Module 5

I have had a precepting student with me at work for the past month or so.  In teaching her, she has asked what she should do, or what I do in specific situations; charting is one example that comes to mind.  When I had to explain to her what I usually do, sometimes I gave her two ways that I have charted the same thing.  She asked what influenced me to decide one way or the other.  I honestly answered her by saying that it depended on my mood that day.  My mood is not a consistent or credible decision support system.  The reading this week helped me to realize that we make many decisions based on how we feel about a current situation.  One of the readings even suggested that if we are presented with the same information twice, it is not a guarentee that we will make the same decision.  Based on my improved understanding of what influences our decision making, I am a supporter of decision making guidelines and standard practices.  There will always be room to modify them as we need to based on circumstances, but hopefully mood is not an influencing factor. 

Wiki for mobile devices

Try this link to the mobile device wiki for this course:  http://editthis.info/nurs_6004_mobile_devices/Main_Page

Module 4

I do all kinds of teaching as a RN.  We are constantly talking with our patients about what to expect for the day or disease process, how/why things happen, what we are doing for them, how/why we are doing it etc.  Then the patient's spouse or children come and want an update and you tell them the same thing you just told the patient.  There are three schools of nursing that come to DRMC for clinicals, so we have students very frequently.  We have the opportunity to teach them the hows and whys of treating patients.  We also teach them procedures, skills, and helpful hints to improve their work that we have learned over the years.  I also come home to a wife who asks how my day was, what kind of patients I took care of, what we did for them, and why.  As RNs, we are respected by many as honest, knowledgeable health care workers, so anybody could ask us questions about anything related to health care, and we can teach them at that time.  I would estimate that half of the work that I do in a day is talking, and half of my talking is teaching. 

Module 3

After researching the same topic using a variety of resources, I feel like I found good information with all searches.  Using CINAHL, I found research articles about palliative care in different scenarios.  Using National Guideline Clearinghouse I found instructions on how to implement palliative care.  Using Google, I found general information about palliative care.  Wikipedia told me what it is and how it differs from hospice, something that I did not see in my other sources.  There are also websites that want to sell goods or services, so one must beware of tainted information using Google.  I'm sure that I will be using all three methods in my future research.  I will chose my method based on the purpose of my query. 

Module 2

How could I become involved in designing, selecting, evaluating, or implementing an information system in my workplace?  I would be the end user of any information system that may be implemented at work.  The users of a system should be involved in all phases of the system development life cycle.  Right now, I think that I would be involved in the evaluation end of the cycle.  I don't think that I would have much say in development, system selection or implementation.  If I was on the education committee, I may be involved in training my co-workers in the implementation stage, but I'm not.  My boss is very good at seeking input/evaluation from his crew, so I think that after the information system was in place and we have had time to use it, I would evaluate the system and report. 

Module 1

Hi, my name is Brian Davenport, and this is my first blog.  I'm not a member of any social network, not even facebook.  I am a FNP student in my third semester of the distance DNP program.  I live in St. George, UT and work in the general ICU at Dixie Regional as a RN.  My wife (Kristy) and I have two sons -- Keston who is 4, and Pratt who is 2.  We are excitedly expecting our first daughter who is due on my wife's birthday in December. 
At work, we use what I think is a pre-historic form of computerized charting.  We have access to the coorporate portal that has a lot of information that can be very helpful, and access to other patient records using HELP 2.  The IT works for me, but I'm sure there are newer, better technologies that we are not using. 
I'm excited for what I will learn in this class, but nervous also because I am not very computer literate.