NARRATIVE SELF REFLECTION OF SERVICE LEARNING PROJECTS
My community-learning project was at the Stein Senior Center located at 204 East 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010. It was a 15-week clinical rotation and we met every Wednesday from 9 to 12:30pm. It was one of the most humble and self- effacing experiences in my nursing rotations. The staff were welcoming and accommodating and the members were friendly and gracious. The Stein Center has been the staple in the community for a few decades and on average of 50 seniors comes to enjoy the recreational classes such as stretching, yoga, medication and the computer center. I was given nine clinical objectives to accomplished in 15-weeks and I am happy to say that the nine objectives were met with the help of my classmates, professor and the staffs and seniors at the center. The following were the nine objectives.
Individual professionalism includes a few factors such as punctuality, dress code, attitude and ethical standards. In keeping with this conduct, I came into the Stein Center at least 15 minutes early with an open mind and the determination to make a senior feel happy and not lonely—a common emotion in the senior popluation. I used therapeutic communication to interact with the seniors and also I was culturally and generationally sensitive to everyone.
All the activites that we did at the Stein Center involved critical thinking and client teaching by giving the seniors the best use of the nurses every wednesday. We conducted teaching presentations to the seniors and also follow up questions and answers. We taught four topics: dash diet, fall precaution, diabetes and medication error. During the blood pressure reading session, I was given the opportunity to talk to the seniors about their health problems and their concerns. I have advised the seniors on their health probems and also their socioeconomic and emotional issues.
Effective communication is important in any kind of social setting. I was attentive to the tone and the volume of my voice to ensure that the seniors were able to hear what I was saying. I also made sure that I have their attention and used simple grammar and not medical jargon. Our pamplets were written in large, easy to read fonts and simple grammar. We also had a pre-conference in which the instructor and my classmates interacted and planned out the activities for the day. We communicated clearly, effectively, and respectfully to each other.
It was important to create an enviroment conducive to learning. My group did a presentation on the dash diet. We created easy to read pamplets and made posters defining what is the dash diet, foods that were good and bad for hypertension and label reading. We brought in examples of good foods for the seniors to try and also examples of bad food to avoid. During the presentation we used microphones and fun facts to get the seniors attention.
I did not use any informational technology at the Stein Center because I did not have any direct patient care. I did not have to document anything about the patient but when I took the patient’s blood pressure however only initials were written on paper. Also the principles of nursing informatics did not applied to the Stein Center.
As RNs, we are committed to ongoing professional development. At the Stein Center, we used our knowledge of nursing to interact with the seniors. We also used nursing journal articles and government websites to research on topics that we presented to the seniors. We used websites such as the American Heart Association, Healthy People 2020, and Federal Drug Association to provide accurate and current information to the seniors. We also utilized the American Nurses Association Standards, and the Stein Center mission and philosophy to care for the seniors. We conducted ourselves in a professional and ethical manner, and all the information gathered were kept confidential.
The demographics of the area do not reflect the population of the seniors at the Stein Center. Businesses and million dollar companies surround the area and the average annual income is $72,000. When interacting and conversing with the seniors, I learned that the seniors are not able to pay for their health care and sometimes for their food. They are worried that they would be pushed out of their homes due to the need to expand the area. The city and the department of aging should create a plan to ensure the seniors that they are well taken care of until the end.
