The document summarizes key topics covered in a Professional Capstone and Practicum course, as reflected in a student's journal. The journal addresses new practice approaches learned, including evidence-based practice and intraprofessional collaboration. It also discusses healthcare delivery systems, ethics, population health, the role of technology, health policy, leadership models, and health disparities. The student reflects on strengthening their cultural competence and how the course helped them meet competencies.

1. Approaches in the Practice Discussion
Approaches in the Practice DiscussionStudents are required to maintain weekly reflective
narratives throughout the course to combine into one course-long reflective journal that
integrates leadership and inquiry into current practice as it applies to the Professional
Capstone and Practicum course. In your journal, you will reflect on the personal knowledge
and skills gained throughout this course. The journal should address a variable combination
of the following, depending on your specific practice immersion clinical experiences: New
practice approaches Intraprofessional collaboration Health care delivery and clinical
systems Ethical considerations in health care Population health concerns The role of
technology in improving health care outcomes Health policy Leadership and economic
models Health disparities Students will outline what they have discovered about their
professional practice, personal strengths and weaknesses that surfaced, additional
resources and abilities that could be introduced to a given situation to influence optimal
outcomes, and finally, how the student met the competencies aligned to this course.
Approaches in the Practice DiscussionORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER
HEREProfessional Capstone and Practicum Reflective JournalPracticum journal allows
nursing students to reflect on the knowledge and skills that they have acquired throughout
their course. Thus, these journals enable students to assess whether the objectives of the
course have been met. This journal will reflect various topics that were learned during the
course.New Approaches in the PracticeDuring the course, I learned about some approaches,
which have been implemented in the nursing practice. One of these approaches is the use of
research-based evidence in making major clinical decisions. The adoption of EBP in clinical
practice enhances the quality of care and patient safety, which, in turn, improves overall
patient outcomes and the client's experience (Patelarou et al., 2017).Approaches in the
Practice DiscussionIntra-professional CollaborationThe concept of intra-professional
collaboration was another key area that was studied during the course. Intra-professional
collaboration involves the coordination of all team members within a healthcare facility
during care delivery (Starkweather et al., 2019). Specifically, the intra-professional nursing
environment enables APNs and RNs to cooperate during their practices. This kind of
collaboration is beneficial to healthcare practitioners, patients, and the medical facility.
First, intra-professional collaboration enhances the knowledge and skills of healthcare team
members through data sharing. Additionally, effective cooperation among medical staff
minimizes medical errors that are likely to occur during care delivery. More so, intra-
professional collaboration results in improved relationships among staff members, which,

2. in turn, leads to job satisfaction. Secondly, intra-professional collaboration results in the
delivery of high-quality care to the patients. High-quality care, in turn, facilitates faster
recovery as well as minimizing the rate of hospital readmission. Finally, intra-professional
collaboration lowers healthcare costs and inefficiencies.Clinical Systems and Health Care
Delivery The course addressed systems that facilitate health care delivery. This
system involves all key elements that are involved in the delivery of care. In particular, the
healthcare system consists of people (staff members and individual patients), organizations,
and their actions. The primary objective of this system is to promote and maintain good
health among the targeted population. However, the performance of healthcare systems
varies significantly. High-performing health systems are rewarded regularly by the payers,
purchasers, and policymakers (Ahluwalia et al., 2017). The rewards are supposed to
motivate these systems to continue performing well.Ethical Considerations in Health
CareThis topic was covered in detail while studying my course. Ethical consideration is a
major area of concern for healthcare practitioners. Ethics indicate actions, motives, and
intentions that are accepted in healthcare delivery. Clinicians are guided by five key ethical
principles in their practices (ANA, 2015). First, the ethical principle of privacy and
confidentiality ensures that medical practitioners protect patient's data from being
accessed by third parties without the client's consent. Secondly, the principle of autonomy
states that practitioners should respect patients' decisions during the treatment process.
Thus, clinicians should agree with the decision made by the client even if it is not correct.
Another major ethical consideration is the principle of Beneficence. This code of ethics
states that clinicians should act in the good of the patients. More so, the principle of
nonmaleficence holds that the practitioner should not harm the patients (Kadivar et al.,
2017). Finally, the ethical principle of justice states that all patients should be treated fairly
and equally without any form of discrimination. Approaches in the Practice
DiscussionPopulation Health Concerns The course addressed the concept of
population health concerns. Public health concerns and challenges vary significantly from
one population to another. However, some major health concerns include alcohol-related
harms, HIV, chronic conditions such as heart disorders and stroke, obesity, and drug
overdose. These issues tend to compromise the health of the affected population. For
instance, mortality and morbidity rates are relatively high among populations prone to
chronic conditions. Thus, healthcare practitioners are mandated to identify the health
concern of a given population to be able to improve their health status.The Role of
TechnologyThe course emphasized the role played by technology in boosting health care
outcomes. First, technology has facilitated the implementation of Electronic Health Records
(EHRs). These records enable healthcare practitioners to access the client's details, which
act as a guide during the treatment process. Additionally, technology facilitates
communication between clinicians during care delivery, thus improving the quality of care.
More so, technology minimizes medical errors that are likely to occur during care delivery
(Alotaibi & Federico, 2017). Besides, telecommunications technologies have improved
health care outcomes through telemedicine. The introduction of remote health monitoring
tools has improved health care outcomes since patients can monitor their health status
while at home.Health PolicyFurthermore, I learned about health policy during the course.

3. Health policy involves plans, decisions, and actions, which are carried out to attain specific
goals in the health care sector. Several goals can be attained through explicit health
policy. Such a policy defines the vision to be attained in the healthcare sector in the future.
Additionally, it supports the setting of targets for both the short and medium-terms as well
as reference point. In other words, a health policy serves as a solution to a particular health
concern or challenge facing the public.ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER
HERELeadership and Economic ModelsThe course also equipped me with the knowledge of
leadership and economic models. The concept of leadership was emphasized since it
determines the efficiency and success of any healthcare organization. On the other hand,
economic models involve the use of economic models, theories, and empirical methods to
analyze decisions made by various entities such as individual practitioners and
organizations in the health care sector.Health DisparitiesMore so, I learned about health
disparities. In the US, health disparities are mainly affecting minorities. Thus, racial health
disparities are among the major public health issues in most western countries, including
the United States. Consequently, the mortality rates are relatively high among minorities
such as Blacks (Noonan et al., 2016). Additionally, other population groups in the US are
disproportionately affected by health disparities based on various aspects, including
gender, sexual orientation, and disability status.Approaches in the Practice DiscussionWhat
did I Discover about my Professional Practice, Strengths, and Weaknesses?The practicum
exercise enhanced the understanding of my professional practice. I discovered that my
professional practice is broad and is characterized by a wide array of activities that are
designed to improve public health. Additionally, I discovered my strengths and weaknesses.
My key strengths are being outgoing, determined, and courageous. These qualities will
facilitate my service delivery in the future. On the other hand, I realized I have one major
weakness of undermining other people due to their ethnicity. I need to work on these
weaknesses to enhance my care delivery while dealing with multicultural communities in
the future. Consequently, resources in terms of reading materials about other cultural
groups are required to facilitate my understanding of their cultural values and traditions.
The students met the competencies of this course by attending all the classes and reading
the required course materials.ConclusionThe reflective journal allowed the students to
reflect on concepts learned during the course. Additionally, the students were allowed to
reflect on what they discovered about their professional practice, strengths, and
weaknesses. Approaches in the Practice DiscussionReferencesAhluwalia, S. C., Damberg, C.
L., Silverman, M., Motala, A., & Shekelle, P. G. (2017). What defines a high-performing health
care delivery system: a systematic review. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and
Patient Safety, 43(9), 450-459.Alotaibi, Y. K., & Federico, F. (2017). The impact of health
information technology on patient safety. Saudi medical journal, 38(12), 1173.American
Nurses Association (ANA). (2015). Code of ethics with interpretative statements. Silver
Spring, MD.Kadivar, M., Manookian, A., Asghari, F., Niknafs, N., Okazi, A., & Zarvani, A.
(2017). Ethical and legal aspects of patient’s safety: a clinical case report. Journal of medical
ethics and history of medicine, 10.Noonan, A. S., Velasco-Mondragon, H. E., & Wagner, F. A.
(2016). Improving the health of African Americans in the USA: an overdue opportunity for
social justice. Public health reviews, 37(1), 1-20.Patelarou, A. E., Kyriakoulis, K. G., Stamou,

4. A. A., Laliotis, A., Sifaki-Pistolla, D., Matalliotakis, M., ... & Patelarou, E. (2017). Approaches to
teach evidence-based practice among health professionals: an overview of the existing
evidence. Advances in Medical Education and Practice, 8, 455.Starkweather, A. R., Colloca, L.,
Dorsey, S. G., Griffioen, M., Lyon, D., & Renn, C. (2019). Strengthening Inter‐and
Intraprofessional Collaborations to Advance Biobehavioral Symptom Science. Journal of
Nursing Scholarship, 51(1), 9-16. Approaches in the Practice Discussion