Posted: September 12th, 2023

Review your Clinical Skills Self-Assessment

Review your Clinical Skills Self-Assessment Form you submitted last week and think about areas for which you would like to gain application-level experience and/or continued growth as an advanced practice nurse. How can your experiences in the practicum help you achieve these aims?
Review the information related to developing objectives provided in this week’s Learning Resources. Your practicum learning objectives that you want to achieve during your practicum experience must be:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Results-focused
Time-bound
Reflective of the higher-order domains of Bloom’s taxonomy (i.e., application level and above)
Note: Please make sure your objectives are individualized and outlined in your Practicum Experience Plan (PEP). While you may add previous objectives to continue to work toward. You must have 3 new objectives for each class, each quarter.

Discuss your professional aims and your proposed practicum objectives with your Preceptor to ascertain if the necessary resources are available at your practicum site.
Select one nursing theory and one counseling/psychotherapy theory to best guide your clinical practice. Explain why you selected these theories. Support your approach with evidence-based literature.
Create a timeline of practicum activities that demonstrates how you plan to meet these goals and objectives based on your practicum requirements.

For continued growth clinical skills, on opportunities to apply your assessment and diagnostic skills would be. Practicing comprehensive health assessments, differential diagnoses, planning with various patient populations under preceptor guidance can help strengthen these application-level abilities. Document in your notes and reflecting on your decision-making also helpful for self-evaluation.
Selecting and counselingpsychotherapy theories that align with your approach to holistic care is a wise choice. Narrative therapy emphasizes understanding individuals within the social and cultural contexts that shape their experiences (1). This aligns well with advanced practice’s focus on biopsychos factors and shared decisionmaking. Solution-focused brief therapy prioritizes patients’ strengths and goals, using questions to help them envision solutions (2). Both theories value collaboration and empowering patients as active participants their care.
Creating a timeline with your preceptor’s input can help ensure your practicum activities provide opportunities to work towards your goals. Blocks of time for patient assessments, treatment planning, documentation, and case presentations allow for applying skills while under guidance. Regular meetings for feedback and discussions on cases demonstrate progress towards objectives.
I hope these suggestions are helpful as you finalize your practicum plans and objectives. Please let me know if you need anyification or have additional questions. Continuous self-reflection will help you maximize the learning from this experience.