Senior Project ✓

So I guess this is goodbye iPoly?
I can't believe senior year is coming to an end and graduation is just around the corner!
It has been such a hectic yet incredible journey and I can finally say that I am done with my senior project! It has been such a wonderful experience to research, learn and present about a topic I was passionate about.
I have gained so much knowledge and acquired so many skills on neonatal nursing and the medical field in general because of this project. I have been able to improve on my communication skills and researching skills and I am more than excited to use these skills and knowledge in my future academic endeavors. I now know for sure that I want to pursue the medical field and become a neonatal nurse.


I am also happy to say that I will be a Future Leo attending The University of La Verne and majoring in Biology and Pre-Health Sciences in the fall. I am excited and ready for what the future will bring. Thank you iPoly, Ms. Ortega, Ms. LaRussa and the entire senior team for helping me with my senior project and never giving up on me I won't let you down!

YAY CLASS OF 2015 WE DID IT!

Blog 23: Senior Project Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

For my block presentation I was really proud that I made time and I also felt like I wasn't stressing so much about the time and I believe that actually helped me calm my nerves at times. I was also proud with my message board activity because it really looked like people enjoyed it and it really made me happy to see that people were able to take the information I talked about and use it as a hands on activity.

(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

What worked for me in my senior project was being able to learn more about my topic (neonatal nursing) in depth. What also really worked for my senior project was being able to mentor at an actual hospital. At first I was very nervous because I was afraid that I would find the hospital boring or that it wouldn't interest me as much as I thought it would but I really enjoyed mentoring at the hospital and being able to help and communicate  with different nurses and medical professionals.

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?

If I had a time machine I would probably  go back to the beginning of the year and start my senior project with neonatal nursing and not cosmetology because at the beginning of the year it was kind of hard to catch up at first with everyone else and I would also probably not talk so fast during my presentation because I was so nervous.

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.

My senior topic has really helped me decide on the career that I want to pursue in the future. I knew I always wanted to go into the medical field but I never knew exactly where to start but with my senior topic I was able to take that interest I had for neonatal nursing and learn more about it. I now know for sure that I want to become a neonatal nurse because the more I learned about my topic the more interested I became. So I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to gain so much knowledge through my senior project that will help me in the future.

Blog 22 : Mentorship

My mentor's name is Diana Guevara, RN LAC+USC Medical Center

The most important thing I gained from my experience was the ability to improve my communication skills through my mentorship. Being able to volunteer at an actual hospital gave me the opportunity to communicate with different medical professionals and patients. I learned so much from just shadowing my mentor. I learned how to make patients feel comfortable no matter what situation they're in. By interacting with patients it gave me more motivation to pursue a job in the medical field.

My mentorship has helped me answer my essential questions because I was able to interview and communicate with different medical professionals. Different registered nurses, nurse practitioners and   midwifes shared their wisdom and knowledge to learn more about my topic and my essential question. Most of their knowledge always ended up going to back to the fundamentals of any patient care which was communication which I really improved on. It is crucial to make any patient feel comfortable and safe in a hectic medical environment.

Blog 21: Exit Interview

(1)  What is your essential question, and what are your answers?  What is your best answer and why?

My essential question is “What is the best way a neonatal nurse can ensure a premature baby is healthy?”

My first answer is “By assuring premature infants get the right nutrition they need to reach their ideal weight to grow properly.”

My second answer is “Make sure neonatal nurses have good communication with parents to ensure that the preemie will be healthy.”

My third answer is “By introducing the COPE for Hope program to parents to acquire certain skills and support, they need to be able to take care of their infant.”

My best answer is my answer one by assuring premature infants gets the right nutrition they need to reach their ideal weight to grow properly because if a premature infants gets the right nutrition and reaches his or her ideal weight most of the problems that premature infants are faced with can be solved and treated with the right nutrition.

(2)  What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

A lot of my research has stressed the importance of nutrition and how avoiding early malnutrition can have both short- and long-term benefits for the premature infant which can help a premature infant grow healthy and live on to live healthy lives when the leave the NICU.

(3)  What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

I had trouble finalizing my last answer, There was an idea I was trying to get across but I couldn’t find the right way to word my last answer, and I resolved this problem by finding a program that provides parents with the skills and knowledge I wanted to explain in my last answer.

(4)  What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

My mentor Diana Guevara RN at the LAC+USC Medical center

Oswalt, Krista L., and Darya Bonds McClain. "Reducing Anxiety among Children Born Preterm and Their Young Mothers." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 May 2014. Web. 06 May 2015.

Adrian's Preemie Arrival

My cousin gave birth to her son Adrian the 3rd of April that Friday Night. She was only seven months pregnant when she had to deliver my cousin in an emergency c-section. My cousin has delivered prematurely before but she was still frightened because Adrian only weight 2 pounds and 3 ounces when we was first born. He was admitted into the NICU under close supervision. In the picture above my cousin Adrian is about 2 weeks old, he is inside an incubator, connected to a ventilator because his lungs were still weak to breathe on his own, the little sponge on his right side of his leg is a tube that contains caffeine to help the lungs become stronger. His eyes are also covered because they were very sensitive and delicate to light at the time, Adrian also had a feeding tube through his nose to help him eat. Adrian is now 4 pounds and 10 ounces he was released from the NICU just a few days ago, he was able to leave because he had reached the ideal weight, he can now be bottle fed and breathe on his own. Of course my cousin still has precautions because the baby's immune system is not that strong but baby Adrian is growing bigger and healthier each day.

Independent Component 2

LITERAL

(a) I, Valerie Lopez, affirm that I completed my independent component, which represents 37 hours of work.

(b) Diana Guevara RN, LAC+USC Medical center

(c) Linked on the sidebar under Senior Project Hours.

(d) I did extra mentorship hours with my mentor Diana. I also shadowed another nurse named Karina Gomez. I would go with Karina and Diana while they visited patients, sometimes I was not able to go into the room with them because of patient confidentiality and sometimes some patients did not feel comfortable with anyone that was not the a nurse or a doctor. I would help my mentor sort files and discharge papers. Sometimes when my mentor was busy since she spends most of her time in the emergency room, I had to go to the supply rooms to open boxes and sort out different equipment. My favorite equipment to sort was when I would help in the labor and delivery room sorting baby stuff. I had to open boxes of diapers, bottles, formula, socks and blankets. My favorite job was having the opportunity to visit some mother’s (mostly the ones that were being discharged) to take them any basic baby necessities they needed to take home.

INTERPRETIVE 

Name tags for newborns I would have to fill out. (This one is in spanish)

 Diapers and a Baby's discharge outfit to go home in!

Wash cloths the hospital gives out.

Socks or "booties" the hospital provides.

The way I had to sort the different cloths, blankets, socks according to gender.

 APPLIED

My independent component two helped me get a better understand between nurse and patient communication. When I would shadow my mentor it was a great experience to see the way she communicated with each patient, she was always so caring and respectful (even if the patients were sometimes rude to her). My mentor always looked like communicating came natural to her but as I learned with different patients it could be a struggle. I also built upon my own communication skills because my mentor would always give me pointers and ask me different questions. I also communicated with different nurses and they would always answer any of my questions that I had.

Cope For Hope

This month I really focused on learning about the COPE program.The COPE NICU Parent Program is an evidence-based Educational-behavioral intervention program for parents who have just experienced the premature birth of an infant. It is designed to begin very early in the course of the NICU admission and extends through the first week after discharge. Some of the improved parent outcomes could result in less stress in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. There are also stronger beliefs for parents and confidence in their ability to care for their preterm infants. Parents tend to also have more developmentally sensitive interactions with their preterm infants, which can lead to less depression and anxiety symptoms during and after NICU stay. In the end the COPE program gives greater satisfaction for parents with the NICU stay and higher readiness for their infant's discharge from the NICU.