Practicum Experience Plan PRAC 6645

Practicum Experience Plan

Practicum experience entails working in a clinical setting with a major focus on gaining skills and knowledge required by an advanced practice nurse, especially in caring for patients. Therefore, this experience offers an individual a chance to interact with the patients in the care settings and appropriately acquire the needed experience (Kaihlanen et al.,2020). Such an experience becomes important when the individual has to transition into a full-time professional to take of patients. Central to a successful practicum experience is a guide offered by well-formulated practicum goals. These goals or objectives need to be written in a SMART format to help offer a clearer guideline. Therefore, the purpose of this week’s assignment is to formulate a practicum experience plan.

Part 1: Quarter/Term/Year and Contact Information

Section A

Quarter/Term/Year:

Student Contact Information

Name:

Street Address:

City, State, Zip:

Home Phone:

Work Phone:

Cell Phone:

Fax:

E-mail:

Preceptor Contact Information

Name:

Organization:

Street Address:

City, State, Zip:

Work Phone:

Cell Phone:

Fax:

Professional/Work E-mail:

Part 2: Individualized Practicum Learning Objectives

Refer to the instructions in Week 2 to create individualized practicum learning objectives that meet the requirements for this course. These objectives should be aligned specifically with your Practicum experience. Your objectives should address your self-assessment of the skills found in the “PMHNP Clinical Skills Self-Assessment Form” you completed in Week 1.

As you develop your individualized practicum learning objective, be sure to write them using the SMART format. Use the resources found in Week 2 to guide your development. Once you review your resources, continue and complete the following. Note: Please make sure each of your objectives are connected to your self-assessment. Also, consider that you will need to demonstrate how you are advancing your knowledge in the clinical specialty.

Objective 1: To study the available evidence-based clinical practice guidelines to enhance the accuracy of medication plans in the first three weeks of practicum

Planned Activities: studying the clinical practice guidelines and medication plans, meetings with the preceptor to discuss how to enhance my skills in medication plan formulation

Mode of Assessment: writing medication plans to be checked by the preceptor

PRAC Course Outcome(s) Addressed:

• Selecting appropriate evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for medication plan (e.g., risk/benefit, patient preference, developmental considerations, financial, the process of informed consent, symptom management)

Objective 2: To enhance my skills in identifying ethical and legal dilemmas in the patient care setting and potential solutions within the first month of my practicum experience

Planned Activities: Reading literature on ethical and legal dilemmas case studies and how they were solved. Practicing with mock ethical and legal dilemma situations

Mode of Assessment: feedback from patients and colleagues on how best I have handled an ethical or a legal dilemma situation.

PRAC Course Outcome(s) Addressed:  Identifies ethical and legal dilemmas with possible resolutions

Objective 3: To study the interpretation of various results to be able to accurately interpret results from screening instruments accurately within the first three weeks of practicum

Planned Activities: check result outputs from various instruments, watch relevant videos on reading and interpreting results for different screening instruments, and have discussions with the preceptor to help enhance these skills.

Mode of Assessment: Interpreting results and writing them down so that the preceptor and senior nurses can check them for accuracy and correctness.

PRAC Course Outcome(s) Addressed:

• Interprets results for screening instruments accurately
•  

Nursing theory and Counselling Theory to Guide Practice

Nursing theories form an important part of patient care as they offer foundations or frameworks upon which specific patient practice actions should be based. One of the nursing theories that will be used in guiding my clinical practice is Dorothea Orem’s self-care deficit theory. This theory focuses on helping others by providing and managing self-care to help improve their functioning. Therefore, a professional acknowledges that the patient has a specific deficit in self-care, hence creating an enabling environment to help the individuals perform self-care. The rationale for choosing this theory is that patients with psychiatric illnesses need care and have particular deficits such that they can not engage in adequate mental health self-care (Ali et al.,2018). Therefore, as a PMHNP, I will strive to be in a position where I offer solutions such as psychotherapy and medication approaches for better outcomes.

The chosen counseling theory is cognitive behavioral therapy. This theory can be used in explaining the important part played by cognition towards behavior change. This theory draws its importance from the fact that it uses both behavioral and cognitive approaches. The rationale for choosing this theory is that it can effectively be used in instances where individuals negatively interpret circumstances that lead to distorted thoughts and unwanted behaviors, which is the case for many psychiatric cases (Kazantzis et al.,2018). As such, I will apply this theory to help my patient develop a different perception of the situation and embrace desired thoughts and behaviors for positive outcomes.

Part 3: Projected Timeline/Schedule

Estimate how many hours you expect to work on your practicum each week. *Note: All of your hours and activities must be supervised by your preceptor and completed onsite. Your preceptor will approve all hours, but your activities will be approved by both your Preceptor and Instructor. Any changes to this plan must be approved.

This timeline is intended as a planning tool; your actual schedule may differ from the projections you are making now.

I intend to complete the 144 or 160 Practicum hours (as applicable) according to the following timeline/schedule. I also understand that I must see at least 80 patients during my practicum experience. I understand that I may not complete my practicum hours sooner than 8 weeks. I understand I may not be in the practicum setting longer than 8 hours per day unless pre-approved by my faculty.

	Number of Clinical Hours Projected for Week (hours you are in Practicum Setting at your Field Site)	Number of Weekly Hours for Practicum Coursework (these are not practicum hours	Number of Weekly Hours for Professional Development (these are not practicum hour)
Week 1	12	6	6
Week 2	14	6	8
Week 3	16	6	10
Week 4	14	8	6
Week 5	14	8	6
Week 6	16	8	8
Week 7	16	6	10
Week 8	14	8	6
Week 9	14	6	8
Week 10	16	8	8
Week 11	14	6	8
Total Hours (must meet the following requirements)	160 Hours

Part 4 – Signatures

Student Signature (electronic):                                Date:

Practicum Faculty Signature (electronic)**:                               Date:

** Faculty signature signifies approval of Practicum Experience Plan (PEP)

References

Ali, B. H. I. (2018). Application of Orem self care deficit theory on psychiatric patient. Annals of Nursing and Practice, 5(1), 1–3. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Application-of-Orem-Self-Care-Deficit-Theory-on-Ali/d9791850e0d3f114e45f46c28be350095c5138b3

Kaihlanen, A. M., Elovainio, M., Haavisto, E., Salminen, L., & Sinervo, T. (2020). Final clinical practicum, transition experience and turnover intentions among newly graduated nurses: A cross sectional study. Nurse Education Today, 84, 104245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2019.104245,

Kazantzis, N., Luong, H. K., Usatoff, A. S., Impala, T., Yew, R. Y., & Hofmann, S. G. (2018). The processes of cognitive behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 42(4), 349-357. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-018-9920-y