Findings on Healthcare Professional Practice
Healthcare professional practice reflects commitment to caring for patients and families. It offers appropriate skills required to demonstrate competency and ethical values. It also enables students to apply specialized knowledge in delivering quality services. After learning about healthcare issues and identifying areas of specialization, the coursework offered an opportunity to manage academic challenges. It created a platform for students to master the diverse skills required for healthcare practice. Most of the coursework activities involved application of evidence-based practice, accountability, and demonstration of competence in the healthcare practice.
Professional practice is defined based on the nature of the working environment, code of conduct, and ethical standards required in every field. I discovered that theoretical concepts and practical measures taken to manage critical problems facing communities determine the quality of service delivery. Skills, theories, and experience acquired from the coursework also offered an opportunity to address concerns of population health (Hernandez et al., 2018). For example, interprofessional collaboration was highlighted as an essential practice which facilitates successful healthcare delivery. It also promoted goal-achievement within and out of the healthcare setting.
Ethical Considerations
Ethical considerations were also highlighted as the key factors required when delivering healthcare services. According to Hernandez et al. (2018), ethical principles enable healthcare personnel to deliver quality services and care to the patients. Through the teachings on ethical principles, I understood different ways of incorporating justice, principle of nonmaleficence, beneficence, accountability, and fidelity when delivering services to the patients. Moreover, the course demonstrated how different ethical principles could be applied to addressing clinical dilemmas. The current healthcare system is faced with dynamic cases of an ethical dilemma. As a result, mastering the skills of making sound judgment and decisions during such scenarios became practical to the delivery of care to the patients.
Concerns on population health have increased with the rising issues linked to poor management of infectious diseases. Improper resource management has also affected the way population health concerns are addressed in the affected communities (Herd et al., 2016). The coursework offered a platform for managing distribution models and resources required to maintain healthy populations. For example, awareness and information delivery were highlighted as the primary aspects required in minimizing critical health concerns across different populations (Hernandez et al., 2018). Moreover, interprofessional collaboration also played a significant role in managing issues affecting the populations.
Interprofessional Collaboration
Interprofessional collaboration can be achieved by incorporating efficient communication skills, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. The course offered skills that could be applied along with other professional code of conduct. It further introduced different ways of analyzing critical problems faced by healthcare management. Apart from the ethical dilemmas, mismanagement, and improper resource allocation, it improves skills which facilitate student’s ability to achieve different goals.
Strengths and Weaknesses
The coursework offered skills and knowledge that enhanced achievement of long-term and short-term goals. One of the strengths featured with my learning skills was the ability to master the key concepts taught through the coursework. Concepts of ethical principles in healthcare were well interpreted through regular analysis of critical scenarios surrounding health care. The coursework offered a platform that students could connect with real healthcare scenarios (Kohrt et al., 2018). As a result, I had the opportunity to apply ethical principles into real-life scenarios which required prompt resolutions and responses.
Population Health Concerns
Professionalism is important when addressing healthcare issues which call for interprofessional collaboration. My ability to interact and work in a team enhanced collaborative skills. Moreover, population health should be prioritized when critical cases such as pandemics arise (Hernandez et al., 2018). The strength of the coursework was also attributed to my efficient problem-solving and communication skills. The skills also created a platform to understand coursework challenges by identifying prompt solutions which could address the key challenges.
Coursework’s weaknesses were attributed to the difficult tasks that required commitment and adequate time. The summary of the key concepts was also challenging since most healthcare courses require students to have an in-depth understanding of every concept introduced by the instructors. Some topics, which required quantitative analysis and in-depth research, also posed a significant challenge, thus lowering coursework coverage efficiency.
Resources for Optimal Learning Outcome
Additional learning resources could contribute to positive learning outcomes since extension of class work activities and additional learning materials enhance learning. The other strategy which could address the coursework limitations includes school policies. Policies have a varied effect on student’s performance and experience in schools. For example, additional resources could be allocated to research work (Andersson et al., 2017). The aim of the plan is to have students acquire varied hand-on skills across different healthcare fields. The instructions could also introduce better means of addressing student’s needs. Regular review and assessment of students’ performance could facilitate performance assessment and reviews of performance trends of students’ capabilities to achieve their goals.
Maximizing learning outcomes requires collaboration between students and instructors at the learning institutions. One of the steps to achieve academic goals is by ensuring that students can apply the right learning resources in achieving academic goals. Learning programs and education policies similarly play an essential role in determining how students access quality education (Williams & Downes, 2017). Some of the school policies could restrict students from taking an extra step in acquiring advanced skills through specific programs such as those offered at the undergraduate level (Moore et al., 2018). The curriculum at the K-12 level could also have a varied effect on students’ skills and ability to master the right skills.
Course Competencies
Competencies play an essential role in determining the range at which students apply different skills across different health facilities. They are required in healthcare professions, and students must familiarize themselves with knowledge and critical concepts required in delivering services to communities. Understanding ethical principles is essential in addressing day-to-day issues which could affect the nature of service delivery provided to the patients (Andersson et al., 2017). Students’ learning process offered an opportunity to practice different ways of delivering quality services to the communities.
It further ensured that every student managed to access learning resources through online and offline classes. Most of the skills acquired varied depending on a student’s specialization (Kim et al., 2017). However, interpersonal collaboration, ethical principles and population health concerns have become critical and require evidence-based solutions in addressing problems that emerge from the fields.
Reflection
Students should access the right resources to acquire the skills and competencies which promote quality access to healthcare services. Training should focus on providing the right skills across different fields. The quality of training programs determines the way students will act when addressing critical scenarios which emerge in the healthcare sector. Furthermore, it provides an opportunity to identify the most competitive methods required to improve healthcare outcomes.
References
Andersson, H., Lindholm, M., Pettersson, M., & Jonasson, L. L. (2017). Nurses’ competencies in home healthcare: An interview study. BMC Nursing, 16(1), 65.
Herd, A. M., Adams-Pope, B. L., Bowers, A., & Sims, B. (2016). Finding what works: Leadership competencies for the changing healthcare environment. Journal of Leadership Education, 15(4). Web.
Hernandez, S. R., O’connor, S. J., & Meese, K. A. (2018). Global efforts to professionalize the healthcare management workforce: The role of competencies. Journal of Health Administration Education, 35(2), 157-174.
Kim, T. E., Shankel, T., Reibling, E. T., Paik, J., Wright, D., Buckman, M.,… Thomas, T. L. (2017). Healthcare students interprofessional critical event/disaster response course. American Journal of Disaster Medicine, 12(1), 11- 26.
Kohrt, B. A., Asher, L., Bhardwaj, A., Fazel, M., Jordans, M., Mutamba, B. B., Nadkarni, A., Pedersen, G. A., Singla, D. R., & Patel, V. (2018). The role of communities in mental health care in low- and middle-income countries: A meta-review of components and competencies. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(6), 1279. Web.
Moore, J. E., Rashid, S., Park, J. S., Khan, S., & Straus, S. E. (2018). Longitudinal evaluation of a course to build core competencies in implementation practice. Implementation Science, 13(1), 106. Web.
Williams, H., & Downes, E. (2017). Development of a course on complex humanitarian emergencies: Preparation for the impact of climate change. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 49(6), 661-669. Web.