Community and Behavior in Nursing

A). Practicing expressing opinions is not easy. Write about a time when in the clinical setting or in practice you: 

(1) Expressed your opinion and were glad you did 

Nurses’ expression of opinion is crucial to the improvement of care within a facility. It facilitates interprofessional collaboration to enhance patient’s health outcomes (Balzer, 2020). During my first year of practice, I shared my opinions on the facility's current information management practices. The hospital had a robust enterprise management platform, but the staff only utilized minimal features. After informing the hospital administration of the potential benefits of communication and data management that the platform could offer, they were willing to implement changes. I participated in the change process by educating staff on using the additional features of the platform.

(2) Did not share your opinion and regretted it 

Failure to communicate can also be costly. During the internship, I felt inadequate and relied on experienced nurses' insights. During an overtime shift, one senior nurse mistakenly failed to administer blood pressure medication to a patient. I did not inquire why but assumed that the physician had discontinued the prescription. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The patient's blood pressure rose uncontrollably a few hours later and led to the loss of consciousness. I regretted the incident since it led to avoidable agony for the patient.

(3) What you learned from these experiences. 

Both encounters exemplify the importance of communication. It is necessary to develop an open communication channel between senior staff and junior members, such as interns. It creates an atmosphere that enhances teamwork (Campbell et al., 2020). It also eliminates bureaucracies, promotes accountability, and thus improves care coordination. Where such channels are not elaborate, miscommunication could also affect patients through medical errors and information mix-up. Such cases jeopardize patient safety, experience, and satisfaction.

B). Receiving a performance evaluation is not easy. Write about a time when in the clinical setting or in practice, you were given an evaluation: 

(1) What were your thoughts or feelings about the way in which the evaluation was provided? 

I received an evaluation towards the end of my first nursing contract. I had not experienced an evaluation before, and hence I was nervous. The evaluator was either unaware of the fact that this was my first evaluation or seemed to ignore. Hence, they were visibly impatient with some of my inadequate responses. Also, they did not provide a layout of the session, and hence I would struggle to catch up with the procedure. Luckily, I passed my evaluation, probably because they realized later that I was completing my first professional contract.

(2) How could the experience have been improved? 

There are several ways in which the evaluation would have been better. First, interim reviews would have allowed better preparation for a first-time employee like myself. They also set the tone for the main evaluation interview and elaborate on the procedure and expectations. Next, at the start of the evaluation, the evaluator should have provided an overview of the meeting's agenda to prevent delays in determining the stages and their requirements. Finally, clear interviewee feedback would have allowed me to present concerns relating to my work and the evaluation procedure. It would have also enhanced future evaluations for new employees.

(3) Were there any barriers to communication? What were they? 

The main communication barrier was the bombarding of questions. Rather than using a single question-and-answer response, the evaluator would ask a group of questions at once and expect consecutive responses. Consequently, I would often request the evaluator to restate the question. The process was tedious and impeded the smooth flow of the evaluation process.

(4) What did you learn from the experience? 

Despite the difficulties in the evaluation process, the experience provided some vital lessons. First, the processes should be free of communication barriers to facilitate effective evaluation. Where communication is a challenge, both the interviewer and interviewee cannot express themselves efficiently (Soares et al., 2019). Thus, one may receive a poor assessment score despite having excellent career outcomes. The experience also taught me the importance of preparation. It allows the organization of thoughts and ideas and facilitates effective presentation. Overall, the experience was a building block towards future successes in professional evaluations.

References

Balzer, R. J. (2020). Communication in nursing (9th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.

Campbell, A. R., Layne, D., Scott, E. & Wei, H. (2020). Interventions to promote teamwork, delegation and communication among registered nurses and nursing assistants: An integrative review. Journal of Nursing Management , 28(7), 1465-1472. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13083

Soares, M. I., Leal, L. A., Resck, Z., Terra, F. S., Chaves, L., & Henriques, S. H. (2019). Competence-based performance evaluation in hospital nurses. Revista Latino-Americana de enfermagem , 27. https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.3173.3184