[Elizabeth Lopez]

This topic I’m sure still hits home to all of us that have worked through the pandemic. The chart that was provided was a great depiction of what took place during the four waves of covid in healthcare settings. Starting from the first wave, I can recall how almost every patient that came in with covid like symptoms if oxygen level was low, they would decompensate so quickly. So many of us can tell plenty stories of many lives that were lost during that horrible time. During the second wave our resources were impacted because our suppliers were having difficulty filling in the demand of request for all healthcare facilities. This is during the time I recall we were stretching out the use of our PPE’s. When the third wave came around, I don’t think healthcare had enough time to recover before we started to have high census due to patients with chronic illnesses. Most of these patients were not being cared for or attending their primary doctor visits because they were afraid and video visits, I don’t think was fulfilling the needs of this population. Lastly, the fourth wave on the chart indicated the outcome of the pandemic impact that included psych trauma, mental illness, economic injury, and burnout. I don’t think anyone could have predicted this pandemic lasting to this point. The ongoing isolations have caused an increase in mental health crisis including depression and anxiety not only on healthcare staff but for the public as well. The economic burden was also felt throughout the world and contributed as an additional stressor. Burnout for staff has hit its peak. Many healthcare staff have not been able to stop and devote time for themselves. Covid numbers have dropped but now we are dealing with staffing issues and still working out of ratio on many occasions. It is important to develop a plan to make changes to address all these issues and get healthcare back on track. We need to develop a plan to provide necessary resources for all staff to feel supported. We also need to be able to get back to providing the quality care that our patients need.

[Elizabeth Lopez]

Hello Njideka,
This is a great topic to discuss early on as we start of our programs so that we can start thinking about topics we could focus on. I think it’s important before we select a topic for our project that we have a clear understanding of what purpose there is to a DNP project. I’m early on in my program but my understanding of a DNP project is that its purpose is to attempt to improve outcomes in healthcare. This is done by addressing issues within health care and I would assume our project should be directed towards the specialty we are focusing on. By developing a DNP project, we will also gain skills that we will later utilize in our future practice. I personally hope to develop a project that consist of implementing interventions that can be effective in preventing a mental health crisis in our patients. I would preferably focus on the adult population and the setting would be in an acute care in patient facility. Another issue in mental health is to focus on improving staff education and competency when working with our mental health population and for this issue I would think of working with the adult population in an emergency room setting. There are many details that would have to be gathered to make an outline to approach these issues in a DNP project. But these are just some ideas I believe would be useful to look at if the area of focus is mental health.

[Elizabeth Lopez]

Hello Avery,
I have been in many conversations where my coworkers’ have brought up the topic on future goals and I talk about my goal of pursuing a DNP degree. The responses are many times full of negativity. Because of the negative feedback I get from coworkers I have become a lot more hesitant to share my educational goals at work. Some of the responses have included commenting on how I will owe so much on loans and have a very difficult time finding employment despite completing a grad program. It is very disappointing to realize that within our own field of practice so many still lack insight on the purpose of a higher education. Most do not know the purpose of obtaining a DNP and how it leads to having the professional knowledge to take part in making changes to the healthcare system. There are many coworkers that talk about wanting change in the health care system, but they don’t realize that the change will only happen if we take the initial steps to be part of the change. Despite the negative responses from others, I take every opportunity to educate coworkers, family, and friends on the purpose of a DNP. I educate them that a nurse with a DNP purpose is to improve healthcare and be able to provide quality and evidenced based services to diverse populations and in turn improve patient outcomes and therefore be part of a change in healthcare. On a more positive note, I am pursuing the PMHDNP and I work with psychiatrist that always have words of encouragement and tell me that they believe NP are the future of healthcare. So, despite the many negative comments I hold on to the positive ones and will continue to move forward.

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