Introduction
Writing a reflective journal is a unique opportunity for students to understand what has been studied, what skills have been developed, and how to apply the material in practice. This project aims to evaluate personal experiences during the Grand Canyon University’s (GCU) Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program for DNP-730A. The context of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s DNP Essentials is addressed to identify major competencies and goals (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2012). Essentials I, III, IV, and VIII are chosen for analysis to identify the learner’s weaknesses and strengths and choose the most effective way for further development. This reflective journal demonstrates the impact of four chosen DNP Essentials on the formation of the student’s skills in completing the expected DNP roles.
Reflection
The GCU’s DNP-730A course helps prepare students to discover a variety of practical aspects, analytical methods, and personal skills in the chosen context. The AACN (2012) developed eight strong Essentials, and four of them about scientific underpinnings, analytical methods, information systems, and advanced nursing practice will be examined. Communication, data exchange, research skills, and cooperation turn out to be critical for the learners involved in evidence-based practice. Finding the basics of the DNP Essentials in all weekly tasks and observing personal and practical improvements is possible.
Essential I: Scientific Underpinnings for Practice
During the DNP-730A course, students had to complete several tasks to demonstrate their abilities to analyze data, solve problems, and become active participants in developing clinical practice. One of the first topics was to identify the essence of project methodology and design and describe the goals of data collection and the existing research methods. According to Miah et al. (2020), healthcare analytics have emerged research domain to develop appropriate solutions and practice various clinical and non-clinical values. However, each step is based on certain definitions and explanations that cannot be ignored. Instead of making guesses or addressing human emotions and feelings, students had to remember and apply the already offered terms and examples. Essential I was aligned with succeeding in the assignment during the first weeks, provoking positive emotions and necessary decisions. The chosen Essential underlines the importance of principles and laws that govern human behaviors and interactions (AACN, 2012). Besides, natural and social sciences introduce a foundation for nursing practice and explain the development of nursing theories and frames (AACN, 2012). Thus, DNP learners must remember these principles and competencies to continue their education on the DNP-730A course.
Essential III: Clinical Scholarship and Analytical Methods for Evidence-Based Practice
One of the most challenging tasks during the course was the work with descriptive and inferential statistics. It was not enough to give definitions and provide some examples but develop the qualities that helped students make their assumptions and work with the offered material. On the one hand, statistics analysis consists of similar steps, including hypothesis formulation, test selection, power analysis, making assumptions, model choice, and result report (Guetterman, 2019). No serious problems are expected as soon as a student remembers these basics. On the other hand, additional decisions like sample choice, available evidence, and identifying project outcomes within particular statistical measures introduce certain challenges. Regarding such controversies, Essential III offered by the AACN (2012), allows scholars to integrate the material and give meaning to facts. Learners evaluate methodologies and choose research methods for nursing practice. All these competencies become a part of Essential III and show how to deal with personal weaknesses. The experience was mostly positive because all learners got a chance to structure their work with different sources and make the right decisions.
Essential IV: Information Systems/Technology and Patient Care Technology for the Improvement and Transformation of Health Care
Another interesting part of the DNP-730A course was studying the importance of ethics and the responsible conduct of research. Conducting quantitative research depends on the preferred instrument and available resources, but most competencies, including ethical behavior, remain unchangeable (Comeau et al., 2018). Following specific rules and obligations, students need to understand what they are allowed to do and what words or actions are better to avoid. Today, it does not take much time to find the requirements and regulations imposed by federal agencies, colleges, departments, and other organizations online. However, every search process should be safe and effective. Therefore, the DNP Essential IV is obligatory for learners to follow because it distinguishes the ability to work with information systems and technologies (AACN, 2012). There are many ways in which these competencies define the future of nursing practices. Learners should gain confidence to work with health information sources and consider such concepts as accuracy, timeliness, and legal issues resolution (AACN, 2019). Students need to understand why some hospitals follow national or federal ethical rules and responsibilities while other facilities add specific issues to strengthen cooperation.
Essential VIII: Advanced Nursing Practice
Finally, one of the most existing and interesting parts of the course was to work with findings and translate project results into practice. Learners needed to understand how to integrate the offered competencies and knowledge into their real (practical steps). Derman and Jaeger (2018) underlined that disseminating new knowledge is critical because its lacking means a waste of resources. Practice requirements vary, and the task is to demonstrate high-level proficiency. Besides, Eldridge (2017) admits that advanced practice nursing is organizational science, meaning all healthcare facilities must be defined as whole systems. The last DNP Essential ensures competence in nursing specialization and determines experiential opportunities for therapeutic interventions or illness parameters’ assessment (AACN, 2012). Information from books and articles and the evaluation of DNP Essentials showed the learner how complex and unpredictable the advanced nursing field could be. It was interesting to make clinical judgments and examine the development of clinical relationships. The course shows that cooperation is a core of advanced nursing practice because knowledge dissemination is the best way to prove the effectiveness and worth of education for modern students.
Conclusion
This course was critical for learners in terms of understanding the peculiarities of data analysis, the necessity to work with statistics and the organization of quantitative research for advanced nursing practice. The connection between theories, practical tasks, and the DNP Essentials cannot be ignored. Students must recognize what competencies are critical, what steps define their practice, and how they may achieve the best results as DNP nurses. Information systems, technology, scientific underpinnings, and analytical methods advance nursing practice. Therefore, the learner should never forget the necessity of thinking about practical applications for every portion of knowledge obtained during the DNP-730A course. Still, the most critical lesson for students is to know how to cooperate and recognize the goals of knowledge dissemination. If information is poorly interpreted or not transmitted, the effectiveness of the education and care process remains questionable and ineffective. That is why the steps taken during the last several weeks play an important role in developing DNP skills.
References
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2012). The Essentials of doctoral education for advanced nursing practice. American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Web.
Comeau, D. L., Alvarez, J. A., Bhatti, P., Paulsen, D. F., Quarshie, A., Escoffery, C., Ofotukun, I., Eisen, H., Ziegler, T. R., & Blumberg, H. M. (2018). Building diverse careers in clinical and translational research: Evaluation of a certificate program in translational research. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, 2(1), 38-47.
Derman, R. J., & Jaeger, F. J. (2018). Overcoming challenges to dissemination and implementation of research findings in under-resourced countries. Reproductive Health, 15(1).
Eldridge, C. R. (2017). Nursing science and theory: Scientific underpinnings for practice. In M. E. Zaccagnini & K. W. White (Eds.), The Doctor of nursing practice essentials: A new model for advanced practice nursing (3rd ed., pp. 3-36). Jones and Bartlett.
Guetterman, T. C. (2019). Basics of statistics for primary care research. Family Medicine and Community Health, 7(2).
Miah, S. J., Gammack, J., & Hasan, N. (2020). Methodologies for designing healthcare analytics solutions: A literature analysis. Health Informatics Journal, 26(4), 2300-2314.