Wrapping Up---almost

The end of the semester is almost here. I just participate in a community intervention project in another course, and only have the Change paper to finish up. It was really cool to go out into the community and make a visible difference in people's lives...papers and postings are important, but they get tiresome after awhile and it was neat to put all of that knowledge to use! I still haven't really jumped on the bandwagon for this blogging thing, but it serves as a unique forum; a little different than the Blackboard DB we use I suppose. The Change Project Paper. I vacillated for awhile on my Change paper topic; I had one I was really excited about, but then my preceptor had to go out on extended sick leave and I wasn't able to complete it. Next, I planned on implementing a second topic at the High School with the students there. That didn't work out because after I placed 5 phone calls with voicemails and sent 6 emails (literally), the Health supervisor for the DISD still did not make contact with me. Finally, I found a preceptor who was willing and able to meet with me for the interview, etc. My change project ended up being something I helped to design and implement where I work; something I was doing on the side and I didn't make the "change project" connection with it at first. It is a new Nursing Assessment flowsheet for the Extended Recovery patients we receive on the floor. Instead of having the same amount of paperwork for a patient we care for for 3 hours as one that we have for 3 days, we now have a shortened form that saves time, money, and the nurse's charting load. I am very proud of it and very happy with it; we all worked hard to design something that would work well for everyone and it has!