Electronic Medical Records (EMRs)

This was a very interesting assignment. After finally finding a nurse manager to interview, and reviewing the reading material, some interesting points about the electronic medical record system surfaced. I was very glad that Albert talked about the discrepancies between our nursing charting system and that of pharmacy. It has been a major issue at our facility for years. It creates a lot of anger, rivalry, and resentment between pharmacy and nursing; and it also frequently affects patient care.

Other nurses along with myself have brought up these problems many times to administration, but pharmacy just keeps insisting that there is no errors in their system, even when the errors are well documented and staring them right in the face. It has made me furious many times, because on the one hand JC is always harping on how can we reduce medication errors, yet it seems at the same time turns a blind eye to inherent errors generated very frequently as the result of incompatible program issues.

I understand that changing state wide electronic systems is a very costly undertaking. But to me it is just one more example on how human life is cheapened, and the greed motive for the almighty dollar is exalted as far more valuable than human life. In a cold blooded healthcare industry machine that cares about nothing it seems than the bottom line figures, making humans an expendable collateral damage side effect of greed, it angers me to no end. To me it is an out of control greedy monster that needs to be slain, and replaced by a socialized system such as Switzerland or Canada, or every other industrialized nation in the world other than us. I believe that we as nurses need to stand up and fight for our patient's best interest, until the healthcare system is run on the ideals of humanity and compassion, rather than corruption and greed.

Sincerely,

Robin Martin

Sincerely,

Robin Martin 

Teaching Project Completed! Spells Relief!

Hi Class:

It was a big relief for me to get the teaching project completed. I had the project ready some time back, but after several weeks of trying, could not find a forum to deliver what I had prepared. In my search for an instructor sponsor, Dania Ochoa came to my rescue thank God! I had an opportunity to teach in her class, albeit I had to change my project completely, to teach objectives that were pending in her course.

I met with her on a Thursday, and the project needed to be delivered on the following Tuesday. I wanted to meet with her on Monday, but other obligations concerning work did not accommodate. I was able to finish up preparations only the night before, so I was a little tense. Thank goodness everything went ok. I printed out the PowerPoint slides, 3 to a page, as a backup. I had purchased the student software for the updated version of PowerPoint, but could not get it to load. The installation on my PC would not work.

So I then made the PowerPoint slides on an older version, but the only computer I could use was my MacBook, that I did not know would be compatible displaying over the PC at the school or not. So I printed out the slides in note taking form primarily for a backup plan in case the file would not open on the PC. Thank God that the file DID open once I got to UTB, but there was no time to try ahead of time, so I was really sweating it. I have taught enough though at our facility of Rio Grande State Center to know that it is always good to have a backup plan.

Anyway, I got through it, and the sessions went well. It was a great experience, and I really enjoyed working with Dania Ochoa who graciously granted permission for me to teach her class. Dania is a wonderful credit to her profession, and it was my pleasure to meet her and her students.

Great experience.

Best regards,

Robin Martin
P.S. I wish everyone the best Thanksgiving ever. :-)

Validating the learning process

Hi Class:

Our Unit 3 module in our course deals with validating the learning process, making sure that students are actually learning what we teach. Im my honest opinion, the old standbys of written examination is still the best choice when it comes to validating and showing that learning has actually taken place. I recently had a big challenge at my place of employment regarding this.

I decided to make a 10 question quiz concerning our hand hygiene policy, and then make it a requirement that each direct care staff be instructed that they must take the quiz daily until they were able to make score of 100%. I had virtually no one score 100% unless they actually sat down and took the necessary time to read and digest our policy on the hand hygiene.

I am happy to report that by and large, most of our facility was brought up to speed on our hand hygiene policies, and what they said. Now, even the least versed individual has been scoring well on the short quiz. It has been a rewarding experience, and the quiz has done well in weeding out those that actually know the policy from those that don't.

Best regards,

Robin Martin

Converting Classroom Content to Distance Learning Format

This week included a very interesting assignment, namely, what we would do to convert a classroom teaching project to an online distance learning course. There are number of important differences between classroom and online distance learning settings. A glaring deficit of online learning is a great empty canyon of communication between instructor and student, that is plentiful in the classroom but sorely lacking in nearly all distance learning environments.

I once took an online course (different college) that was so poorly put together, with instructions so misleading, confusing, and in some cases just downright incorrect; I had to complain to the dean of the college after the instructor of the course also proved to be completely absent and impossible to even contact or find.

The end of that conversation lead to everyone in the course passing and the instructor being reprimanded (several of the students were previously failing, and I in fact was normally their resource of choice). It was a statistics course that is generally a pretty difficult course even in the classroom. That bad experience has made me a little wary of online courses ever since, and I am generally pretty vocal and prompt about pointing out mistakes or confusing content online.

I am happy to say that the quality and responsiveness of our UTB instructors in our distance learning has been so far above the mediocre attempt at online learning from the other college in the statistics course. Still, improvements can be made to further elevate the quality of our distance learning experience. Such improvements do not come without extra time, attention, and a certain amount of creativity and technical prowess from instructors, but recent advances in software, computers, and technology make it possible to virtually eliminate all online learning disadvantages, while retaining all of the unique advantages of this learning platform.

Best regards,

Robin Martin

Africa Here We Come!!!

Just a short note of something interesting and wonderful that happened to me just today!! The safety syringe I invented? The one that I had often described to my friends as a large ship dead in the water in the middle of the ocean without any fuel (and no wind or sails)?  Guess what???

It's now on its way to Africa!! Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus. With God's help it may finally do some good for healthcare workers doing the Lord's work.

I just had to mention it! I'm so excited. Finally after all these years.

Best regards,

Robin Martin, RN, BSN, LNCC, (MSN student)
P.S. NURS 6464 Unit 1 blog posting is just below this one. 

Teaching Role for Nursing Faculty - Posting for Unit 1

Well, here we are again with another interesting semester and project. It took me a while to dig out the old assignments, but thank goodness I still have the same computer, and the hard drive has not crashed! I managed to find how to get back onto my blog, and enjoyed sprucing it up a bit.

I am so much looking forward to the class project, as I would like to teach a short course in nurse/patient interactions on a mental health unit, primarily focusing on how to maintain safety of both the staff and the patient. Such a course is sorely needed in mental healthcare, and I have yet to see one with 11 years in this specialty field.

Since the class project is only supposed to take a maximum of 45 minutes, I had to change it up a bit from the outline I had produced in the earlier course, and plan to do a condensed version. Next I need to figure out how to send a link again to get back here. Hopefully I can do that successfully in the next few minutes, as it is getting late.

Well, that is all for now. We are getting closer to the goal of graduation, and I'm enthusiastic about finishing. Thank you for reading my blog, and have a great evening...

Best regards,

Robin Martin RN, BSN, LNCC

Reflection...reflection

Think about the act of reflection and your semester experience in incorporating reflection in your practice and on your blog.


This semester has been a learning experience like no other. In this course, I have spent time reflecting and pondering many interesting subjects. I have always been an analytical thinker, and so reflection is no stranger to me. I enjoy reflecting on many things, and find that upon reflection and pondering, I often am able to make better and wiser decisions than without such mental exercise. 


The nursing position I am in currently also requires a lot of thinking and planning. I am glad that this course has engaged in such practice. It is often the great thinkers of this world that help bring innovative and better ways of doing things to the forefront of society. This course has been a great and enjoyable learning experience, that has met the objectives and assisted me in expanding my nursing knowledge base. 


Best regards,


Robin Martin 

Reflection on Nursing Aspirations

Hello Class:

The role I would aspire to would be that of Nurse Educator, which is also my current job title, along with Infection Control Preventionist, or ICP.  However, lately I have also thought that I would like to cross over into the role of a Nursing Instructor. I don't think there is a better way for me to pass on my Nursing years of experience, and higher education, than by being an instructor.

This unique position in our society allows us to influence, for better or worse, upcoming generations of Nursing professionals. I believe I have valuable experience to relate and to offer, and that I would be able to perform well in this role. For now of course, I seek to do my best and to do well in the current Master's program. Once this program is accomplished though, I would really like to delve into a Nursing Instructor role. I think my current practice interfaces very well with this career path, and is aimed in the right direction.

Best regards,

Robin Martin

My Philosophy regarding Nursing Education

This has certainly been a stimulating assignment and learning module. Identifying my own personal philosophy in nursing education was challenging. As I began to organize my thoughts, I realized that my beliefs on this subject are actually quite well formed. Nursing education, as well as all education, should be treated and guided using principles which I will outline below.

In a nutshell, I believe the first step to improving all education in this country is to treat it as the diamond that it is, not something simmering on the back burner of our social priorities. Other countries are passing us up in education because they are giving education its proper priority of being first place, of being all important. When education becomes funded like we fund our military, we will likely see vast improvements in the quality of college graduates we are turning out, including nursing graduates.

Secondly, from kindergarten on up, there must be a balance of structure, discipline, and reflective thinking, or "rationality" as Immanuel Kent called it. Currently discipline has largely been stripped from our schools in the name of not abusing the children, but the pendulum has swung too far; now it is the teachers being abused, and the students run wild. This MUST stop, and a reasonable balance obtained in order to regain control of our classrooms, and the quality of our public education. Smaller class sizes, increased teacher salaries, and more personal one on one dialogues which encourage rationality and reflective thinking between students and teachers will also go far to improve our educational system.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, teachers and educators must show through human interaction that they are genuinely interested in, and caring of our upcoming student generations. All educators, not just nursing educators, must instill confidence, positive energy, mutual respect, encouragement, empowerment, and most of all love to our students. Think of the teacher that most influenced you growing up. Didn't they impart to you these qualities? Did you feel important, confident, encouraged, valued, worthwhile, loved and respected after interacting with them? Sure you did, that is why you remember them. We need to copy that!!

I'm excited about this educational journey I have embarked on. I'll see you at the top!

Best regards to all.

Robin Martin

Reflection on Healthcare - Privilege? or Right?

This study module was very interesting an thought provoking. Although I came to know some time back that the United States is the only industrialized country to NOT have a national healthcare system in place to which all are entitled, this study module really brought that close to home. I have long felt that all U.S. citizens should have access to at least basic healthcare. As a caring nurse, I deplore the fact that it is not so in our country.

For many years we have enjoyed the highest standard of living in the world. How most other countries can see that healthcare should be a right and ours does not is beyond me. It seems quite inconsistent with our American way of life, values, and political beliefs. We send many billions of dollars overseas often, to help other countries, and yet there are so many citizens in within our shores that cannot access even basic healthcare.

Just think how one of us would feel if we were ill, chronically ill, had no way to provide for our families, and had no way to get better because we had no way to get the healthcare we desperately needed? We don't really think about it that much - until it happens to us. Then our world comes crashing in and the reality sets in on just how dependent we are on good health - after it is gone. We then wonder at the cold indifference of our society to our plight, and the country we call home that is famous around the world for championing human rights and freedom.

Part of our value system in the United States is to be "secure in our person". How secure can we be if we cannot depend on receiving basic care when we are ill, to restore us to health? It becomes an illusion, and the values that we champion as a people empty rhetoric! President Obama's new healthcare reform may not be everything it needs to be, but doggon it, at least it is a step in the right direction.

If you have thoughts to share on this subject, please feel free to jump in. I would love to hear what others also have to say.

Best regards,

Robin Martin, RN, BSN, LNCC

Shwewwhh!!

Well I got through the first assignment in our class with an encouraging feedback. For some reason I really had difficulty writing the assignment, but it came out ok in the end. On to Unit 2. In Unit 2 we have an objective to formulate a personal philosophy of nursing education, by synthesizing the philosophies and theories we have studied. I am looking forward to this assignment. I suppose I have become rather opinionated in my old(er) age, so this should be interesting. I think of the old cliche, "you can't teach an old(er) dog new tricks" (is that how it goes?), or something like that. Well, hopefully I'm not quite THAT old yet, still kicking a little.

Thanks for reading my blog, have a great day. Check in again soon to see how things are progressing.

Best regards,

Robin Martin

Introductory Entry

Why I chose the Education Track: 

Dear Class:

I chose the educational track to my Master's degree for several reasons; first being that I generally enjoy school, and feel most useful and fulfilled when I can teach a skill or method of protocol to a nurse, see them put it into practice, and benefit from it. I really enjoy teaching others, and this educational path dove tails very well with my new position as Infection Control Preventionist/Nurse Educator.

My short and long term learning goals:


1.   My first learning goal is to successfully complete the current semester assimilating as much of the material as possible, and finishing with all A's.

2.   A medium range goal is to finish the Master's program, earn my Master's degree in Education, and begin Professional Nurse teaching at a University.

3.   A subsequent goal to finishing my Master's program will be to also complete certification as a Nurse Practitioner, preferably as a Family Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (FPMHNP).

4.   After completion of my FPMHNP, I also plan to complete my PhD, and finish my nursing career with a combination of teaching and private practice.

My learning goals for this course: 


1.   My first goal for this course is to grasp a solid foundation of the various theories and approaches to Nursing Education, and to incorporate those theories and approaches that I find most effective and compatible with my values and critical thinking processes.

2.   My second goal for this course is to complete all the assigned reading in a reflective and pondering manner, that allows time to internalize the material and knowledge presented, in order to gain the maximum benefit for myself and my future students.

3.   My third goal for this course is to internalize and process the feedback I receive from Dr. Miller, and to make the best improvements I am able in subsequent assignments as I proceed through the course.

4.   My fourth goal for this course is to complete the course with an A grade, and to perform all assignments well and on schedule.

I really enjoyed the BSN program which I just completed in June of this year, and am looking forward to  increasing my knowledge through this Master's program and beyond. I am excited about this class, and have found the readings intellectually stimulating and interesting thus far. I extend my best wishes to all as we journey on our way towards our Master's completion.

Best regards,

Robin Martin

Saturday September 4 - readings started

I have begun the assigned readings and find them quite interesting. I began the readings first in the Philosophy of Education. I am able to see right away that these text books are several notches higher than those we used in the BSN program. Every sentence or two has a word that I have no idea what it means! I even found one word that is not even in the dictionary! I suspect part of my grade may depend on being able to write similarly as well.

I decided there must be an app for that!

So I got my iPhone, searched for an online Dictionary, and...walah!  A free comprehensive online dictionary application. With no further ado, I promptly downloaded it and added it to my phone. The app is called by the way "Dictionary.com". It is an unabridged dictionary and is based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary; all 20 megs worth. For all of us older adults that have actually seen one of these dictionaries in actual print, the mega dictionary holds every word ever known in the English language, along I'm sure with many that are not known, weighs about 50 pounds (ok, maybe only 35), and is about 10 inches thick (ok, really about 6 inches).

To make a long story short, or should I say... shorter, I am now reading Nodding's advanced text with dictionary as close as my iPhone, and using it often. I'm also highlighting new words that I am learning. Hopefully some of them will rub off on me as I proceed in these studies. I personally am a fan of simple language that most everyone can understand, but we are after all, now Master's students. I suppose a higher mastery of the English language is now in order, and so, I will march on, with iPhone app Dictionary.com close by my side.