Community-Based Practicum Reflective Journal Guidelines

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

NUR 4143 - Clinical Immersion
Community-Based Practicum

Professional nursing meeting experience (4 hours)

Guide for Reflection Using Tanner’s (2006) Clinical Judgment Model
Introduction

What professional nursing meeting(s) did you attend and where was it located?
I attended the Virginia Board of Nursing formal hearings meeting. It was located at the Virginia Department of
Health Professions in Richmond, Virginia.
Background

Describe the purpose of this professional nursing meeting? Describe the agendas of the group and subgroup. What
type of issues did they address?

The purpose of this professional nursing meeting was to discuss cases in which nurses had their licenses under
review for a variety of reasons. The agenda primarily consisted of the names of the three nurses whose formal
hearing cases the board would be hearing that day as well as the names of all of the board members. There was no
subgroup. The issues that were discussed involved the facts of the cases to include when nurses had their license
issued and the events that lead them to find themselves to be at a formal hearing at VBON. Additionally, at the
conclusion of the meeting, the group discussed their findings and their ruling on the status of the license, whether
that be indefinite suspension, revocation, etc.

Noticing

What did you notice about the professional nursing meeting initially? Describe what you saw, heard and did during
the meeting?

Initially, they put us all in a room and said that we were to remain there until the hearing was to begin. The woman
who seemed to be in charge of having students there gave us a very specific set of instructions as to how everything
would be set up, where we were to sit, when we would get up and leave, and how we were expected to behave
during the meeting. When we were allowed to walk into the meeting room I was a little surprised to see just how
formally everything was set up. I think I was most shocked by the fact that in both cases that we were present for,
neither one of the nurses were there. I found that interesting as I would want the opportunity to state my case and
demonstrate my side of the story. During the meeting, there really was not much that we did, we just sat there and
took in all of the information that was being presented. We were specifically informed to try and remain stoic while
listening to the information being presented.

Interpreting

Describe what you thought about the information being discussed. Have you been involved in similar discussion
during your previous student nurse experiences? Describe the similarities and/or differences to those encounters.

Overall, I thought the information being presented was interesting. In both of the hearings the nurses had been
diverting drugs and were admitted to the Health Practitioners’ Monitoring Program and for various reasons had been
dismissed from the program. Both of the individuals struggled with substance abuse and were deemed unsafe to
practice. One of the nurses seemed to be somewhat more compliant than the other, however it was difficult to judge
as neither were present for the hearing. I personally have never been involved in a discussion like this in any
previous student nurse experience. I remember in sophomore I discussing that nurses divert drugs and practice under
the influence of drugs or alcohol, however I have never seen this in practice and it is not something that we have
ever really discussed since then. I know in the back of my mind that diverting drugs does happen and that substance

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abuse affects people from all walks of life, but it was very interesting to see it a more “real life” setting and the
serious consequences that it can have.

Responding

Describe stresses (both positive & negative) you experienced as you responded to the new learning or the challenge.

I honestly did not experience any stresses during this learning experience. Overall, I think it was a really great
experience and think it served as an excellent example of how to appropriately (or I guess in this case
inappropriately) act as a professional nurse.

Reflection-in-Action

What role would you take being assigned to represent your unit in this group? What subcommittee would you like to
participate with and why?

The only role that I thought was clearly defined was that of the presiding member. She presented all of the other
board members, asked the more scripted questions that drove the hearing along, and was the one to deliver the final
verdict regarding the case. All of the other members were there to ask questions and I assume weigh in with their
thoughts during the closed session. Since only one role was very clearly defined in my opinion I would take the role
of the Presiding Member, who in this case also happened to be the First Vice President of the Virginia Board of
Nursing. As there are no subcommittees for this group, I cannot pick a subcommittee to participate with.

Reflection-on-Action and Clinical Learning

What written evidence is available to support professional nursing groups and their impact on the development of
evidence based practice and improved patient outcomes. Cite/reference all journal articles that contributed to the
evidence.
Professional nursing groups are in a unique position to bring evidence-based practices to light and helping nurses to
implement them into their practice. Additionally, it has been shown that professional nursing groups play key roles
in the development of evidence based practice as well as testing and implementation of those evidence-based
practices (Mallory, 2010). Clearly, professional nursing groups serve as a way for nurses to come together to discuss
issues and concerns within their scope of practice and work together to form new ideas to improve not only their
own nursing practice, but nursing practice for those in their same specialty.
Mallory, G.A. (2010). Professional nursing societies and evidence-based practice: Strategies to cross the quality
chasm. Nursing Outlook, 58, 279-86. doi: 10.1016/j.outlook.2010.06.005
What is the value of professional nursing meetings both as a part of a healthcare system and within a professional
organization?
In this particular case, the professional nursing meeting serves a very important role as part of the healthcare system.
The board of nursing serves to oversee all different types of nursing licenses and ensures that nurses within the
Commonwealth of Virginia are safe and competent to practice nursing. As the overseeing entity on nurses they
obviously play a huge role within the healthcare system as they monitor who they believe is safe and/or competent
to practice. While it is near impossible to identify every single nurse, who may not be safe to practice, it seems that
they try to do their best to identify those that are at risk. The meeting is important because it is the formal hearing
where these cases are discussed and brought to light, also it gives the nurse in question the opportunity to speak for
her/himself. The VBON also give nurses across all disciplines and types of licenses the ability for leadership
opportunities and ability to protect public safety.
Describe any changes in your values or feelings as a result of this experience.

I think this experience just made me realize more that the diverting drugs is a real and very serious problem in the
nursing profession, it is not just something that they teach us about in school. They also mentioned one case were a
woman failed to renew her license, so she was at that time effectively practicing without a license and now was
facing having her license revoked. So it just drove home for me that anyone can find themselves at the VBON
whether it be for diverting drugs or a not realizing you had to renew your license.

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Nielsen, A., Stragnell, S., & Jester P (2007). Guide for reflection using the Clinical Judgment

Model. Journal of Nursing Education, 46(11), p. 513-516.

Professional Nursing Meetings

St. Mary’s Hospital

NOC: first and third Wednesday of each month. Let me know when you would like to attend.

Shared governance council meetings:

Professional Practice Council-Second Wednesday 8a-12n

Strategic Planning Council-Second Thursday 8a-10a

Applied Research Council-Third Thursday 10a-12n

Education Council: third Thursday from 12n-4p (the meeting part lasts for 2-2 ½ hours and then
the members work on unit education)

Memorial Regional Medical Center

Third Tuesday of each month (Room 3008, Net Center)

Nursing Practice council 0800-0930

Nursing Quality Council 0930-1100

Nursing Recruitment & Retention Council 1100-1300

Nursing Education/Research 1300-1430

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