Discussion Looking Ahead to Your Practicum Experience

Discussion: Looking Ahead to Your Practicum Experience
I have chosen Dermatology as my clinical specialty for this practicum experience. Dermatology is a very crucial aspect of clinical health care that deals with skin care. However, I believe there is little awareness regarding the importance of skin care. My interest in Dermatology stems from a history of skin cancer in my immediate family. It is unfortunate, but it has set me on a career path to increase awareness of skin care through educating other people. My primary goal in picking Dermatology as my clinical specialty is to identify skin disorders, develop treatment plans for the recognized diseases and to train new nurses on the role of Dermatology in our lives.

According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) (2009), through the MSN program, I am expected to achieve liberal education for baccalaureate generalist nursing practice. This entails the provision of local, national, and international experiences which are aimed to bring about reflection among different communities, organizations, and cultures. This also includes promotion of projects and activities among students from various fields with the aim of addressing issues affecting the community such as negligence of the skin. I am also expected to achieve baccalaureate generalist nursing practice. This includes providing students with an opportunity to access patient education materials for both linguistic and cultural appropriateness. The students should also have a chance to provide care to a group of patients while delegating duties, supervising the process, and evaluating the outcome of the process.

As mentioned earlier, skin care is a neglected area when it comes to health care. By creating awareness in this area, I will be able to grow as an advanced nurse educator. Focusing on my specialty of interest, which is Dermatology, I will be exposed to more information on this area through research and interacting with experts in this area. This will make me a better nurse educator and help me grow.
The guidelines provided by the MSN Essentials will have a significant influence on my practicum experience. For the best outcome from the MSN program, I will interact with people of great diversity. This will be aimed at gathering experiences from different communities and cultures regarding their skin care practice. As an advanced nurse educator, I am therefore required to be able to interact with diverse people from different communities and cultures. This will be helpful in the provision of local, national, and international experiences which are aimed to bring about reflection among different populations, organizations, and cultures. I am also supposed to be organized since as an educator, I will have to schedule activities and carefully manage time. My organization will be helpful when delegating duties to students while they are providing care to a group of patients.

Objectives that could help to guide my development during my practicum (Wittmann-Price & Fasolka, 2010);
To gather experiences on skin care practices from different communities of people
To learn different teaching techniques that may be effective for new nurses
To improve inter-professional skills
For my practicum experience, I chose Dermatology as my clinical specialty. Under this specialty, I hope to learn to identify skin disorders and develop treatment plans. The goal is to educate new nurses eventually. Through research, professional dermatology organizations and other dermatologists, I will expand my current knowledge on the area. Dermatology is a wide area, more information on skin care becomes available every day. Specialization in this area will increase my experience in the field hence making me a better-advanced nurse educator.

As identified in the objectives, I hope to improve my inter-professional skills. The aim of improving inter-professional skills is to become more of a team member (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013). I plan to accomplish this objective during my practicum experience. Examples of inter-professional skills include communication, coordination, assertiveness, and mutual respect and trust. Improvements in these skills will facilitate my professional growth. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) (2009), Essential VI focuses on inter-professional collaboration and communication. This is aimed at improving the quality of health care.
References
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2009). Nurse Faculty Tool Kit for the Implementation of the Baccalaureate Essentials.
Laureate Education, Inc. (2013). Course Overview and Advice Program Transcript.
Wittmann-Price, R., & Fasolka, B. (2010). Objectives and Outcomes: The Fundamental Difference. Nursing Education Perspectives, 31(4), 233-236.