[Rosemary Benavides]

Hi Avery, this is a topic that definitely stood out to me. I believe that many nurses have, or will experience this type of discouragement at some point in their nursing career. I myself have also experienced forms of discouragement, or judgmental comments from some peers when I tell them I am pursuing my DNP. As we already know, the nursing profession is always evolving. Some of the most recent concerns in the nursing profession and in healthcare include a shortage of nursing faculty and a shortage in medical providers. There is now a strong urge, or push for nurses to purse advanced practice nursing degrees due to the increased shortage of medical providers. DNPs are qualified leaders and healthcare providers. Thus, nurses who pursue their DNP will help provide optimal patient care and assist in the shortage of providers. The other concern involves the role of the DNP as an educator. The lack of faculty nurses can also be addressed by encouraging DNPs to pursue careers as academic educators. As future DNPs, it is our responsibility to educate our peers and others on the importance behind pursing a DNP graduate degree and all the benefits that it provides for the advancement of the nursing profession.

[Rosemary Benavides]

The graphic displays a COVID pandemic timeline describing it in phrases, or waves. The first wave: Immediate mortality and morbidity of COVID -19, the second wave: Impact of resource restriction on urgent non-COVD conditions, the third wave: Impact and interrupted care on chronic conditions, and the fourth wave: Psychic Trauma, mental illness, economic injury, and burnout. The timeline was created in 2020. It is February 2022, we are almost 2 years into this pandemic, and I would say that the graphic displayed is a fairly accurate timeline of the pandemic thus far. As an emergency department nurse at a level one trauma center, I have witnessed, and am witnessing these waves first hand. In my opinion, we have been experiencing the fourth wave for some time now. This pandemic has had a negative impact on healthcare system and communities. Many individuals, including adults and children, have suffered due to the psychological strain that the pandemic has created. Many people were laid off, or were forced to work from home, which also created feelings of social isolation. Children were also affected because they had to participate in online learn, which made social interactions with their friends and instructors impossible. As a result, adults and children experienced many mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and even suicide. Healthcare workers have also been affected by mental illnesses and burnout. Furthermore, the burnout has resulted in an overwhelming amount of nurses quitting, changing to different specialties, or units, which has in turn left many units in the hospital short staffed.

[Rosemary Benavides]

I am very interested in this topic as well. As a DNP graduate student myself, I have also recently been thinking about my final DNP project and I believe that it’s never too early to start brainstorming on ideas. The major components of the final DNP project should consist of planning, implementation, and evaluation. Additionally, every institution has specific requirements for the final DNP project, which may also affect the approach that you take on your final project. As mentioned in the previous post, the topic that you choose to focus on depends on your specialty. In other words, if your specialty is in psychiatric mental health, then focus on current mental health related issues, maybe related to medication compliance, or improving patient safety. If your in a CRNA program, maybe focus on problems related to sedation and specific comorbidities. Also, you can ask yourself a few questions in order to start brainstorming on topics, such as: what issues do you find concerning in your workplace? Or, what changes need to be made in order to improve the nursing profession/your specialty? Some of the areas that I believe necessitate change, or improvements include: unsafe nurse to patient ratios, high nurse turnover, nurse burnout, being short staffed, and decreasing hospital readmissions. I personally believe that focusing on a topic that you are passionate about will yield rewarding research and results for your project.

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