Reflection on Clinical Placement

Reflection on Clinical Placement example below should guide you on how to structure your Reflection on Clinical Placement and what to include in the Reflection on Clinical Placement paper.

I had my Clinical Placement in a project established to reduce polypharmacy in older adults in a primary care setting, supervised by an experienced nurse practitioner who was also a leader of the primary care unit. I learned that the primary cause of polypharmacy was patients taking more than recommended medications for existing multiple comorbidities often associated with chronic illnesses and poor follow-up after prescription. The patients return to the clinic with complications attributed to polypharmacy admitting to taking additional medication besides the recommended dosage.

I led the team involved in conducting medical reconciliation, which involved creating a detailed list of drugs taken by each patient and their dosage crucial in mitigating the impact of polypharmacy (Wheeler, 2014). I coordinated with other nurses in reconciling drug lists and dosages. This list was used to identify drugs more likely to cause adverse reactions when used together with the other. Pender’s health promotion model (HPM) was the theory behind the project. HPM proposes patients’ health improvement and guides interaction within the clinical environment, including an understanding of people’s traits/experiences, behaviors, and behavioral outcomes (Alligood, 2014). In my case, improving my understanding during the project implementation and evaluation increased my confidence and eliminated barriers to clinical interventions, and in coordinating teams.

I was also able to learn evaluation techniques based on the anticipated outcomes of the project and consequent information dissemination. Through this knowledge, I contributed to educating colleagues and achieving positive health outcomes among participating patients following the project execution (Keogh et al., 2016). Besides, I learned to have a positive attitude as a nurse leader, which leads to greater self-efficacy and an increase in positive health consequences. In the end, I improved on my understanding of the role of evidence-based clinical practice on increasing staff confidence in medication reconciliation with and consequent wellbeing of patients. I learned that every nurse leader should strive to educate their clinical employees about the correct way of carrying out medication reconciliation. Therefore, I remain confident in my clinical understanding as a scholar-practitioner and nurse leader, looking forward to more practical experiences.

Resources

Alligood, M. R. (2014). Nursing theorists and their work. New York, NY: Elsevier Health Sciences.

Keogh, C., Kachalia, A., Fiumara, K., Goulart, D., Coblyn, J., & Desai, S. P. (2016). Ambulatory medication reconciliation: using a collaborative approach to process improvement at an academic medical center. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, 42(4), 186-AP2. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1553-7250(16)42023-4

Wheeler, K. (Eds.). (2014). Psychotherapy for the advanced practice psychiatric nurse: A how-to guide for evidence-based practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.

Williams, B., Perillo, S., & Brown, T. (2015). What are the factors of organizational culture in health care settings that act as barriers to the implementation of evidence-based practice? A scoping review. Nurse Education Today, 35(2), e34- e41. https://doi.10.1016/j.nedt.2014.11.012  

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