NURS 415 Nursing of Adults-self-identified learning needs.

The content here and what is expected to emerge in the discussion forum, are designed to align with more formalized ways we reflect on practice in order to develop deeper self-awareness of our own leadership abilities and to increase our confidence in sharing our leadership experiences and learning with others.

In this paper, you are asked to consider your own practice area, and

• Choose a challenging problem related to a population of patients facing neurological, sensory, integumentary, or endocrine illnesses.
• Define the problem clearly.
• Outline current practice.
• Review the literature on best practices in relation to this problem.
• Determine best practice recommendations for your practice area and clearly reference rationale. Who are the stakeholders, other than the patient, who will be impacted by a practice change?
• Outline the tasks involved in moving to this new practice. How will you measure if change has occurred and how would you go about creating an awareness regarding need for change in your workplace?    

The following is a list of examples of nursing practice leadership experiences that could be selected; these are by no means exclusive. Any topic for the paper that demonstrates your leadership in nursing practice is acceptable. Note that a leadership perspective is required.

A. Implementation of shared governance. An example of an interesting paper would be your participation in a Nursing Council at your place of work and you trying to facilitate change. Helping staff nurses and/or yourself develop the skill, knowledge, and characteristics to be involved in participatory management (a leadership perspective is required).

B. Examination of the health beliefs and practices of one cultural group different from your own to which you have access. You would work with that particular group and you compare values related to health-illness caring beliefs and practices, identifying with clients’ situations requiring improvement, and develop and implement a plan for change.

C. Planning, implementation and evaluation of a continuing education program/project. You have taken the initiative to plan, implement, and evaluate a continuing education program/project for a group of nurses, clients, or individuals interested in health promotion, disease prevention, or those seeking to improve their understanding of existing pathology, based on their self-identified learning needs.

D. Identification whether nurses should be appointed to hospital and other health-related boards in a jurisdiction. You have been part of a project/study to determine whether or not nurses should be appointed to hospital and other health-related boards in your jurisdiction. You have developed a plan and implemented strategies to follow up on findings. What were some of the successes and challenges of the project/study?