Why I Chose Bridging BScN program

www.bumc.co.uk/awards/images/heigham.jpg Nursing is a lifelong learning professional career. Nurses need to maintain and improve their competencies. When I work as an RPN, I strongly feel that I need to learn more to deal with the complex health situation. The nursing responsibilities and accountabilities drive me to be more knowledgeable. Therefore, I chose the bridging BScN program to update my knowledge and skills. Although it is a great challenge for me to work fulltime and study in university, I believe I will be successful to earn my nursing degree. Life itself is challenging. That is why people can achieve self-actualization. The first semester is almost finished. I am looking forward to the next rewarding semester.

Communicating with Family Members

Working in nursing homes is very different from working in hospitals. One of the differences is that nurses spend a lot of time to communicate with family members in nursing homes. Most of residents are not independent decision makers. They have their family members, friends or public trustees as power of attorney (POA). Nurses need to communicate with residents’ POAs for making each appointment, cutting hair, buying clothes, as well as notify the POAs for residents’ sudden health changes, any unusual incidents such as falls, and medication changes. When family members come to visit, most of them come to nursing office to talk to the nurses about their loved ones. Communicating with family members is a little bit challenging, but it is also rewarding.

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Technology is helping when it comes overcoming communication barriers in health care. Patient health records help health team members to share information online anytime. The information is always updated. Health care team members can access patient’s latest records. The updated patient records are especially important in an emergency situation. Online teaching method is another way to help communication between patients and health team members. Health team members can offer patients the useful online resources for health teaching. Moreover, communication technology plays an important role in rural or remote health care. Physicians can provide patients with visual or audio diagnoses online. Patients do not have to travel a long way to seek medical care. Technology really enhances the communication in health care.

Critical Thinking

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Critical thinking is very important to manage the behaviours of residents in nursing homes. There are more than 80% of residents with dementia on my unit. They have a large range of cognitive deficit and display different behavioural problems. Each abnormal behaviour has some causes. For example, when a resident becomes aggressive, we may collect the urine specimen to rule out urinary tract infection and check bowel movement to rule out constipation. Urine tract infection and constipation are two main reasons to cause behavioural problems in nursing homes. Residents with cognitive impairment cannot express their feelings, but they present abnormal behaviours. Simply giving antipsychotic medications is not a professional way to resolve problems. It is nurses’ responsibilities to use critical thinking to discover the causes and implement interventions.

Introduction

Hi everyone,
I have been working fulltime as an RPN at a nursing home for about three and half years. I am taking my BScN program now. I created my blog last week. It was the first time that I tried to set up this blog. I would like to post my ideas and thoughts regarding nursing topics at my blog. We can share our information to promote the quality of health care practices. Feel free to give me your comments on my blog.

Hi everyone,

Have a good luck in UOIT!