Goals for leadership practicum

[Hominid]

Hi all,

I am in my final semester of nursing school (BSN-RN) and I am doing the Leadership Practicum (also known as a preceptorship) and I want to start clinicals but the faculty instructor doesn't like my goals. I am working on a long term acute care unit where we help patients recover from strokes (mainly). They are pretty immobile, are vent/trach'd, and have NG/PEG tubes for the most part unless they are ready to leave. Per the syllabus I need the following:

o One goal related to time management and prioritization.

o One goal related to delegation.

o One goal focused on a psychosocial aspect of the clinical.

o One pathophysiological goal specific to the unit/patient population you are assigned to.

I presented the following which she said only goal #3 was worthwhile and the other's needed fixed. She is a one-word responder to e-mails so I get minimal feedback.

1.I will learn how to manage my time during each shift to provide necessary care and be able to recognize from shift report which patients need priority care.

2.I will learn how to take off physician's orders, what care can be delegated to LPNs and PCNAs, and how to make those assignments.

3.Many of these patients feel helpless or powerless due to being bedbound for an extended period of time my goal is to help them maintain or improve their sense of control.

4.The majority of patients on this unit suffer from some form of respiratory failure and my goal is to learn how to wean them off a ventilator when they are ready.

The one I am really struggling with is the pathophysiological goal. I asked for an example and she won't give one.

Any ideas how to fix this? I am supposed to start Friday but I need these in first!

Thanks!

[asteigl]

One possible goal for pathophysiological would be;

By the end of clinical rotation I will successfully be able to help the patient successfully maintain patent airways through upright positioning, bronchodilators, and suplemental oxygen.

I did not see in your other goals that you had time lines, you may want to add that.

good luck :)

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

I think her problem might be that your goals are not measurable. How will you know that you are able to successfully manage your time? How will you know that you have helped give them a sense of control? You need to be able to look back at the end of the partnership and be able to state whether you met your goals or not, and to do that you need specific and measurable criteria for each goal.

For your delegation goal- taking off physician's orders is not delegation. Why is something measurable or observable that you can do that will show you have learned to delegate?

Pathophys goal- nurses do not independently wean patients off ventilators. This is collaborative and something you need specific orders for. Perhaps a better goal would be learning to recognize the sons tht a patient is ready to be weaned (then list some) and effectively communicate your findings with the physician. But consider, what if there are no patients who are ready I be weaned while you are working? Then you won't be able to meet your goal. So maybe you should choose something you know you will be able to do, such as suctioning a trach correctly, or performing trach care.

[WanderingSagehen]

Goal #1 time management- I will check in with all my patients within a half-hour of receiving report to be able to determine who needs the most urgent attention. I agree #3 is very measurable and written more like a nursing diagnosis. The rest are vague.