Achieving core and specialty competencies is of significance for DNP learners since it ensures that they gain knowledge and skills that are essential for their future professional activity. That is why it is reasonable to involve in evaluating whether the scientific activity and practice immersion hours contribute to reaching this result. Thus, the given paper will comment on how I have achieved five course outcomes and present my self-reflection regarding the work made.
Nursing and science-based theories play a significant role in my professional area. That is why I invested many efforts to ensure that I used and integrated them during my coursework. For example, these approaches helped me identify that creating interdisciplinary research and practice themes is a valuable activity. The rationale behind this claim refers to the fact that multiple course assignments revealed the significance of collaboration. In particular, I found that there should be a direct connection between researchers and decision-makers because scholarly evidence should guide healthcare delivery models to address many issues, and pressure injuries are among them.
Furthermore, working with my DPI project demonstrates that theories are of significance when it comes to addressing specific health problems. That is why the theory of planned behavior is considered a practical approach to minimize the prevalence of pressure injuries in the health care industry. On the one hand, scientific evidence offers some arguments in favor of the given idea. On the other hand, practice immersion hours demonstrated that the theory of planned behavior is an effective tool. The rationale behind this claim relates to the fact that patients’ health tends to improve when they are told what and when to do. That is why the given theory is an adequate theoretical base to combat pressure injuries.
It is also worth admitting that the employment of science-based theories and concepts was an effective approach to enhance health care delivery. In particular, it relates to the fact that numerous factors, including injuries, infections, and others, can affect patient safety. That is why it was found that beneficial outcomes can be obtained from using “a customized set of Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) patient fall reduction guidelines” (William, 2020, p. 210). This information reveals that the literature review activities have led to implementing new practice approaches that have the potential to follow high healthcare delivery standards.
Simultaneously, achieving the course competencies has provided me with solid theoretical information on my DPI Project. It relates to the fact that I enriched my knowledge of epidemiology, research practice, and statistical methods regarding pressure injuries. I have managed to absorb this information by investing in literature review activities. The rationale behind this strategy refers to the fact that scholarly sources can provide all the required information concerning a specific health issue and its place in the medical industry.
Finally, it is reasonable to comment on how I will apply the information above to my DPI Project. On the one hand, I will use the theory of planned behavior as a basis of the practice improvement interventions. This approach is considered adequate because credible data have revealed that patients need specific recommendations and directions that will guide their behavior and help them achieve better health outcomes. On the other hand, the course activities have helped me understand that the application of science-based theories is possible if it is supported by sufficient evidence. That is why I will do my best to enrich the DPI Project with credible, relevant, and timely literature findings.
Since DNPs should do their best to promote the principles of business, finance, and economics, I also invested in this sphere. I developed a budget for my DPI Project and provided the rationale for it. It refers to course DNP-840 that included comments on direct and indirect, fixed and variable, as well as other costs to reduce the prevalence of pressure injuries among older people in a medical unit. That activity resulted in the fact that I now understand that a DNP should invest sufficient time and effort in ensuring that medical interventions should stay within stipulated budgets (Nolin, 2017). This competency will inevitably bring a few advantages to my professional practice.
Furthermore, the course assignments helped me develop and improve my leadership, influence, and advocacy skills in implementing healthcare policies. In particular, it relates to a case study analysis that I performed. The assignment focuses on breast cancer since it is a widespread condition affecting multiple patients. I identified that this health problem implies ethical and cultural implications of care because a specific population, older women, are more subject to the condition. That is why the course assignments allowed me to make sure that early screening is an essential approach to minimize the prevalence of breast cancer.
In the healthcare industry, one should draw sufficient attention to employing consultative and leadership skills. I invested in developing this competency during my practice immersion hours. It refers to the fact that I worked in collaboration with professionals from dietary, respiratory, and physician groups. In that case, it was required to rely on effective leadership practices to promote the work of such professionally diverse groups. That is why I applied concepts of a few leadership styles, including servant, transformation, and authoritative ones, to motivate and guide these professionals. There is no doubt that effective leadership is of significance when it comes to teamwork in the healthcare sphere.
In addition to that, course 815 was productive because it revealed that my professional practice should aim at meeting health policy standards. This claim relates to the fact that policy governs all life spheres, and the healthcare industry is not an exception. That is why I learned how to find political standards and contribute to their implementation. Furthermore, the course activities allowed me to identify that a few ethical issues related to hospital-acquired pressure ulcers. Thus, I comprehended that my task would be to ensure that patients would not suffer from these problems.
This paragraph will explain how I will use the competencies of this outcome in my DPI Project. Firstly, the principles of finance, business, and economics are essential for the Project because it is necessary to understand whether the proposed interventions will be reasonable from a financial point of view. An attentively developed budget can demonstrate whether it is rational to implement a particular intervention. Secondly, leadership-related competencies are also essential since the DPI Project implies cooperation with many patients, healthcare professionals, and authorities. That is why developed leadership skills will help me motivate and organize individuals to ensure that they approve the Project and actively participate in it.
The work with practice information systems and databases is of significance for DNP nurses. That is why I invested sufficient effort to gain the given competency. It refers to the fact that I completed the assignment from course DNP-815 about the conceptual-theoretical-empirical (CTE) structure. The phenomenon under consideration offers theoretical background for developing a middle-range theory (Garvey et al., 2019). The assignment focused on a theory of nursing in hypertension care. That activity allowed me to understand that the structure could be considered a practical approach to evaluate a middle-range approach and identify its strengths and weaknesses. The literature review played an essential role in my gaining this competency because scholarly evidence was necessary to locate the theory and apply the CTE structure to its analysis.
Furthermore, I dealt with the evaluation of consumer health information sources. I drew specific attention to ensure that they meet the requirements regarding timeliness, accuracy, and appropriateness. This competency was achieved since I relied on financial data and various technical tools to calculate the costs of healthcare and proposed interventions. In this case, the literature review also contributed to essential advantages. It refers to the fact that reliable and timely studies can be a valuable source of information to find and evaluate the required data. Furthermore, analyzing the scientific evidence helped me improve my knowledge of healthcare-related practices and tools.
Simultaneously, I reviewed and evaluated Internet-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (iCBT). This approach was practical since it helped select and use health information systems and patient care technology. In particular, this competency refers to an assignment on technology interface evaluation. That activity allowed me to become familiar with such concepts as usability, functionality, and user experience. I identified that all information systems should meet multiple requirements to ensure that both patients and healthcare professionals can benefit from them.
In addition to that, DNP-835 was productive for me since I completed a case report for the application of quality and safety concepts. It refers to the fact that I identified that a few measures could directly influence patient safety. According to Ismail (2017), they are “state policy, diagnosis, medications, surgical operations, infections, and injuries” (p. 592). It denotes that any of these spheres can create barriers and threats to the concept of patient safety within a healthcare setting. Simultaneously, it indicates that it is possible to affect any of the areas to provide patients with safer and more qualitative care.
Finally, it is rational to state what information will be used in my DPI Project. Firstly, the information regarding a middle-range theory and its advantages and disadvantages can be of significance to guide my intervention. Secondly, I will use the skills in calculating the budgets of healthcare and proposed interventions to ensure that my Project will not be a significant financial burden for an organization. Thirdly, I will do my best to make the intervention meet the usability, functionality, and user experience requirements. Fourthly, an insight into the patient safety areas above will lead to the fact that my intervention will provide individuals with adequate care, at least within one of these spheres.
The first segment of this outcome relates to analyzing epidemiological, biostatistical, environmental, and other appropriate scientific data regarding multiple case issues. The epidemiology paper from DNP-825 has helped me meet this objective. It occurred because the case with breast cancer was used to identify the concepts above. Thus, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2020) demonstrates that “early menstrual periods before age 12 and starting menopause after age 55 expose women to hormones longer” (para. 5). This finding explains what factors and why they contribute to the fact that breast cancer is considered a widespread disease among women worldwide.
It is worth admitting that the literature review activity played an essential role in mastering this outcome. The rationale behind this claim refers to the fact that working with scientific data is a productive strategy to find the required information. The same epidemiology paper involved working with multiple scientific and governmental sources to identify epidemiological, biostatistical, environmental, and other data. I drew sufficient attention to ensure that I worked with credible and reliable articles and studies. That activity allowed me to understand how to dissect a research article and find the data that were relevant to my research.
Simultaneously, I actively engaged in advocating for social justice, equity, and ethical policies within all healthcare spheres. This claim refers to the fact that I participated in five scholarly activities to identify how COVID-19 affects healthcare staff’s needs. In particular, I focused on the necessity to standardize the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) since this strategy could directly affect medical professionals’ response to the pandemic. Those assignments helped me understand that medical facilities should offer sufficient safety conditions to all healthcare providers and patients irrespective of their race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, and others. This approach can ensure that social justice and equity are promoted in the medical industry.
In addition to that, the scholarly activities above demonstrated that specific equipment could be considered an effective tool to achieve better health outcomes. That is why the conducted research allowed me to discover that appropriate equipment pieces can reduce the prevalence of pressure injuries among hospitalized patients. Since I have arrived at such a viewpoint, it was necessary to check whether it was valid. Thus, I conducted a literature search to locate timely and empirical studies that would either support or deny the advantages of relying on equipment to combat pressure ulcers.
There is no doubt that I will effectively apply the skills and knowledge above to my DPI Project. The competency in identifying epidemiological data is essential since it helps identify a widespread health issue and at-risk population to consider in the Project. Since I understand the necessity to promote social justice and equality in healthcare delivery, I will ensure that my proposed interventions will not discriminate against any group of people based on their characteristic features. Furthermore, my DPI Project will try to focus on using specific equipment to reduce pressure injuries because sufficient evidence reveals the benefits of using this method.
The DPI draft prospectus contributed to evaluating outcomes of practice, practice patterns, and systems of care for public health. This claim relates to the fact that this activity helped me advance theory by highlighting whether it was possible to reduce the prevalence of pressure ulcers in the healthcare industry. This outcome was achieved because I focused on the existing national benchmarks regarding the health issue under analysis. Thus, the given approach demonstrated that pressure injuries were a significant problem for the whole medical industry. That is why it is necessary to develop specific interventions to address the situation at a local level.
Furthermore, many activities have contributed to the fact that I became familiar with improvement methodologies to promote safe, patient-centered, and timely care. Firstly, I engaged in multiple peer discussions on patient-centered approaches to care delivery. Those activities were productive since I expressed my own thoughts about the topic and listened to my peers’ opinions. The interaction of this kind helped me gain sufficient knowledge on the subject to evaluate the existing approaches and choose the most optimal one. Furthermore, I discovered that there should be a solid partnership between a patient and a clinician. In this case, the probability of achieving the desired health outcomes increases because all stakeholders actively participate in the process.
Secondly, it is necessary to admit that my DPI Project can be considered a quality improvement program. The reasoning behind this claim is that it promotes a prevention program to drive good outcomes. Simultaneously, a specific methodology can provide patients with multiple advantages if it is used correctly and safely. The literature research activities help me identify the existing methodologies, compare them, and choose the most suitable one. There is no doubt that this approach ensures that I provide patient-centered care and lead to achieving improved health outcomes.
Thirdly, it is impossible to ignore the three-part assignment on quality and sustainability from DNP-835. That assignment allowed me to understand that there is a solid connection between a safety theory and health issues. In particular, it was identified that “Watson’s Human Caring Theory is widely used to guide nursing education, practice, and research internationally” (Wei & Watson, 2019, p. 17). Since I discovered that patient falls occur because patients are not provided with sufficient safety, the identified theory demonstrates that this situation can be addressed by improving nursing education and practice. It means that healthcare professionals are primarily responsible for achieving the best health outcomes.
In conclusion, I can firmly admit that the competencies of this outcome will be beneficial for my DPI Project. National benchmarks in the sphere of healthcare quality can be a clear goal that my activity will try to achieve. The acquaintance with multiple improvement methodologies will ensure that my Project will use the most effective option. Finally, the quality and sustainability assignment allowed me to understand that every practical intervention should have a theoretical basis that supports it. Thus, my DPI Project will also focus on a robust theoretical background to achieve successful results.
The given assessment paper has demonstrated that I managed to gain many skills and competencies that can help me complete my DPI Project. Firstly, sufficient expertise in literature review activities denotes that I will work to identify credible and timely sources for the Project. Secondly, the acquaintance with the quality and safety concepts will contribute to the fact that I will develop and implement an intervention that will meet these requirements. Thirdly, the experience in dealing with financial issues will also be utilized in the DPI Project. Finally, leadership, nursing and science-based theories, and other discussed competencies will be beneficial for my future work.
It is also reasonable to mention that the 10 Strategic Points document and the Draft Prospectus require minor changes to ensure that they efficiently guide the DPI Project implementation. Prior to submitting my DPI Project Proposal to the Institutional Review Board (IRB), I should ensure that it meets all the requirements. It implies reading the document several times to identify any existing discrepancies and eliminating them. Possible issues can affect the content, intervention applicability, format, grammar, spelling, and others. Thus, I will do my best to ensure that my DPI Project Proposal meets the highest quality standards.