Need help with journal entry

VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN · Jul 19, 2005

Hello :)
I need help with a "journal" entry.
I have clinicals over the summer and my site is an Adult Day Care facility.
The professor says that every week after the visit, I need to hand in a "journal entry".
The journal entry is obviously supposed to summarise my day there but it is also supposed to be "nursing specific" - as in what kinda nursing important stuff happened over the day and what you/I felt was significant etc. etc.
Meaning - the professor doesn't want the journal entry to be a mere summary of the day but something with perhaps a bit more. Say with some critical thinking thrown in.
Now I know it was just the first day - all we did was site tour, went over a ****load of paperwork (I kid you not. It took three hours just to finalise the paperwork :uhoh21: ) and met with some residents.
That's it.
So I'm thinking - what the heck am I supposed to include on the journal entry and make it sound far more interesting than a 'summary'
Any help will be gladly appreciated.
Plus, I wil lalso send over a virtual cookie :)
Thank You!

Basically, you only need to ask a few selective questions as you make an entry into your journal: "What did you do?" "How could you do it differently?" "What could have been changed?" Also, and most importantly, "What did you learn?" Remember, your teacher is much more interested in quality than quantity and in seeing evidence of your personal growth through reflection. Hope this helps :)

leslie :-D · Jul 19, 2005

since you spent much of your day doing paperwork, what did you notice about the environment? anything specific stand out about any of the patients or how the facility was run? what were your observations? any needs you could anticipate in any pt you saw? what and how would you go about implementing change?

also make sure that you mention that most of the day was filling out papers and did not get the opportunity to meet w/pts.

what kind of adult day care is it? respite? what type of population? alzheimer's? do they live at home? how do you think this impacts the family process?

i ask these questions as i know nothing about what type of facility-adult daycare can be misinterpreted into a variety of definitions but the questions can also steer you in the direction that your instructor is looking for.

leslie

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jul 19, 2005

Also, what was the paperwork about and how does it relate to how the nurses do their job.

Good luck.

Interesting choice of clinical site. I would think they would pick a site with more acute patients, so you can learn a bit. But I'm sure you'll make the most of it!

leslie :-D · Jul 19, 2005

Also, what was the paperwork about and how does it relate to how the nurses do their job.

GREAT point tweety. even if the paperwork was irrelevant to anything, he could still correlate it to the paperwork involved in nsg; the duplication or triplication of notes or even how much of nsg is turning into a paperless system. yours was the best point made, no doubt.

leslie

Roy Fokker, BSN, RN · Jul 19, 2005

Brilliant!

What would I DO without you guys?!! :)

THANK YOU! Your virtual cookies are being mailed