Week 1 discussion
DQ1 Why I Chose to Pursue a DNP Degree
How did you decide on pursuing a doctorate? How did you
decide that a DNP was right for you and your career goals? What are your
short-term and long-term career goals? Include the goal you hope to accomplish
as a result of obtaining this degree.
DQ2 Practice Problem in Two Distinct Statements
You will be learning about your DNP project and perfecting
the ideas you have about this as you go along in the program — ideas will be
added and you’ll frame your project question in the PICOt format (more on that
later). For now, begin thinking about an organization that may need a practice
change or a quality improvement effort. You will build your project idea from
that base of awareness and information.
To begin, recognize that you have been gathering assessment
data for many years as a nurse. You are observing, listening, analyzing,
discussing situations in health care related to quality, leadership, safety,
cost and access. You have listened to patients and families, you have read
about issues that concern you, you have listened to subordinates and superiors
and you know inside your own mind, that there are possibilities that haven’t
been tapped yet to improve the health care system and delivery of care.
In this post please describe an idea you have (problem that
you have noticed) about an organizational need for practice change to improve
health outcomes, cost or access; or an organizational need for quality
improvement.
What have you seen that could be addressed by a clinical
leader? Don’t worry about having a refined idea yet — just say what you see as
a problem, and suggest a set of ideas you may have for solving it.
An example might be that you have witnessed bullying in the
work place and you’d like to intervene by providing nurses with tools to interfere
with bullying when it happens and an “on the floor” coaching program
to facilitate the nurses’ implementation of their anti-bullying tools.
Another example may be that clinic nurses are not addressing
smoking with stop smoking interventions and you’d like to intervene by teaching
the nurses ways to address smoking and encourage them to commit to addressing
every smoking patient with a smoking cessation intervention. You also want to
assure that this change takes place after intervention so you will audit the
charts and give feedback to the nurses on their progress.
What ideas to solve practice problems do you have? Review
the lesson for this week and remember to state the problem in two distinct
statements: (a) the problem and (b) the etiology. Finish your post by thinking
about and then writing, what kinds of interventions would work to resolve the
causes of the problem.
