Integrated Experiences III Formal Paper: The Nurse’s Role in the Opioid Epidemic Brief Excerpt: After hearing Kerri Barton’s presentation about opioid use and harm reduction earlier this semester, I was moved to start exploring the nurse’s role in the current drug crisis. So often, it seemed, my patients in clinical had struggled with some type … [Read more…]
Composed of 17 campuses and spanning from preschool through 12th grade and adult education, the Portland Public Schools are home to a large and diverse student population. Tina Veilleux is the School Nurse Coordinator for the district, overseeing the nurses in each school in addition to a variety of other roles. I had the opportunity … [Read more…]
Having worked as a CNA in memory care for a handful of years, collaboration is not a new skill for me. After all, teamwork is present everywhere in this field, be it in the form of discussing updates to a resident’s care plan with the nurse or assisting another CNA to transfer a patient. Yet … [Read more…]
Course Description: This course explores theoretical frameworks that inform the mental health nursing care of individuals, families, and communities of diverse cultures and backgrounds across the continuum of care. Emphasis is placed on the development and implementation of knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary when providing nursing care to those with acute and chronic mental illness … [Read more…]
Beginning my junior year of nursing school was a transition, to say the least. I, along with my peers, experienced an uptick in course workload, responsibilities, and expectations from professors. Sweatpants and hoodies in Biddeford became business casual attire and scrubs in Portland. Identifying structures on models in anatomy lab turned into identifying these landmarks … [Read more…]
I found the process of completing a medication reconciliation to be extremely interesting, especially since it was on a close family member. It felt like a deep dive into an often very personal aspect of someone’s life, and I was grateful that my relative was willing to be so open and answer my many questions. … [Read more…]
Nurse Logic Module Reflection #2 – Priority Setting Frameworks As discussed in this module, nurses set priorities for patient care many times each shift through the use of priority setting frameworks. Though I was at least somewhat familiar with each of these frameworks before completing this lesson, it was helpful to work through realistic examples … [Read more…]
Nurse Logic Module Reflection #1 – Test Taking & Remediation I have always considered myself to be a strong test-taker, mostly because of my ability to memorize content quickly. In high school and my first years of college, I performed well on exams, relying solely on my study strategy of writing, rewriting, and reading a … [Read more…]
Carbohydrate-Loading Before Endurance Events The practice of “carb-loading,” or consuming high amounts of carbohydrates in the days and hours prior to a long endurance event such as a marathon, has been a staple in the pre-race regimens of many athletes. Because carbohydrates are the main source of fuel during high intensity efforts of longer than … [Read more…]
Preface: My college career began at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, where I pursued a major in Sustainable Food and Farming. Agriculture has long been a passion of mine, beginning with a 12″ by 12″ garden plot in high school, and eventually leading to a summer-long apprenticeship program on an organic farm in the … [Read more…]
