SMART GOALS PP REFLECTION
Domo0220
SMARTGoals2.pptxSMART Goals
NAME:
COURSE:
DATE:
Introduction
This term’s clinical experience presents a new opportunity to hone my clinical skills.
I intend to work on my shortcomings during the next months and seek constant feedback from my supervisor to track my progress.
In order to make this clinical experience more productive in the long run, I have identified five goals that I will work towards diligently achieving.
I believe that focusing on these goals will enable me to make up for my shortcomings.
I intend to utilize the practicum experience to sharpen my clinical skills and prepare myself to function as a competent, well-rounded and versatile nurse practitioner in future. I will be able to apply my learnt skills in the field to promote healthcare outcomes for patients and their families. During the practicum experience, there are specific goals I intend to accomplish to help me address areas where I may be inadequately competent. Improving these areas will equip me with the knowledge, attitude and skills to serve in various roles providing primary, acute, and specialty care across the lifespan.
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Goal 1
I will formulate at least two accurate patient diagnoses every day and seek feedback from my supervisor. I will incorporate their feedback each time I am formulating a new diagnosis so that by the end of my clinical experience I should receive minimal assistance.
Specific: To formulate diagnoses appropriate for my patients’ medical conditions.
Measurable: Formulating at least two diagnoses each day
I will work on integrating various clinical aspects to attain this goal. This is perhaps the most arduous goal requiring my unwavering commitment and dedication to learning. In order to formulate accurate diagnoses, I need to work on my history-taking skills coupled with my physical assessment skills.
With accurate history-taking and physical examination skills as a foundation, one can formulate an accurate diagnosis relatively easily.
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…Cont’d
3. Attainable: Setting daily targets makes the goal more achievable
4. Realistic: The goal is achievable based on my competency and the knowledge I have acquired thus far.
5. Time-bound: It should be attained before completing my clinical experience.
Additionally, nurse practitioners are tasked with other duties, including ordering and interpreting diagnostic tests like radiographs and laboratory tests (Cooper et al., 2019). I will spend time reviewing these evaluation modalities to assist me in identifying common disease processes and thus formulate accurate clinical diagnoses.
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Goal 2
Each month I will lean about three classes of medications and the pharmacotherapeutic principles around these drugs so that I become more comfortable in my role as a prescriber. By the beginning of the last month of the clinical experience I want to be able to prescribe medications accurately with minimal corrections from my supervisor.
Specific: Improve my knowledge on the principles of pharmacotherapeutics.
Measurable: I will track my progress by learning three drug classes monthly.
The process of prescribing medications is an iterative procedure requiring information gathering, decision-making and evaluation of the patient's condition. It ultimately results in the initiation, continuation or cessation of pharmacotherapy.
Over the next months, I look forward to better understanding pharmacotherapeutic principles by learning about medications, their mechanisms of action, and indications for use. By the end of this practicum experience, I want to be able to prescribe medications appropriately with minimal corrections from my supervisor.
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…Cont’d
3. Attainable: I am dedicated to learning the pharmacological principles of various drugs in a manageable fashion.
4. Realistic: Working in a clinical setting where drugs are dispensed daily, will enable me to gain nuances in prescribing medications.
5. Time-bound: The goal is to learn new drugs each month.
Nurse practitioners play an essential role in preventing patient harm through safe prescribing practices. According to Shrestha and Prajapati (2019), prescription errors account for about 30-70% of medication errors. Medication errors endanger patients' health, resulting in increased treatment costs and readmissions and can lead to mortality (Rasool et al., 2020).
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Goal 3
I will work to improve my communication skills by taking an online course on interpersonal communication strategies for eight weeks to improve my listening skills, verbal communications skills and non-verbal communication skills.
Specific: Improving communication skills
Measurable: By establishing a baseline of my current communication skills and comparing this to my skills at the end of the course to track progress
Fostering good communication practices is essential for guaranteeing successful outcomes in patient-centered approaches to care. However, in order to achieve this, nurse practitioners must demonstrate impeccable communication skills that incorporates both verbal and non-verbal skills. Additionally, they must demonstrate competency in other aspects of communication such as listening and writing skills.
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…Cont’d
3. Attainable: Working on various communication aspects makes the goal easily achievable.
4. Realistic: Since I will be constantly interacting with patients and other healthcare personnel, improving my communications skills should not be a tall order.
5. Time-bound: This goal should be achieved within two months.
In order to track progress, I will take an evaluation of my communication skills at the beginning of the training to be able to detect meaningful gains made in the subsequent weeks following training on how to improve my communication skills. Since communication encompasses vast competencies, working on each area at a time makes this goal easily attainable. The nature of my profession affords me multiple opportunities to practice my communication with patients and other healthcare personnel.
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Goal 4
I will spend time refreshing my cultural competency by undertaking cultural sensitivity classes to boost my cultural competency over the next six weeks.
Specific: Becoming more culturally competent
Measurable: Establishing baseline data and comparing against the results obtained at the end of the training
Attainable: With cultural sensitivity training, I will be able to increase my cultural competency
Realistic: The goal is achievable with unwavering dedication towards the attainment of the end-result
Time-bound: Over the course of six weeks
Today's patient populations are increasingly becoming culturally and linguistically diverse. Thus, for healthcare professionals, cultural competency skills are increasingly becoming vital in clinical practice. These skills are essential for professionals like nurse practitioners since they can potentially influence the quality of care. I thus want to work on becoming a more culturally competent professional. According to Sharifi et al. (2019), cultural competency is a principal foundation of nursing practice. It improves communication between the patient and healthcare provider, thus promoting dialogue essential to building trust and ensuring patient safety (Young and Guo, 2020). Attaining this goal will better equip me to work with patients from various backgrounds thus improve care among minority groups.
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Goal 5
I intend to improve my clinical skills by successfully performing one skill per day with minimal guidance from my supervisor.
Specific: Work on practical clinical skills
Measurable: Ensuring I complete at least one skill per day
Attainable: The goal is easily achievable since I will be actively participating in patient care.
Realistic: The practical competencies are professional requirements
Time-bound: By the end of the clinical experience
During the coming months, I intend to practice my clinical skills. These include becoming proficient at giving injections, fixing intravenous lines and improving on office procedures such as obtaining biopsies, performing wound debridement and perfecting my suturing skills. Each day, I will task myself with performing at least one of these procedures perfectly and by the end of the practicum, I should be proficient enough to require little or no supervision.
Possessing practical clinical skills is especially important in today’s practice environment. These skills enable one to link their theoretical knowledge to real-life scenarios and thus make better clinicians.
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Conclusion
These SMART goals will serve as a road map guiding my clinical experience.
Over the coming months, I will dedicate myself to attaining these goals by diligently striving to meet my short-term objectives that will eventually build up to the full achievement of the goals.
Working on these areas where my competency is lacking will enable me to become a better nurse practitioner capable of performing the duties of my profession exceptionally well.
The next coming months offer a unique opportunity for addressing gaps in my theoretical and practical knowledge. I look forward to the challenge I have laid out for myself of attaining established goals to address some of my shortcomings as an aspiring nurse practitioner. I will be sure to hold myself accountable over the next months and constantly carry out a periodic evaluation to track my progress over the coming weeks. During this time, I will utilize all available resources at my disposal to assist me in achieving my goals.
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References
Cooper, M. A., McDowell, J., Raeside, L., & ANP–CNS Group. (2019). The similarities and differences between advanced nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists. British Journal of Nursing, 28(20), 1308-1314. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2019.28.20.1308
Rasool, M. F., Rehman, A. U., Imran, I., Abbas, S., Shah, S., Abbas, G., ... & Hayat, K. (2020). Risk factors associated with medication errors among patients suffering from chronic disorders. Frontiers in public health, 8, 531038. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.531038
Sharifi, N., Adib-Hajbaghery, M., & Najafi, M. (2019). Cultural competence in nursing: A concept analysis. International journal of nursing studies, 99, 103386.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2019.103386
Shrestha, R., & Prajapati, S. (2019). Assessment of prescription pattern and prescription error in outpatient Department at Tertiary Care District Hospital, Central Nepal. Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice, 12(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40545-019-0177-y
Young, S., & Guo, K. L. (2020). Cultural diversity training: the necessity of cultural competence for health care providers and in nursing practice. The health care manager, 39(2), 100-108. doi: 10.1097/HCM.0000000000000294
