Practicum Experience Journal
The provision of care for the elderly within the United States is one of the challenges that the health care systems is facing. With a biting shortage of nurses, it is challenging for the elderly to get the best of care. Besides, the population of elderly individuals aged 85 years and above is increasing thus increasing the demand for acute, primary and long term care (Hudson, Orviska, & Hunady, 2017). As an advanced practice nurse, I aim to ensure that the ageing population is provided with the best care that they require (Buckinx et al., 2015). The journal provides details on my practicum experience for the first week, the goals that I seek to accomplish, as well as a guiding ageing theory.
The Disengagement Theory
Throughout the semester, I will be guided by the disengagement theory of ageing in my service delivery. The theory of ageing relates to how the old generation’s relationships are severed and altered. The theory explains that due to age, an elderly individual is delinked from society (Asiamah, 2017). The elderly are equally less involved in the activities of life they once enjoyed. The distance that the elderly individuals have with the greater society may affect them (Asiamah, 2017). As an advanced practice nurse, I seek to ensure that I provide care to the elderly population and develop relationships with them to ensure that they do not feel alienated from society.
Practicum Goals and Objectives
- I plan to take develop my therapeutic communication skills to help me in communicating with the elderly when collecting their history for documentation by the end of the practicum experience.
- I plan to actively engage in clinical procedures that I have never performed in the past with the help of my preceptor to help me develop and sharpen my clinical skills that are important in caring for the elderly population by the end of the practicum experience.
- I plan to sharpen collaborative and culturally sensitive skills to help me consult my colleagues from various backgrounds and to provide care to the elderly from varied cultural backgrounds by the end of the practicum experience.
- I plan to develop care plans for various diagnoses affecting the elderly individuals to ensure that I give the best of care by the end of the practicum period.
Practicum Experience
The first week of my practicum experience has been quite educational. My preceptor has been actively involved in following up the activities that I have so far undertaken. I have been able to participate in various lab and diagnostic tests. My preceptor has equally been actively involved in checking my discharge planning for some of the patients that I have interacted with. I have equally established good rapport with the elderly individuals that I have cared for to counter the effect of the disengagement theory. I am certain that I will perfect my clinical skills especially regarding the care for the elderly.
References
Asiamah, N. (2017). Social engagement and physical activity: Commentary on why the activity and disengagement theories of ageing may both be valid. Cogent Medicine, 4(1), 1289664.
Buckinx, F., Rolland, Y., Reginster, J. Y., Ricour, C., Petermans, J., & Bruyère, O. (2015). The burden of frailty in the elderly population: perspectives for a public health challenge. Archives of Public Health, 73(1), 19.
Hudson, J., Orviska, M., & Hunady, J. (2017). People’s attitudes to robots in caring for the elderly. International journal of social robotics, 9(2), 199-210.