Assessment: Community needs assessment; in-depth community assessment of the city of Canton, OH.
Population Teaching: Sexual health teaching to Kent Stark students during AIDS Awareness Week.
Evidence-based Practice: See Case Study
Competencies Met During Rotation: Treating an entire population as a client rather than just an individual patient, Gaining knowledge of various types of community health services where nurses provide care, and Gaining knowledge of health promotion and primary prevention activities as they pertain to entire communities.
Personal Reflection: This rotation gave me new insight in what it means to be a nurse. I was able to visit a variety of settings that provided care to the residents of northeast Ohio, and was able to explore different venues of nursing such as hospice nursing, health department nursing, oncology nursing and much more. It was very boundary-stretching to care for a community population rather than just a few patients on a hospital unit.
Assessment: Biopsychosocial assessment, which looks at the needs of the entire individual, not just the physical aspects.
Patient Teaching: Self-esteem and its affect on anxiety and a person's view of their mental illness.
Evidence-based Practice: See Case Study.
Competencies Met During Rotation: Gaining knowledge of various medications used for psychiatric illnesses, Expanded on use of therapeutic communication, and became able to enter into informal contracts with patients and effectively listen and communicate with patients struggling with various mental illnesses.
Personal Reflection: This rotation gave me an insight into such illnesses as schizophrenia, personality disorders, major depression, substance abuse problems, and manic depression. I was able to work with individuals struggling with mental illness and help them form goals and expectations for themselves in order to live as functional a live as possible. I also had practice dealing with patients that are manipulative and aggressive. I feel that the communication techniques and experiences from this course can be utilized an any nursing setting I may come across in the future.
