Practicum: Practicum Experience

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Practicum: Practicum Experience

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

The practicum experience provides a significant hands-on opportunity to cultivate your professional growth and development. This course includes a 216-hour practicum as part of the 1,000 clinical hours that are required for the DNP credential.

During your practicum experience for this course, you will cultivate effective interactions to promote the implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of an evidence-based project. In addition, you should pay close attention to the role of leadership in such endeavors and reflect on your own development of leadership competencies, including skillful communication. As you do this, also think about how you may meaningfully contribute to the organization during your remaining time in the setting.

This week you prepare for the practicum experience by developing a plan, including learning objectives and activities. (This is addressed in this week’s Discussion as well.)

To prepare:
•Think about learning objectives that will guide your practicum hours, as well as the activities you will undertake to achieve those objectives. Draft two or three learning objectives that are related to the AACN Essentials, your practice area specialty competencies, and the focus of this course.
•Refer to the Practicum Time Log and Journal document found in this week’s Learning Resources.
•Develop a timeline for your practicum experience.
•You are required to keep a log of the time you spend related to your practicum experience. You can access your time log from the Welcome page in your Meditrek account. Please make sure to continuously input your hours throughout the term. Time logs are reviewed by your instructors in weeks 3, 7 and 11.

To complete:

Write a 2-page paper that includes the following: Must use APA 6th edition and at least 2 master’s level scholarly peer review articles.
•Two or three learning objectives for your practicum hours that are aligned to the AACN Essentials, your specialty area competencies, and the focus of this course (i.e., implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of an evidence-based project)
•Key leadership and other activities you will undertake to fulfill your identified learning objectives

Topic: Practicum: Practicum Experience
Practicum: Practicum Experience

Use at least 2 master level peer review journals.
As your practicum proceeds, consider the topics addressed this week. Conduct research to further your understanding of how issues related to health information systems and other resources, such as financials, staffing, and materials, could influence the implementation of your proposed change.
In addition, you reflect on the effectiveness of your practicum experiences for fostering your professional development. What challenges are you encountering or would you anticipate at this point? If necessary, what can be done to improve the situation?
To prepare:
Reflect on the learning objectives and activities you developed for your practicum experience during Week 1. Also, consider the leadership competencies introduced in Weeks 2 and 3.
What new skills or insights have you gained thus far in your practicum experience? How do you think this is impacting your leadership development and the planning of your proposed change? What adjustments might need to be made to your leadership presence within the practicum environment—or your plan for change? What additional supports would you find most beneficial right now?
To complete:
What new skills or insights have you gained through your practicum experiences? How is this impacting your leadership development and planning related to your proposed change? What additional supports would be beneficial?