Graduate Certificate Nursing Education Learning of Anorexia Nervosa & Handling Its Patients

Final Learning Report

DESCRIPTION OF OBJECTIVES & THEIR STATUS

Drafting a learning contract and adhering to it along with constant support from my supervisor, was an effective activity which constituted of four weeks. every objective had a milestone plan and necessary measures which were required to be taken for achieving them. Self-expectation after reaching these goals was also documented in order to have a clear picture of my proficiency level in the developing knowledge of Anorexia Nervosa after this activity. The primary objective was to have clear understanding of Anorexia Nervosa, its causes, symptoms and possible treatments. Furthermore, second main objective was to deal with patients having this disorder and their families. These two major goals encompassed the rest. Through reading of the concerned topic were performed and were brought into practical application. Furthermore, efforts were made to achieve a certain level of interpersonal skills required to be proficient as a nurse. Demos, visas and quizzes were given to the supervisor various times and logs of these activities were also maintained to ensure documentation of every activity. At the end, a written testimonial was shared by me supervisor for achievement of the objectives set as per learning contract.

INTRODUCTION

This report is based on the learning contract shared by me with my senior, SUPERVISOR NAME XXX, on 26th May 2012. The report entails the objectives that I have and the description about how they are achieved. Each objectives is discussed one by one and contains the details of my understanding about the subject matter.

DESCRIPTION OF OBJECTIVES & THEIR STATUS

OBJECTIVE 01:

My first objective was to increase some background knowledge about the a variety of substances clients use, as well as the medications they have taken earlier. For this particular objective, my expected outcome was to understand pertinent materials and be able to Ask questions to staff members and clients.

For this particular objective, the methods used by me were Observing my supervisor and constant debriefing with him. Furthermore, written assessments were part and parcel of it. This practice of constant observation and feedback was accompanied with constant readings of the concerned reading material which includes Journals and articles on Anorexia Nervosa. Given in the bibliography, are the details of various journals that I read about this particular syndrome, its symptoms and cures. This thorough reading along with the frequent question / answers sessions with my supervisor helped me out in gaining a clear understanding of AN (Fassino et. al, 2001).

Where this activity continued for four weeks, I was also involved heavily in the assessment of new and existing patients. Thorough observations of patients' charts and questions / answers sessions with them, helped in understanding the various stages of AN. Also, how different medicines and treatment methods are used at different stages of AN, was also the subject matter that I was concerned about and this particular activity helped my achieve my target.

For final evaluation of this objective's achievement, I had an hour long session with my supervisor which constituted of a viva session with him. Secondly, I was asked to analyzed the charts of few patients in this session and the correct answers proved that I have developed an ability of patients' assessment on my own. Furthermore, after this session, my supervisor instructed me to read and assess patients charts and answer patients' queries in his presence.

OBJECTIVE 02:

Improve information retrieval from the patients' chart was my second objective as mentioned in the learning contract. For the achievement of this objective, I took undertaking of reading more relevant literature and trying to perform patients' diagnosis in the presence of my supervisor. At the end of this activity, the outcome was to be able to extract accurate information from the patients chart and be able to give recommendations about the further treatment. For achievement of this objective, the role of the supervisor was to share the schedule which would help me prepare for charts review and determination of treatments. Also, frequent supervising sessions with the senior during which I could ask questions that I had during the diagnosis sessions, were also planned and executed.

This activity continued for four weeks. Along with reading the research materials regarding Anorexia Nervosa, I also took additional guidance from other seniors available as to how to understand and diagnose patients' current state correctly. While diagnosing patients' current stage while going through charts, I was instructed that I need to have complete understanding of the relevant terminology related to Anorexia Nervosa and also understand how each applies to different stages of AN.

For this purpose, I went through medical dictionaries available on web and institute's library and tried to...

This activity was once again well-supported by the sessions that I had with my supervisor. For this particular activity, I had a session planned with senior on every 5th working day at the time assigned by my supervisor. A written test regarding these terminologies was taken at the end of fourth week. Results can be taken from my supervisor.
OBJECTIVE 03:

The third objective involved the risk assessment of the patients. For risk assessment, my objective was to be able to Extract information related to patient's current status by studying patient's chart and give recommendations for suitable plan, Understanding the relationship between Body Mass Index and the relationship between high risk and anorexia, performing physical examination with the specialists, Understanding the outcomes of the bold tests, and Understanding and evaluating the results of ECG (Golden et. al, 2008).

For this goal, I was required to Perform thorough readings about Anorexia Nervosa, understand its causes, symptoms and the relationship between the risk level and patients current status. Study case studies which will help me gain insight about what the level of Sodium and Potassium in the bold tests indicate about Patient's AN. Furthermore reading more about ECG and perform frequent analysis on its outcomes, Understanding the basics of SUSS, low core temperature and Taking frequent guidance from the supervisor, were the tools used.

For this objective, reading literature about the tests involved was a pre-requisite. Therefore, along with reading journals and articles about AN, studying more about its indicators as per the tests results was also required. For this purpose, I took out patients' histories as available in institutes records and perform a correlation between my understanding of the syndrome and the contents of their test reports. After frequent analysis, I was able to perform the risk assessment individually. For examination purposes, few reports were shared with me by my senior at the end of fourth week and I did the analysis in front of him. There were some errors in the initial viva; therefore similar activity was repeated after fourth day of first viva and as mentioned by the supervisor, the results were satisfactory.

OBJECTIVE 04:

Part of my leaning contract was to learn and display an attitude which involved taking enough initiatives during my employment as a nurse. Since I had Difficulty in showing initiatives, therefore To become an effective team member by knowing where I can assist them and what needs to be done without being instructed about it, was part of my learning a professional. The techniques used to exhibit this attitude was by Handling. The flow of patients without always looking for instructions and constant prompting.

For this objective, my efforts started with keeping a log of patients I handled individually on daily basis. This involved handling the flow of new patients as well as answering the queries of the old ones. Handling already admitted patients in the absence of my supervisor was another technique of showing initiative. To avoid any mistake, communication to the supervisor was done after answering the queries of the patients or performing their daily examination independently. Another part of showing initiatives was to ask for individual cases and nursing suits from my supervisor. Adding to the list of assigned duties not only helped me gain professional proficiency but also helped in getting rid of my hesitation which I had earlier while dealing with my seniors, patients and peers.

The log which was maintained for this purpose was also shared with my supervisor on bi-weekly basis and nature of patients handled was also discussed. Furthermore, a session of question / answers was also conducted to ensure that this particular activity is also helping me in getting insight of Anorexia Nervosa. Furthermore, I was assigned with the task of conducting orientation for new nurses and I was also appointed for giving preliminary orientation session of Anorexia Nervosa to the students of first year batch.

OBJECTIVE 05:

Another objective of learning contract was to understand adult learning theory by enhancement of experiences given by nursing experiences and take personal responsibility about it. The basic outcome which was expected after achieving this objective was to Have thorough knowledge of the subject matter which will supported by giving right answers of the concerned questions.

For this purposes, researches involving adult learning theories were studied. It was established that Typical adult learning theories…