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Nursing Portfolio of Sarah Voelpel

Collaboration

Collaborate in the Design, Management, and Coordination of Care



collaboration


EVIDENCE



Issues Project

In N260 I participated in a group project that researched a particular issue in the health field and wrote a paper and presentation for our class. My project was about organ donation in the United States and how our system could be improved to gain a higher number of donors and shorten the wait-list for organs

"Cut It Out" Community Health Project


Over the course of the semester my partner and I worked with the Pierce County Commission Against Domestic Violence to promote domestic violence awareness among the hair stylist population. By conducting surveys and analyzing the results, we were able to assess the need for training sessions on domestic violence for hair stylists. We were also able to distribute brochures and other resources for the hair stylists to provide to clients that they suspect may be victims of domestic violence.


Continuous Quality Improvement Project


During my leadership class, a group of my peers and myself conducting a semester long project aimed at decreasing the rate of hospital acquired infections contracted from nurses' uniforms. Our group conducted surveys at Good Samaritan Hospital and used the results to create a program for hospital laundered uniforms, along with a floor plan for a locker room for nurses to change into and out of uniforms, before and after their shift.




REFLECTION

  

      My time at PLU has presented me with the opportunity to be involved in many group projects . While group projects can sometimes be challenging and present times of both creativity and conflict, they have allowed me to learn how to work effectively with others. Not only have I worked with groups of my peers, but I have also had the opportunity to work with nurses, community members, and organizations to care for a variety of clients.

     The first collaboration project that I was a part of in the nursing program was my Issues Project in Professional Foundations during my sophomore year. For this project, my classmates and I chose a current issue in the health field and developed a system for improving the issue. My group chose to focus on the current program for organ donation in the United States and how to change it for the better. The project requiring many group meetings and a great deal of discussion on how to improve the current organ donation system. With five people coming from different backgrounds and having different values, it was challenging to come up with some solutions that all the group members could agree upon. The experience I gained from working on this project helped me to better understand how to collaborate with my peers and laid the groundwork for my willingness to participate in future collaborations in and out of the hospital setting.

     One of the most rewarding and interesting projects that I have been fortunate enough to be a part of was during my community health clinical. Along with one of my peers, I collaborated with the Pierce County Commission Against Domestic Violence (PCCADV) on a project entitled "Cut It Out". This program targeted hairdressers and the role that they can play in helping victims of domestic violence that they may encounter in their place of business. For this project, my partner and I developed a survey to assess the attitudes and beliefs of hairdressers in regards to domestic violence. While administering the survey to several salons around Pierce County, we also provided posters, pamphlets, and brochures for the salons to display and handout to possible victims of domestic violence.

     Work on this project required close communication and collaboration with the PCCADV, since my partner and I were acting as representatives of their organization when making visits to salons. We met regularly with executive director of the PCCADV and attended monthly Commission meetings to receive input on our progress and the direction of the project from members. It also required close communication between my partner and I, in order to make sure that we were on the same page and carrying out our project smoothly. Moreover, we had to collaborate with community members by contacting them to take the survey and listening to their input on domestic violence issues during our salon visits. This project is an excellent demonstration of my ability to work with my peers, instructor, outside organizations, and community members to design, manage, and coordinate care for the Pierce County Community.

     The largest scale project that I have worked on during my PLU experience has been the Continuous Quality Improvement Project, which took place during my Senior 1 semester in Leadership class. This was a semester long project, in which four of my peers and I tackled the issue of nurses' uniforms contributing to the spread of nosocomial infection in the hospital setting. Over the course of the semester we developed and administered a survey to health care workers about their uniform wear and laundering habits, interviewed nurse managers and uniform laundering specialists, met with an architect to design a blueprint for locker rooms, and developed a proposal for hospital-laundered uniforms and the construction of a locker room with a full cost analysis breakdown.

     This project required a great deal of collaboration between my peer partners and myself. There was so much information to collect and such a large amount of work to be done, that we had to contribute to the project individually, in small groups, and as a whole group. In bringing all of us together, we had five different people with five different ideas of how to approach our project. Of course there were times of conflict, but I believe that we were able to eventually create a better project because we could talk through our differing ideas and opinions, and come to the best solution possible. I also had to opportunity to collaborate with non-health care workers, such as architects and uniform laundering specialists, in order to achieve better outcomes for clients in this hospital setting. While I was very used to collaborating with nurses, this gave me the opportunity to work with others who have a very different way of thinking than I do. This project helped me to learn what types of personalities I can collaborate well with, and how to compromise and problem solve during times of conflict. It also reminded me of the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that comes after finishing a long and successful collaboration.

     After perusing these pieces of evidence, it is easy to see that my time at PLU has encouraged me to grow immensely in the area of collaboration with others. Whether it be doctors, nurses, non-nursing students, teachers, community members, or organizations, I believe that I will be better prepared and more enthusiastic when encountering opportunities for collaboration in the future. As a nurse, I will constantly be working with others to benefit patients, clients, my unit, and the organization that I am working for as a whole. I will take the knowledge that I have gained from previous collaborations and apply to future situations and opportunities for collaboration.