Service Learning Reflection Paper

Service Learning Reflection Paper

The service that we selected as a group was to visit EKG center where we learned many things that are of significance to our study. The facility hosted by the St Joseph Hospital was an emergency center that offered free checkup to the public. We had an opportunity to visit the AKG room, and we got a chance to interact with 70 patients. The experience was good, and we learned how to read the EKG strip and apply most of the things that we had learned in class. The experience will be of help in our studies and also in nursing practice in future. Our interactions with the patients were part of the learning that gave use confidence that we were prepared to undertake nursing practice. The management of the hospital cooperated, and we had a successful service learning. We also ensured that we had impacted the lives of the patients that we got at the facility.
The agency that we selected was an EKG Center. The EKG Center is a facility that is of great significance because it is involved in recording heart’s electrical activity. The information obtained from an EKG is used by medical professional to ascertain the regularity of the heartbeats, possible abnormal condition, the strength and the timing of the electrical signals, and heart rate. The location was perfect for the learning project because most of the things that were to be learned are applicable in daily lives. The procedure is also painless, and it was a good experience because we could encourage people to undertake the test.

We planned to visit the facility in a group and set out some objectives of the visit. We started by discussing on what we were going to achieve by the end of the visit. Further, we discussed the importance of the visit to out learning. We decided on the materials to carry. Further, we wrote a letter to request for permission from the authorities to be allowed to visit the hospital. The preparation took about three days because we waited to get a response from the facility. Additionally, during that period, we were able to prepare writing and data collecting materials to be used during the visit. After getting the approval from the facility we visited them and stayed there for about four hours.
We visited St. Joseph Hospital which is in the Orange County. The visit took place on December 2, 2016. The facility was not far, so we took about an hour to arrive. The hospital is the largest Heart and Vascular Center in the region.
I played a significant role in the service learning activity. First, I was the one who wrote the letter to the authorities to request for permission. Therefore, my colleagues chose me to represent them as their leader throughout the service learning activity. I took charge requesting for entry in various offices. I also led the other students to EKG room where we were allowed to undertake some test and reading the EKG Strips (Osorio, 2014).
The another crucial role I played during the service learning activity was that I was the one who was tasked with selecting the facility to visit. I evaluated the options that I had and decided that visiting the St. Joseph Hospital. The visit to that hospital would have been of great importance to our studies. The task was tough because I had to convince other students the reason as to why I selected that particular hospital. They agree, and we wrote a letter to request for permission.
During the session, I came across many people of different ages. The practitioners allowed us to conduct the test for 70 patients in the facility. I encountered one of the patients who had to be diagnosed with a heart problem and was about ninety years old. I also came across a child with a similar problem who was about thirteen months of age. So I performed the tests on them.
During the experience, I learned how to use ECG monitor which used a simulated patient monitor. Further, I learned about 12 Lead EKG and also went through the electrocardiograms in the offices and their interpretation which will be of great help in the course of my studies.
One thing that I would change about the service learning activity would be to ensure that I have done something to impact the life of a patient. It is always good to have an impact on the patients whenever one visits the facilities (Osorio, 2014).
This activity will have an impact on my nursing practice in future because I interacted with patients and learned how to handle them. Additionally, I had the opportunity to operate an EKG hence applying what I had learned in class. These are lessons that I would be able to apply in nursing practice in future.
My participation in the hospital for the learning activity is likely to change individuals in understanding that nurses are there to assist them they undergo through their treatment. Additionally, the another change that they are likely to experience is that nurses are friendly and as patients, they should be free to communicate their problems with the nurses.
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References
Osorio, I. (2014). Automated seizure detection using EKG. International journal of neural systems, 24(02), 1450001.