At the final week, I feel so comfortable at the internship place as i was already familiarize myself with the mentors, residents, co workers and the environment in general. I continued taking care of my assigned patients, documentation and nursing care plan, working closely with end of life patients. The final week is like a reflection of what i have learnt so far from the first to the fifth week. Therefore, I have fulfilled my goals at the internship place, below is the summary of my learning goals.
CLINICAL NURSING: I feel fulfilled to accomplish all my clinical goals I sets for myself at the start of internship. My clinical goals were Vital signs, ABCDE, patient medication, working ergonomically and patients identity. Fortunately, I managed to add some clinical knowledge to my learning goals at the internship place such as Fistula and giving Novorapid to patients. It was a privilege to practice all these clinical goals mentioned above with patients during the five weeks of internship.
LEARNING SKILLS: It was a good experience while learning from my mentor. Sequels to my learning goals at start of internship, I am a fast learner and open to correction when i make mistakes. In the first two weeks at the care home, I barely ask feedback from my mentor or set proper goals for the new week. I made mistakes at the first time i took blood samples from the resident, my mentor correct me and show me how to do it in a proper way. During the third week, my mentor corrected me on these problem and advised on how to work on it. I managed to work on these corrections and learn from other mistakes when corrected.
Ethical competence and professionalism: Nursing is a profession which is guided by rules and regulations all nurses must abide by such as: honesty, empathy, integrity, accountability, human dignity and so on. I aimed to work ethically and abide by rules and regulation during the internship period. I was able to work ethically and abide by all rules and regulations with the residents, staff, and the environment generally. Therefore, I assist residents with their bathing, feeding, care and protect them from.
Guidance and teaching: I am so lucky to have my mentors at the placement, I was thought in a best possible way. Working closely with my mentors have increased my confidence level with the residents, staffs and the environment. I have difficulties in Finnish language and it makes it difficult for me to have a proper communication with patients sometimes. At the start of the second week, my mentor printed some Finnish words commonly used with the patients on a daily basis, she suggested i study them independently and use those words with residents. Sometimes i use English language to communicate with the residents and my mentor translate these words to the patients to have an effective communication. These process was view as a learning process which enable me to learn Finnish language on a daily basis.
Patient safety and quality of social and health care services: This is one of the most important aspects of nursing and I believe patients safety is very important. As a nurse, it is my responsibility to keep and protect my patient’s privacy private and not disclose it with anyone. During my five weeks of training, I keep the resident privacy private as much as possible.
Working community competence: Prior to my experience working in Finnish community, I have little experience with the environment. The internship place has been a very good place for me in all ramification. I managed to create good relationship with the residents, co-workers, mentors and residents relative during my internship. I can categorically say that i managed to work with almost all the co workers at least once during this period. It was a nice learning experience working with different co workers. Similarly, I have good relationship with almost all the residents as well especially the ones i was assigned to.
In conclusion, I am happy to have achieved all the six learning goals and objectives i sets for myself at the start of the internship. The internship place is a good citadel of learning and I feel privilege and fulfilled to work with my mentors, co-workers and all the residents at Mantykampus. I believe all the knowledge acquired at the internship place would be beneficial and assist me in the future.
My gratitude goes to Savonia University Of Applied Sciences for giving this amazing opportunity to have the first internship at Vainola, Mantykampus.
Learning:
Alabi started his learnin from the basics. He performed the entry level description as instructed. We think he has some improving to do with his reflecting. He asks and listens to feedback but sometimes it takes time for him to learn new things. He sets goals for himself and asks guidance for it but he could bring up more verbal evaluation of his skills, also the reflection on the blog takes place later. How has he reached his goal. He needs to work on justifying his actions and choises with theorical knowledge. He expects us mentors to teach him things that we think he should find out himself, and that he should let us know what kind of theorical knowledge he has.
Ethics/professionalism:
Alabi works professionally and responsibly. He follows teh work schedule and informs us if he is sick and can not come to work. He treats the residents with compassion and respect but needs to improve his interaction with the residents. Lack of finish language is a big problem for his learning in this environment. He plans his daily tasks with his mentor according to the units daily rhythm. He just needs little bit more self-confidence when treating clients. He looks for assurance from his mentors in everyday tasks, even in the last days of this internship. This skill does develop as the studies progress.
Clinical competence:
Alabi has been practicing ABCDE and has made some improvement in his learning. He still has a lot to learn. But now he has got good start for it. He knows how to help patients with different needs in their daily living. He takes in consideration their different conditions and unique abilities. He has started to understand the meaning and content of the care plan. He has been practicing making a care plan and daily documentation. He has also learned how to work ergonomically.
He has implemented medication for patients daily (oral, subcutanious injection, supposetorys, eye drops, nasal spray).
Guidance / safety:
Alabi tries to guide the clients within his finish language skills in daily activities. He opens the door for visitors and helps them go to the clients rooms. He understands the importance of rehabilitative approach and does not compromise patient safety.
Work community competence:
Alabi acts as a member of the work community. He gets along well with everyone. He is easy to work with. He understands his own professional role and works accordingly.
Internship is approved!!
Your tutor nurses:
Auli Heikkinen and Vilhelmiina Mukala
Mäntykampus Väinölä
Dear Alabi,
Going through your entire five weeks nursing assessment and intervention internship, it is evident that you have developed week by week, gaining and developing new skills and experience that key in your career development, this is outstanding.
This being your first internship, you have taken a keen and active role in your learning process, actively seeking information and putting them into practice, receiving feedback and applying them to improve your work. This demonstrates your desire to learn and is quite remarkable, keep this up into your next internship and into the working life.
During this internship, It is clear based on your weekly reflection and our discussion during the mid evaluation, that you have been able to acquire new skills in assisting elderly patients with activities of daily living, practiced nursing interventions such as monitoring vitals signs, improved you assessment skills using ABCDE , administered medication safely. This is commendable, keep building on the good work.
It is evident that you achieved the goals set out for this internship and the goals that you had set out for yourself. Keep up the exceptional work, and the good qualities that you have gained in this internship, and continue to practice more clinical skills that you were not able to carryout during this internship into the next internship. I hope that this internship has helped to develop basic nursing care skills and approach to care.
The internship has been Approved!