Teaching Project

Below is my outline for my online teaching project.

Unit 4: Culture in Nursing

Discussion Board

How do cultural difference and diversity affect healthcare? Pick a group of people and discuss how their cultural and social norms may affect healthcare. How can the nurse be culturally sensitive to this group of people?
Consider: personal space, language, communication, time, touch, eye contact, family involvement, privacy, pain, etc.

Personal Blogs

Possible blog options for this unit:
Discuss your perception of culture in nursing.
Tell of a time you encountered cultural diversity in your nursing practice and how you handled the situation.
Interview someone of a different culture and journal about your discoveries about that culture.
Describe your culture, beliefs, and practices to share with the class.
--Remember: You are expected to blog at least once each week.

Reading Assignments

Creasia, J. L.,& Parker, B. J. (2007). Conceptual foundations: The bridge to professional nursing
practice (4th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby.
Chapter 14: Social and Cultural Dimensions of Health and Health Care

Written Assignment

Global Health Promotion and Pateint Advocacy
What are the limits of patient advocacy? Our patients? Our shift? In our community? Our nation?
The age of globalization is upon us; there's a growing movement to build international nursing and health promotion communities in every corner of the world. As nurses, is this within our purview or does it somehow lie outside of our responsibility to advocate for patients' health? If not, then whose job is it? Can such a crucial endeavor be trusted to another profession?

Please write a 700+ word paper exploring the relationship between patient advocacy and the nurses' mission as it relates to health promotion at a more global level. Consider when writing this paper the critical difference between advocating for patients as individuals and doing so on a broader level with a vision that encompasses national and global goals. Where does our responsibility end? With this in mind, how should we move forward?Please support your assertions with sources and use APA style for this paper. As always, please post your assignment at least one week before the end of the unit in order to give other forum users that chance to respond. Additionally, please read and engage in discussion with other participants in the forum.

11 hours

Flu!

So I have been out with the flu for an entire week! I began feeling bad last Sunday and went to the doctor Monday and asked them to test me for strep and flu. Sure enough, I tested positive for the flu. Yuck! Before this, I had been doing well, keeping healthy and then, Bam! It hits me! I guess it was bound to happen being exposed to so many kids with flu. After talking with my OB, they decided that it would be best for me to get started on Tamiflu. Worried about the baby. My doctor said that it is more risky for me to have a lengthy battle with the flu than to get on Tamiflu and get well in a few days. I was instructed to stay home for an entire week (and even longer if still running a fever or coughing). No need for me to spread these nasty germs to others and I sure did not want to take the chance of me or the baby catching something else on top of having the flu. I did as my doctor instructed and I am finally back to work today. Back to work, school, other obligations and responsibilities, and life. It feels good to finally be healthy again! I have a lot of catching up to do this week in all areas. It is going to be a very busy week with work and school.

Grading more blogs

Well, I have spent last week and the past couple days of this week continuing with the reading, posting, and grading of the blogs. What a task! It seems hard to keep up with, at times. There are 15 students in this class and they are to post one reflective blog entry per week. This unit lasted three weeks. I spend about 15 minutes on each blog entry, reading and having my own reflections and offering feedback to these students. When doing the math, I devoted a little over 11 hours to this task over the past three weeks.
I am going to try to be more diligent about my own blog posting, tallying my hours each week-versus waiting until the end of the unit to count my hours. I guess I get a little worn out from blogging since I am spending so much time on blog sites in this RN to BSN course!

After reading all of the blogs and making note of who journaled each week, it was time for me to assign grades. This is fairly easy because these blogs are personal reflections. This way I can give them a grade based on whether or not they posted an entry for each week. After making a list of the grades I believed each student earned, I went over it a couple of times to make sure the grades were fair and accurate and that I was not mixing up anyone’s grades. I then made sure it was OK with the instructor for me to post these grades in the grade book. I sent her a list of the students’ names with the grades I believed they deserved for their blogs. I wanted to know whether she wanted to enter the grades or if she was comfortable with me entering the grades. She was more than willing for me to take this assignment of entering the blog grades into the grade book on Blackboard. I have never posted anything in an electronic grade book so this took a little time to learn. I used the trusty 'help' feature which walked me through a visual tutorial on how to use the grade book and post grades to individuals. This was very helpful and I was able to go into the grade book and give each student their grade for their blogs for unit 2. It was a good feeling to know that along with all the other things I am learning, I am learning some of the ins and outs of Blackboard. This is important to me being that it what the University uses as the vehicle for most online courses. I hope to continue to learn more about using Blackboard in education as I continue on with this practicum.

13 hours

Blogs!

I have spent the past couple of weeks reading and grading blogs for the RN to BSN course that I am helping teach for my practicum. What an overwhelming, wearisome, and time consuming task! I am reading, responding to, and grading these blogs. This unit will be over at the end of this week and when it is all said and done, I will count how many hours I devoted to this task. Reading the blogs is interesting and I hope the students appreciate my feedback. I will keep at this for a few more days (until it is time to do it all over again for the next unit). :)