NURS6600 Capstone Synthesis Practicum
Week 3 Assignment
Practicum Journal Entry 1
The purpose of your Practicum Journal is to engage in reflection as an active pursuit, placing your experience in a larger context. Your journal draws from evidence, concepts, and/or theories you have examined throughout your program, especially those related to the nurse executive specialization. It prompts you to make connections between that research and the applied practice at your site.
What have you observed during your practicum experience that you would like to analyze through your journal writing? What can be applied to your Practicum Project? Consider these questions, as well as how your day-to-day experience applies to the larger context of your professional skill development, as you reflect. For this Assignment, you complete and submit your first of three journal entries.
To Prepare:
Reflect on your practicum experiences in Weeks 1–3.
Reflect on evidence, concepts, and/or theories learned throughout this program and your nurse executive specialization.
Analyze a problem, issue, or situation that you have observed during your practicum experience.
Using a minimum of three peer-reviewed sources of evidence, consider what you have observed within the context of your specialty using appropriate concepts, principles, and theories. Give special attention to observed events that vary from scholarly literature.
Including personal communications from leaders in healthcare administration is acceptable; however, this does not replace the requirement for three peer-reviewed sources of evidence.
Determine the degree to which the problem, situation, or issue was addressed in a manner consistent with the theory, concepts, and principles detailed in the evidence.
Given the various evidence-based approaches that can be used in addressing the observed problem, situation, or issue, think about a plan for approaching the matter differently.
If you have not already done so, download the Practicum Experience Journal Template, found in this week’s Learning Resources.
To complete Practicum Journal Entry 1:
Open your saved Practicum Experience Journal.
In the Journal 1 area of the document, write a 250- to 300-word entry in which you do the following:
Document specific objective(s) for the specific time frame.
Describe a problem, issue, or situation that you have observed during your practicum experience (no more than half a page).
Using no fewer than three peer-reviewed sources of evidence, analyze what you have observed within the context of your specialty using appropriate concepts, principles, and theories. Give special attention to observed events that vary from scholarly literature.
Explain the degree to which the problem, situation, or issue was addressed in a manner that is consistent with the theory, concepts, and principles detailed in the evidence.
Given the various evidence-based approaches that can be used in addressing the problem, situation, or issue, formulate a plan for approaching the matter differently.
Include APA-formatted references immediately following the content.
NURS6600 Capstone Synthesis Practicum
Week 5 Assignment
Practicum Project Plan
In scholarly writing, to synthesize means to bring various ideas and pieces of information together. In this “bringing together,” new comparisons are drawn and new meanings derived. Your Practicum Project Plan includes a synthesis of scholarly research justifying your project topic, as well as a formal plan for the implementation of your project and evaluation of your objectives. As such, the project plan offers the audience—including organizational stakeholders—clarity about what will take place and why.
For this Assignment, you anticipate the needs, questions, and concerns of your intended audience as you lay out your Practicum Project Plan.
Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
To prepare:
Review the information in the Practicum Project Plan Overview document as needed. The overview describes the elements that must be included in your plan.
Reflect on the development of your Practicum Project Plan thus far. Address any questions you have and/or identify areas in need of further consideration or improvement. How can you craft your proposal objectively yet persuasively?
Develop any outstanding components of your Practicum Project Plan. For instance, you may need to continue your review of the literature that justifies your project and create your project timeline.
Review the information on scholarly writing in this week’s Learning Resources; be sure to integrate these principles as you develop your Practicum Project Plan.
If you posted a draft of the Practicum Project Plan in this week’s optional Discussion, incorporate any feedback you received from your colleagues as appropriate.
Use the College of Nursing template linked in the Learning Resources to draft your Practicum Project Plan.
To complete the Practicum Project Plan:
Write a 4- to 6-page scholarly paper in which you formulate a detailed plan for the problem or issue you are examining at your practicum site. Your paper should include the following:
Title. The title includes the name of your project and follows the Uniform-Guidelines format.
Introduction. The introduction includes the purpose of the paper, the goal of the project, and the name of the project. It also outlines the structure of the paper.
Goal statement. A goal statement identifies what you expect to accomplish, the focus area, and the population. It introduces the project and conveys, in broad terms, how you plan to solve a particular problem or issue.
Project objectives. Project objectives delineate your strategy for reaching the goal and the steps you will follow to complete the project. You must include two or three measurable objectives that use Application-level or higher verbs from Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Evidence-based review of the literature for project justification. This review provides evidence-based support for your identified problem, project methods, and evaluation. The literature should be directed toward justifying the project, not focus on potential solutions. You must include a review of your specialization’s professional-practice standards and guidelines related to your project and a minimum of five scholarly references for this section of the paper.
Methodology. This section addresses in detail how you will accomplish the project objectives. Include, as relevant, the who, when, where, and how of each objective.
Resources. Identify and justify the human, physical, and/or technical resources you will need to complete this project. Note that for this assignment, you do not have to address the financial aspects of your plan.
Formative evaluation. Describe how and when you will conduct a formative evaluation of your project. Explain how you will use the evaluation results and how you will determine if the project is proceeding as planned.
Summative evaluation. Describe how and when you will conduct a summative evaluation of your project. Explain how you will use the evaluation results.
Timeline. Create a graphic timeline representing significant stages of your project. Provide a narrative to help your Faculty understand the timeline. Include the timeline in an Appendix to your Practicum Project Plan.
References. References should be formatted in APA style and reflect current nursing/health literature (i.e., published within the past 5 years).
Note: You must use APA Style headings, but you are not required to title the headings as listed above.
NURS6600 Capstone Synthesis Practicum
Week 7 Assignment
Practicum Journal Entry 2
Your second journal entry provides another opportunity for active reflection—consideration, engagement, and application. You may notice that the prompts repeat from your first journal. This is deliberate, designed to foster reflection and iteration. Your perspective, focused as it is on the practical experience found at a dynamic institution, may shift. Or, you may find evidence to support a concept or theory you have applied or intend to apply.
To prepare:
Reflect on your practicum experiences in Weeks 4–7.
Think about the evidence, concepts, and/or theories learned throughout this program and your nurse executive specialization.
Analyze a problem, issue, or situation that you have observed during your practicum experience.
Using a minimum of three peer-reviewed sources of evidence, consider what you have observed within the context of your specialty using appropriate concepts, principles, and theories. Give special attention to observed events that vary from the scholarly literature.
Including personal communications from leaders in healthcare administration is acceptable; however, this does not replace the requirement for three peer-reviewed sources of evidence.
Determine the degree to which the problem, situation, or issue was addressed in a manner consistent with the theory, concepts, and principles detailed in the evidence.
Given the various evidence-based approaches that can be used in addressing the observed problem, situation, or issue, think about a plan for approaching the matter differently.
To complete Practicum Journal Entry 2:
Open your saved Practicum Experience Journal, which should already include your Journal 1 entry.
In the Journal 2 area of the document, write a 250- to 300-word entry in which you do the following:
Document specific objective(s) for the specific time frame.
Describe a problem, issue, or situation that you have observed during your practicum experience (no more than half a page).
Using no fewer than three peer-reviewed sources of evidence, analyze what you have observed within the context of your specialty using appropriate concepts, principles, and theories. Give special attention to observed events that vary from scholarly literature.
Explain the degree to which the problem, situation, or issue was addressed in a manner that is consistent with the theory, concepts, and principles detailed in the evidence.
Given the various evidence-based approaches that can be used in addressing the problem, situation, or issue, formulate a plan for approaching the matter differently.
Include APA-formatted references immediately following the content.
NURS6600 Capstone Synthesis Practicum
Week 8 Assignment
Practicum Project Poster Abstract
If you want to spark conversation with nursing scholars in person, poster sessions are an appropriate way to disseminate your research. Posters are a typical offering at many professional and academic conferences. In this format, each presenter displays a poster and stands beside it, ready to engage with any participants who walk through the room. As such, posters can be dynamic ways to see audience receptiveness to your research, up close and in real time.
For this Assignment, you will practice communicating your project topic, findings, and recommendations in the context of one dissemination method: a conference.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Specifically, you will develop an abstract for a poster session based on your Practicum Project. The call for abstracts comes from Phi Nu, Walden’s chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International, and is representative of others you may see in the field.
To prepare:
Review the Writing Center materials on conference proposals and presentations and on writing concisely.
Download and complete the Poster Abstract Template found in the Learning Resources. Answer the questions in numerical order and write concisely.
Tip: When submitting abstracts through juried/peer-reviewed processes, follow exact directions. Do not give reviewers a reason to eliminate your abstract. As future scholar-practitioners, you will submit abstracts to disseminate scholarly works. It is imperative that you follow exact directions.
By Day 7
Submit your completed Poster Abstract using the Poster Abstract Template.
Submission and Grading Information
To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:
Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK8Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
Click the Week 8 Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
Click the Week 8 Assignment link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.
Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK8Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.
Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.
NURS6600 Capstone Synthesis Practicum
Week 9 Assignment
Practicum Project Presentation
Thought provoking. Precise. Engaging. Illuminating. Motivating.
What adjectives would you like those who review your Practicum Project presentation to ascribe to your work? As you finalize your PowerPoint presentation, reflect on the impact you would like to have and how you can apply what you have learned about effective communication and design.
Keep in mind that your presentation must demonstrate graduate-level writing and presentation standards. Your presentation will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Inclusion of all required content, (e.g., evidence of scholarly products developed for the Practicum Project)
Effective communication and appropriate emphasis of content
Organization and clarity
Visual appeal
To prepare:
Integrate feedback from this week’s Discussion to hone your presentation.
NURS6600 Capstone Synthesis Practicum
Week 10 Assignment
Professional Portfolio
Throughout this course, you have been developing your Professional Portfolio, assembling evidence of your accomplishments in your program of study to generate a positive impression of your capabilities as a nurse executive.
It may be difficult to think back to how you felt at the beginning of your program or even what you accomplished in your earlier courses.Thankfully, your Portfolio provides a record—in the form of your submitted assignments—that you can use to show your growth and achievements. No doubt you have improved in confidence, knowledge of the discipline, and critical and analytical thinking, not to mention APA Style.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Your Portfolio is not just a record of your academic development, though; it can be a useful tool for career advancement as you meet with potential employers.
While finalizing your Professional Portfolio, think about how you would like to use this “living” artifact as you proceed through the next phase of your career. With whom will you share it? How and when will you update it? How will you use it to help secure future work?
To prepare:
Assemble the elements of your Portfolio using the Guide to Creating a Professional Portfolio and the Professional Portfolio Template in the Learning Resources. The portfolio includes: (a) Title page, (b) Table of Contents, (c) Curriculum Vitae (CV)/Résumé, (d) Required Portfolio Assignments (Core and Nurse Executive), (e) Continuing Education/courses if applicable, (f) End-of-Program Outcomes Evidence Chart (POEC), and (g) Final Reflection. The Final Reflection should reflect on work completed in this course and throughout your program of study in the nurse executive track, using the recommended format found in the Guide to Creating the Professional Portfolio.
If the Track Changes function has been used in your document, accept the changes and turn the tracker off to ensure a clean and professional appearance.
Reflect on your academic journey in the MSN nurse executive track, including the experiences, readings, or assignments that changed your perspective or significantly impacted your growth.
Reflect on your strengths and improvement areas. How will you continue to advance your career with those in mind?
NURS6600 Capstone Synthesis Practicum
Week 11 Assignment
Practicum Journal Entry 3
You now near the conclusion of your involvement in the practicum. Recall the theory you may have put into practice, the opportunities for evidence-based practice you may have observed, and the opportunities for nurse executives to improve health outcomes. This final journal entry allows you to again actively analyze a problem, issue, or situation you have observed in practicum and ultimately turn to the process of reflecting on what you have learned about yourself as a scholar-practitioner.
To prepare:
Reflect on your practicum experiences in Weeks 8-–11.
Think about the evidence, concepts, and/or theories (evidence) learned throughout this program and your nurse executive specialization.
Analyze a problem, issue, or situation that you have observed during your practicum experience.
Using a minimum of three peer-reviewed sources of evidence, consider what you have observed within the context of your specialty using appropriate concepts, principles, and theories. Give special attention to observed events that vary from the scholarly literature.
Including personal communications from leaders in health care administration is acceptable; however, this does not replace the requirement for three peer-reviewed sources of evidence.
Determine the degree to which the problem, situation, or issue was addressed in a manner consistent with the theory, concepts, and principles detailed in the evidence.
Given the various evidence-based approaches that can be used in addressing the observed problem, situation, or issue, think about a plan for approaching the matter differently.
To complete Practicum Journal Entry 3:
Open your saved Practicum Experience Journal, which should already include your Journal 1 and Journal 2 entries.
In the Journal 3 area of the document, write a 250- to 300-word entry in which you do the following:
Document specific objective(s) for the specific time frame.
Describe a problem, issue, or situation that you have observed during your practicum experience (no more than half a page).
Using no fewer than three peer-reviewed sources of evidence, analyze what you have observed within the context of your specialty using appropriate concepts, principles, and theories. Give special attention to observed events that vary from scholarly literature.
Explain the degree to which the problem, situation, or issue was addressed in a manner that is consistent with the theory, concepts, and principles detailed in the evidence.
Given the various evidence-based approaches that can be used in addressing the problem, situation, or issue, formulate a plan for approaching the matter differently.
Include APA-formatted references immediately following the content.
