.Leadership and economic models

9.Health disparities

All parameters of the assignment are met. Links to supporting documents and visual aids are used to support the spoken content when needed. Technical terms are well defined in language appropriate for the target audience. References to documents or visual aid components are specific and clear so that they can be easily identified. Presentation contains accurate and complete information. Ideas, facts, and information provided demonstrate a strong, confident, understanding of the assignment.

The assignment consistently follows current APA format and is free from errors in formatting, citation, and references. No grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors. All sources are cited and referenced correctly.

S. Dahlke and C. Fehrof home care visits, and reside in 90a% of nursing home beds (Bednash,Fagin, & Mezy, 2003; Ploncznski et al., 2007; Rotermann, 2005), and thatthey are the fastest growing demographic in Canada and globally (StatisticsCanada, 2006; World Health Organization, 2007). 

The purpose of this article is to (1)identify the context of what is known about nursing education and olderadult care within the literature, (2) explain the goals and hopes of develop-ing this practice, (3) outline how the practice was structured, and (4) sharewhat we learned from conducting an evaluation of the first and subsequentofferings. 

Researchers have identified minimal changes to basic undergraduate nursecurricula to support the increased involvement that nurses have with olderadults (Baumbusch & Andrusyszyn, 2002; Bednash et al., 2003; Earthy, 1993;Ebersole & Touchy, 2006; Joy, Carter, & Smith, 2000; Lach, 2007; Plonczynskiet al., 2007). Nursing schools debate about whether to incorporate a specificcourse about older adult care into their curriculum or to integrate contentabout older adult care into their general curriculum. The most recent surveysin Canada revealed that less than 10% of student nurses’ clinical time occursin a specific older adult setting and approximately one half of all nursing 

135programs lack specific older adult courses; instead, they claim to integrateolder adult content into their curriculum (Baumbusch & Andrusyszyn, 2002;Earthy, 1993). Research revealed that despite claiming integration only 5%of older adult content was integrated into a variety of basic undergraduatenursing courses (Plonczynski et al., 2006). This lack of integration could beexplained by the minimal percentage of nursing faculty (5%) with older adultexpertise (Baumbusch & Andrusyszyn, 2002; Earthy, 1993). Thus, studentnurses are learning about nursing practice with older adults from facultywho lack expertise and through curricula where the theoretical content andpractice experience about older adult care is minimal. Student nurses are often learning about older adult care on acute careunits where the focus is on the medical specialty (e.g., orthopedics) ratherthan the unique needs of older adults. Moreover, student nurses’ first expe-rience with older adults is often in residential care settings where theyare focused on learning basic physical care and medication administration(Williams, Nowak, & Scobee, 2006). These practices do not acknowledge thecomplex care requirements of acutely and chronically ill older adults (Aud,Bostick, Dorman Marek, & McDaniel, 2006; Baumbusch & Goldenberg, 2000;Holroyd, Dahlke, Fehr, Jung, & Hunter, 2009; E. McLafferty, 2005). Rather,these practices perpetuate the idea that caring for older adults does notrequire specialized knowledge and that mere exposure to older adults willprovide nurses with expertise (Aud et al.. 2006; Holroyd et al., 2009; King,2004). This lack of gerontology in BSN programs leaves newly graduatednurses to learn the complexity of caring for older adults in the practicesetting from “experienced” nurses who often lack knowledge of the specialneeds of an older population (Dahlke & Phinney, 2008; King, 2004; Lang,Wallace, Grossman, Lippman, & Novotny, 2006; I. McLafferty & Morrison,2004). Even more alarming, nurses are learning how to care for older adultsin a predominantly chaotic work environment (Dahlke & Phinney, 2008;King, 2004). Furthermore, care provision systems often do not match theneeds of older adults (Bernard, 2008; Chappell, Gee, McDonald, & Stones,2003; Peek, Milson-Hawke, McMillian, & Harper, 2007), making it more chal-lenging for students and nurses to incorporate best practices with olderadults. Models of care that have been shown to be effective with an olderpopulation often prioritize a holistic approach, an emphasis on the olderadult’s function, and interdisciplinary approaches to care (Amador, Reed, &Lehman, 2007; Baztan et al., 2009)