Week 1 assignment Individual Success Plan (ISP)

Week 1 assignment Individual Success Plan (ISP)

Planning is the key to successful completion of this course and your overall program of study. The Individual Success Plan (ISP) assignment requires early collaboration with the course faculty and your course mentor. You will need to establish a plan for successful completion of (1) deliverables associated with weekly course objectives, (2), required practice immersion hours, and (3) deliverables associated with your capstone project.

Access the “Individual Success Plan” resource in the Topic Materials. Read the information in the resource, including student expectations and instructions for completing the ISP document.

Use the “Individual Success Plan” to develop a personal plan for completing your practice hours and how topic objectives will be met. Include the number of hours you plan to set aside to meet your goals.

A combination of 100 supervised clinical hours in community health and leadership areas will be obtained through the application of the objectives listed in the Guidelines for Undergraduate Field Experiences manual.

Practicum immersion experiences are required in a community health setting. Community-based settings should encourage community integration and involvement; expand accessibility of services and supports; promote personal preference, strengths, dignity; and empower people to participate in the economic mainstream.

According to HealthyPeople.gov, educational and community-based programs and strategies are designed to reach people outside of traditional health care settings. These settings may include schools, worksites, health care facilities, and communities. Community health and leadership practice immersion can occur in the same site and in conjunction with the evidence-based project in the NRS-490 course.

If you are a registered nurse in Washington, your practicum experience must include a minimum of 50 hours in a community health setting.

Students should apply concepts from prior courses to critically examine and improve their current practice. Students should also integrate scholarly readings to develop case reports that demonstrate increasingly complex and proficient practice

Consider the challenges you expect to encounter as you continue the practice hour and competency requirements throughout this course. How might you overcome these challenges?

You can renegotiate these deliverables with your faculty and mentor throughout this course and update your ISP accordingly.

Once your ISP has been developed and accepted by your course faculty, you will have your course mentor sign it at the beginning of, and upon completion of, each assignment that incorporates practice immersion hours. You will track all course practice immersion hours in the ISP.

APA format is not required, but solid academic writing is expected.

You are not required to submit this assignment to Turnitin.

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Complete Contact Information

Student Information

GCU

Name:

E-mail:

Phone Number:

Course Faculty Information

GCU

Name:

E-mail:

Phone Number:

Practicum Mentor Information

Practice Setting

Name:

E-mail:

Phone Number:

MOU signed & uploaded to Instructor in LoudCloud via Individual Forum

Yes ??

No ??

If no, is an existing Affiliation Agreement on file? _____

ISP Instructions

Use this form to develop your Individual Success Plan (ISP) for NRS-490, the Professional Capstone and Practicum course. An individual success plan maps out what you, the RN-to-BSN student, needs to accomplish in order to be successful as you work through this course and complete your overall program of study. You will also share this with your mentor at the beginning and end of this course so that he or she will know what you need to accomplish.

Application-based learning assignments are listed in the course syllabus with a Practice Portfolio Statement requirement element noted within the assignment itself. In order for you to successfully complete and graduate from the RN-to-BSN Program you must meet the following programmatic requirements: (1) completion of 100 practice immersion hours, and (2) completion of work associated with all program competencies.

In this ISP, you will identify all of the objectives, tasks, and/or assignments relating to the 100 practice immersion hours you need to complete by the end of this course. Specify the dates by which you will complete each tasks and/or assignments. Your plan should include a self-assessment of how you met all applicable GCU RN-to-BSN Domains & Competencies (see Appendix A).

ALL course assignments listing a “Practice Hours Portfolio” statement must be included in the ISP and are worth and recorded here as approximately 10 hours each. Actual clock hours must be recorded on this time log.

General Requirements

Use the following information to ensure successful completion of each assignment as it pertains to deliverables due in this course:

• Use the Individual Success Plan to develop a personal plan for completing your practice immersion hours and self-assess how you will meet the GCU RN-to-BSN University Mission Critical Competencies and the Programmatic Domains & Competencies (Appendix A) related to that course.

Show all of the major deliverables in the course, the topic/course objectives that apply to each deliverable, and lastly, align each deliverable to the applicable University Mission Critical Competencies and the course-specific Domains and Competencies (Appendix A).

Completing your ISP does not earn practice hours, nor does telephone conference time, or time spent with your mentor.

• Within the Individual Success Plan, ensure you identify all course assignments which may include the following: Memorandums of Understanding (MOU)(if Affiliation Agreement is not required); comprehensive log of practice immersion hours applied to baccalaureate level learning outcomes; evaluations from faculty and mentors; your evaluations of your mentor; scholarly activity report; competency self-assessment (part of your ISP); reflective journal (Submitted in Week 10 but covering all weeks in the course); course goals and plan for how competencies and practice immersion hours will be met; and both faculty and mentor approvals of course goals and documented practice immersion hours.

Application-based Learning Course Assignments

List of Current Course Objectives

Number of Clock Hours Associated with Each Assignment

Assignment

Date Due

Self-Assessment:

GCU RN-to-BSN

University Mission Critical Competencies and

Programmatic Domains & Competencies

(see Appendix A)

Date

Assignment

Completed

By typing in his/her signature below, the student agrees to have read, understood, and be accountable for the instructions, assignments, and hours shown above and that all questions have been satisfactorily answered by the faculty and/or program director.

Mentors will sign upon initial receipt and at the end of the course to confirm that assignments have been complete with your guidance.

Student Signature

Name:

Date:

Mentor Signature [Upon Initiation of Course]

Name:

Date:

Mentor Signature [Upon Completion of Course]

Name:

Date:

APPENDIX A:

GCU RN-to-BSN Domains & Competencies

A. University’s Mission Critical Competencies

How does this Individual Success Plan support the GCU Mission?

MC1: Effective Communication: Therapeutic communication is central to baccalaureate nursing practice. Students gain an understanding of their ethical responsibility and how verbal and written communication affects others intellectually and emotionally. Students begin to use nursing terminology and taxonomies within the practice of professional and therapeutic communication. Courses require students to write scholarly papers, prepare presentations, develop persuasive arguments, and engage in discussion that is clear, assertive, and respectful.

MC2: Critical Thinking: Courses require students to use critical thinking skills by analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating scientific evidence needed to improve patient outcomes and professional practice.

MC3: Christian Worldview: Students will apply a Christian worldview within a global society and examine ethical issues from the framework of a clearly articulated system of professional values. Students will engage in discussion of values-based decisions made from a Christian perspective.

MC4: Global Awareness, Perspectives, and Ethics: The concept of global citizenship is introduced to baccalaureate students in the foundational curriculum. Some courses will focus on the human experience across the world health continuum. The World Health Organization (WHO) definitions of health, health disparities, and determinants of health are foundational to nursing practice.

MC5: Leadership: Students will apply a Christian worldview within a global society and examine ethical issues from the framework of a clearly articulated system of professional values. Students will engage in discussion of values-based decisions made from a Christian perspective.

B. Domains and Competencies

How does this Individual Success Plan support the Program Domains and Competencies?

Domain 1: Professional Role

Graduates of Grand Canyon University’s RN-BSN program will be able to incorporate professional values to advance the nursing profession through leadership skills, political involvement, and life-long learning.

Competencies:

1.1: Exemplify professionalism in diverse health care settings.

1.2: Manage patient care within the changing environment of the health care system.

1.3: Exercise professional nursing leadership and management roles in the promotion of patient safety and quality care.

1.4: Participate in health care policy development to influence nursing practice and health care.

1.5: Advocate for autonomy and social justice for individuals and diverse populations.

Domain 2: Theoretical Foundations of Nursing Practice

Graduates of Grand Canyon University’s RN-BSN program will have acquired a body of nursing knowledge built on a theoretical foundation of liberal arts, science, and nursing concepts that will guide professional practice.

Competencies:

2.1: Incorporate liberal arts and science studies into nursing knowledge.

2.2: Comprehend nursing concepts and health theories.

2.3: Understand and value the processes of critical thinking, ethical reasoning, and decision making.

Domain 3: Nursing Practice

Graduates of Grand Canyon University’s RN-BSN program will be able to utilize the nursing process to provide safe quality care based on nursing best practices.

Competencies:

3.1: Utilize the nursing process to provide safe and effective care for patients across the health-illness continuum: promoting, maintaining, and restoring health; preventing disease; and facilitating a peaceful death.

3.2: Implement patient care decisions based on evidence-based practice.

3.3: Provide individualized education to diverse patient populations in a variety of health care settings.

3.4: Demonstrate professional standards of practice.

Domain 4: Communication/Informatics

Graduates of Grand Canyon University’s RN-BSN program will be able to manage information and technology to provide safe quality care in a variety of settings. In addition, graduates will be able to communicate therapeutically and professionally to produce positive working relationships with patients and health care team members.

Competencies:

4.1: Utilize patient care technology and information management systems.

4.2: Communicate therapeutically with patients.

4.3: Professionally communicate and collaborate with the interdisciplinary health care teams to provide safe and effective care.

Domain 5: Holistic Patient Care

Graduates of Grand Canyon University’s RN-BSN program will be able to provide holistic individualized care that is sensitive to cultural and spiritual aspects of the human experience.

Competencies:

5.1: Understand the human experience across the health-illness continuum.

5.2: Assess for the spiritual needs and provide appropriate interventions for individuals, families, and groups.

5.3: Provide culturally sensitive care.

5.4: Preserve the integrity and human dignity in the care of all patients.

Week 2 assignment

Capstone Project Topic Selection and Approval

In collaboration with your approved course mentor, you will identify a specific evidence-based practice proposal topic for the capstone project. Consider the clinical environment in which you are currently working or have recently worked. The capstone project topic can be a clinical practice problem, an organizational issue, a quality improvement suggestion, a leadership initiative, or an educational need appropriate to your area of interest as well as your practice immersion (practicum) setting. Examples of the integration of community health, leadership, and an EBP can be found on the “Educational and Community-Based Programs” page of the Healthy People 2020 website.

Write a 500-750 word description of your proposed capstone project topic. Make sure to include the following:

The problem, issue, suggestion, initiative, or educational need that will be the focus of the project

The setting or context in which the problem, issue, suggestion, initiative, or educational need can be observed.

A description providing a high level of detail regarding the problem, issue, suggestion, initiative, or educational need.

Impact of the problem, issue, suggestion, initiative, or educational need on the work environment, the quality of care provided by staff, and patient outcomes.

Significance of the problem, issue, suggestion, initiative, or educational need and its implications to nursing.

A proposed solution to the identified project topic

You are required to retrieve and assess a minimum of 8 peer-reviewed articles. Plan your time accordingly to complete this assignment.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

You are required to submit this assignment to Turnitin. Please refer to the directions in the Student Success Center.

Week 3 assignment

PICOT Statement Paper

Review the Topic Materials and the work completed in NRS-433V to formulate a PICOT statement for your capstone project.

A PICOT starts with a designated patient population in a particular clinical area and identifies clinical problems or issues that arise from clinical care. The intervention should be an independent, specified nursing change intervention. The intervention cannot require a provider prescription. Include a comparison to a patient population not currently receiving the intervention, and specify the timeframe needed to implement the change process.

Formulate a PICOT statement using the PICOT format provided in the assigned readings. The PICOT statement will provide a framework for your capstone project.

In a paper of 500-750 words, clearly identify the clinical problem and how it can result in a positive patient outcome.

Make sure to address the following on the PICOT statement:

Evidence-Based Solution

Nursing Intervention

Patient Care

Health Care Agency

Nursing Practice

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to Turnitin. Please refer to the directions in the Student Success Center.

Week 6 assignment

Literature Evaluation Table

In nursing practice, accurate identification and application of research is essential to achieving successful outcomes. Being able to articulate the information and successfully summarize relevant peer-reviewed articles in a scholarly fashion helps to support the student’s ability and confidence to further develop and synthesize the progressively more complex assignments that constitute the components of the course change proposal capstone project.

For this assignment, the student will provide a synopsis of eight peer-reviewed articles from nursing journals using an evaluation table that determines the level and strength of evidence for each of the eight articles. The articles should be current within the last 5 years and closely relate to the PICOT statement developed earlier in this course. The articles may include quantitative research, descriptive analyses, longitudinal studies, or meta-analysis articles. A systematic review may be used to provide background information for the purpose or problem identified in the proposed capstone project. Use the “Literature Evaluation Table” resource to complete this assignment.

While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and in-text citations and references should be presented using APA documentation guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are not required to submit this assignment to Turnitin.

Week 8 assignment

Literature Review

While the implementation plan prepares students to apply their research to the problem or issue they have identified for their capstone change proposal project, the literature review enables students to map out and move into the active planning and development stages of the project.

A literature review analyzes how current research supports the PICOT, as well as identifies what is known and what is not known in the evidence. Students will use the information from the earlier PICOT Statement Paper and Literature Evaluation Table assignments to develop a 750-1,000 word review that includes the following sections:

Title page

Introduction section

A comparison of research questions

A comparison of sample populations

A comparison of the limitations of the study

A conclusion section, incorporating recommendations for further research

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to Turnitin. Please refer to the directions in the Student Success Center.

Week 11 assignment

Benchmark – Capstone Project Change Proposal

In this assignment, students will pull together the change proposal project components they have been working on throughout the course to create a proposal inclusive of sections for each content focus area in the course. At the conclusion of this project, the student will be able to apply evidence-based research steps and processes required as the foundation to address a clinically oriented problem or issue in future practice.

Students will develop a 1,250-1,500 word paper that includes the following information as it applies to the problem, issue, suggestion, initiative, or educational need profiled in the capstone change proposal:

Background

Problem statement

Purpose of the change proposal

PICOT

Literature search strategy employed

Evaluation of the literature

Applicable change or nursing theory utilized

Proposed implementation plan with outcome measures

Identification of potential barriers to plan implementation, and a discussion of how these could be overcome

Appendix section, if tables, graphs, surveys, educational materials, etc. are created

Review the feedback from your instructor on the Topic 3 assignment, PICOT Statement Paper, and Topic 6 assignment, Literature Review. Use the feedback to make appropriate revisions to the portfolio components before submitting.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to Turnitin. Please refer to the directions in the Student Success Center.

Week 12 assignment

Benchmark – Professional Capstone and Practicum Reflective Journal

Students are required to maintain weekly reflective narratives throughout the course to combine into one course-long reflective journal that integrates leadership and inquiry into current practice as it applies to the Professional Capstone and Practicum course.

In your journal, you will reflect on the personal knowledge and skills gained throughout this course. The journal should address a variable combination of the following, depending on your specific practice immersion clinical experiences:

New practice approaches

Intraprofessional collaboration

Health care delivery and clinical systems

Ethical considerations in health care

Population health concerns

The role of technology in improving health care outcomes

Health policy

Leadership and economic models

Health disparities

Students will outline what they have discovered about their professional practice, personal strengths and weaknesses that surfaced, additional resources and abilities that could be introduced to a given situation to influence optimal outcomes, and finally, how the student met the competencies aligned to this course.

While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and in-text citations and references should be presented using APA documentation guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to Turnitin. Please refer to the directions in the Student Success Center.

Week 12 assignment

Scholarly Activities

Throughout the RN-to-BSN program, students are required to participate in scholarly activities outside of clinical practice or professional practice. Examples of scholarly activities include attending conferences, seminars, journal club, grand rounds, morbidity and mortality meetings, interdisciplinary committees, quality improvement committees, and any other opportunities available at your site, within your community, or nationally.

You are required to post one scholarly activity while you are in the BSN program, which should be documented by the end of this course. In addition to this submission, you are required to be involved and contribute to interdisciplinary initiatives on a regular basis.

Submit, as the assignment, a summary report of the scholarly activity, including who, what, where, when and any relevant take-home points. Include the appropriate program competencies associated with the scholarly activity as well as future professional goals related to this activity. You may use the “Scholarly Activity Summary” resource to help guide this assignment.

While APA format is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and in-text citations and references should be presented using APA documentation guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

You are not required to submit this assignment to Turnitin.

This document describes the scholarly activity elements that should be included in a five paragraph summary. You may use this resource to help guide the preparation of the Scholarly Activities assignment, due in Topic 10.

Overview

This section consists of a single paragraph that succinctly describes the scholarly activity that you attended/participated in, the target market for the activity, and the benefit of the activity to you.

Problem

This section consists of either a short narrative or a list of bullet points that concisely identifies the problems the scholarly activity is designed to solve. Educate: What is the current state of the activity topic? Explain why this is a problem, and for whom is it a problem? Inspire: What could a nurse achieve by participating in the scholarly activity? Use declarative sentences with simple words to communicate each point. Less is more.

Solution

This section consists of either a short paragraph or a list of bullet points that concisely describes the solution to a proposed practice problem that the scholarly activity addressed and how it addresses the problem outlined in the previous section.

Opportunity

This section consists of short paragraphs that define the opportunity that the scholarly activity is designed to capture. It is important to cover the objectives and goals that were met. How will attending/participating in this scholarly activity help you grow as a nurse?

Program Competencies Addressed

This section consists of a list of program competencies that were addressed in this scholarly activity. Please use the list from the ISP.