AACN Essentials Summary Paper

 AACN Essentials Summary Paper

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Nursing Capstone

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AACN Essentials Paper

Essential I: Liberal Education for Baccalaureate Generalist Nursing Practice

            First Paragraph for each Essential:  The student provides an accurate and concise summary paragraph for each Essential. All summary descriptions expertly identify key aspects of each essential. Every essential is supported with at least one scholarly source.  You need to cite your source(s) like the ACCN Essentials pdf that was provided.

Second Paragraph for each Essential:  At least one detailed and explicit example of how the student met each essential during the nursing program is provided for all nine Essentials. The student expertly synthesizes and incorporates significant feedback, concepts, and ideas from the week’s discussion into the assignment. It is evident that the student has thoroughly reflected upon and met the nine essentials.

Essential II: Basic Organizational and Systems Leadership for Quality Care and Patient Safety

Essential III: Scholarship for Evidence Based Practice

Essential IV: Information Management and Application of Patient Care Technology

Essential V: Healthcare Policy, Finance, and Regulatory Environments

Essential VI: Interprofessional Communication and Collaboration for Improving Patient Health Outcomes

Essential VII: Clinical Prevention and Population health

Essential VIII: Professionalism and Professional Values

           

Essential IX: Baccalaureate Generalist Nursing Practice

 

AACN Essentials Paper

Essential I: Liberal Education for Baccalaureate Generalist Nursing Practice

Discusses the importance of engaging in a diverse educational program designed to

further the growth of nursing students into baccalaureate trained nurse generalists. Engaging the

community with its ever-differing cultures and organizations is key in better understanding the

needs and adjusting care to meet those needs. While the community is a phenomenal resource to

explore and expand diverse thought, there are other opportunities for growth within the medical

community. Collaborating within an interprofessional care team is another example of

opportunities for liberal growth as a nurse.

I experienced this a nursing student while taking my intermediate medical surgical

clinical at Riverside University Health System. I was able to experience interprofessional care

collaboration on multiple patients. Patients that need physical or occupational therapy

collaboration. I was also able to grow and expand my knowledge of different cultures throughout

my clinical experience there.

Essential II: Basic Organizational and Systems Leadership for Quality Care and Patient

Safety

Highlights opportunities for students to grow in a non-clinical setting. This essential

focuses on improving quality of care by analyzing current practice and comparing that to current

evidence based practice and determining if a change needs to be made. One of the examples

provided was participating in a Root Cause Analysis. Essentially, that means to examine a

particular situation or problem that has or is occurring and determining if a change in practice is

necessary.

I was able to utilize this essential during my research course in my nursing program.

Where we learned what different type of studies there. We also compared different studies and

analyzed their results. I experienced a root cause analysis in the clinical setting after a patient had

fallen when no one was around, and we had to find what led up to this occurrence. Once we had

determined the reason for the fall, we put a fall risk on the patients wrist and a sign on the

patients door.

Essential III: Scholarship for Evidence Based Practice

Is all about evidence-based practices and how current practice can be improved by

implementing a review. Organizing discussions to debate topics with evidence based research is

one of many ways to improve the knowledge base for students, nurses, and other healthcare

professionals. Peer reviews also provide opportunities for growth by encouraging peers to learn

about a particular topic and collaborate with another peer by critiquing drafts about said topic

and working towards a common goal of providing high level cares and practices to the nursing

community.

I gained insight into this essential by collaborating with other students in group projects.

We would each have a section to research and then we would bring our findings to each other

and discuss the importance of each one. We then would work together to present our research in

an organized matter. This enhanced my professional and personable skills.

Essential IV: Information Management and Application of Patient Care Technology

Reviews the importance of utilizing technology to improve care and communication

within an interdisciplinary team. Organizing opportunities for students to practice patient care

through a virtual electronic healthcare and medical record system is essential in preparing the future nursing workforce. Developing an understanding for the patient monitoring systems and

how they impact the care provided to patients is critical for nursing students.

I was able to practice this essential while in my advanced critical care clinical and

Riverside University Health System. While attending clinical there I was able to utilize Epic (the

computer-based program for charting) to review patients medicals records and lab results. This

allowed me to give better care to my patients. This also enabled me to see in real life how

monitoring lab results in real time can impact patient care.

Essential V: Healthcare Policy, Finance, and Regulatory Environments

Explores the costs of healthcare and how those costs affect communities. Identifying the

specific costs of healthcare charged to insurance companies as opposed to the cost charged to

self-pay patients is a great way of understanding the financial side of healthcare. Understanding

how and why patients and insurance companies are billed the way they are is a good way of

affecting the care provided. Performing those reviews can help guide nursing to eliminate

needless cost, especially in the setting of self-pay patients.

When working in the Emergency Medical Department at Riverside University

Health I was able to see how insurance can impact a patient’s care. Having health insurance is

vital in obtaining adequate healthcare. Reviewing the patient’s healthcare insurance and verifying

that certain procedures and treatments will be approved is an important step in nursing care.

Essential VI: Interprofessional Communication and Collaboration for Improving Patient

Health Outcomes

Describes the significance of collaborating and participating in an interprofessional

capacity. Students should be provided simulated situations such as case studies or personal experiences to discuss practical applications of problems. Committees, such as, student

governance allows students the opportunity to apply their collaborative skills to further the

growth of the nursing profession as a whole through discussion.

Throughout my nursing student career, I have had multiple opportunities in the

simulation lab at West Coast University. The simulation lab allows us as students to act out

certain roles in the nursing care of the patient. When using the simulation lab, we can look back

and see where our actions might have hindered or enhanced our patient care. West Coast

University also has many students governance bodies such as the Student Veterans council that

help student veterans during the nursing school program.

Essential VII: Clinical Prevention and Population health

Summarizes the importance of establishing a dialogue with the community in order to

educate the population. Students are provided the opportunity to establish rapport with the

community and develop trust through prevention-driven outreach. Events such as vaccine drives

or community health fairs are just a couple of the many different clinical prevention of

population health for optimized health.

I learned this essential while taking my Public Health term. I volunteered at the Family

Service Association of Redlands where I learned how important it is to establish rapport with

community members. Creating a trusting relationship between the community and nurses is

important in being able to care for patients as a whole. While volunteering there we had a food

drive for homeless or people in need of food in our community that provided a huge outreach.

 

Essential VIII: Professionalism and Professional Values

Examines nursing professionalism and the values associated with professionalism. Ethics

plays a major role in regard to nursing professionalism. Nursing is a profession that is both

subjective and objective so it is important to have a strong foundation in ethics and how to deal

with difficult situations. Having discussions about previous encounters or simulating scenarios is

an exercise that is often utilized to guide students through ethical “gray” areas. Discussing

patient advocacy and how/when it should be applied is another exercise that can be utilized.

I learned about ethics while taking my Ethics course in my nursing program. During this

course we reviewed key concepts on ethics and popular topics such as abortion and the right to

die. We also discussed gray areas of nursing such as the patient having a DNR but the family

members wanting us to do life saving measures and what we would do as nurses in this situation.

There are many ethical dilemmas we will come across as nurses and taking this course has

helped me better prepared for when I come across an ethical dilemma.

Essential IX: Baccalaureate Generalist Nursing Practice

Discusses the importance of providing opportunities for students to care for patients in

complex situations in order to better develop a “whole-person” approach to establishing care.

Developing a plan of care is one of the fundamental aspects of nursing. Students develop this

skill by participating in a clinical setting and observing nurses. In a classroom setting, students

are provided the opportunity to discuss with classmates and professors’ different approaches.

I have developed this skill set of developing plans of care by creating numerous care plans

in my clinical courses. Creating these care plans allow for me to see the patient as a whole. This

better allows me to see the “big picture” and to make nursing diagnoses. Once I have made

nursing diagnoses I am able to create better care plans for the patient.

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2017). Baccalaureate Essentials Tool Kit.

Aacnnursing.org. https://www.aacnnursing.org/Education-Resources/ToolKits/Baccalaureate-Essentials-Tool-Kit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2017). Baccalaureate Essentials Tool Kit. Aacnnursing.org. https://www.aacnnursing.org/Education-Resources/Tool-Kits/Baccalaureate-Essentials-Tool-Kit