Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

NUR 4140 – Synthesis Practicum

Professional Meeting Reflection

Professional nursing meeting experience (4 hours)

Students must attend 3 hours of professional nursing meetings related to Quality Improvement,
Leadership, or Population Health. Suggestions include an IRB meeting, EBP council, unit-based
practice meeting, or professional organization meeting focused on evidence-based care delivery.
Students may claim 4 hours on their NUR 4140 Practicum Log for the entire assignment.
Guide for Reflection Using Tanner’s (2006) Clinical Judgment Model
Introduction

What professional nursing meeting(s) did you attend and where was it located? If more than one meeting was
attended to complete 3 hours, list all meetings attended; the remainder of the questions can be answered focusing on
one meeting. Mortality at St. Mary’s Hospital is the meeting that I am doing the reflection based on/. The other
meetings or webinars I observed was the quality recordings: sepsis, HF, Monkeypox, STEMI, and hospice.
Background

Describe the purpose of this professional nursing meeting? Describe the agendas of the group and subgroup. What
type of issues did they address? The purpose of this meeting was to discuss mortality and its effect on other areas of
nursing. It is an increase in mortality risk for patients who end up back at the hospital as a readmission. The risk of
complications increases, and readmission is linked to an increase of infections such as hospital acquired infections.
In 2022, St. Mary’s was under 1.2 for the entire year which is remarkable. Sepsis has been reported as the number
one of the diagnoses that is prevalent across the country. The mortality score includes all inpatient patients with
discharged status of expired but exclude any patient that goes on hospice and/or transfers to another hospital. The
agenda of the group is to look at the contributing factors of mortality to lower the risk and number of deaths that
occur in our hospital. Some topics they discussed was documentation of comorbidities or preexisting conditions
which is an inaccurate severity of condition which limits their care resulting in a higher risk of mortality. Reduction
of complications is also very essential for reducing mortality. If complications do arise, how are we addressing them
and improving our outcomes and process.

Noticing

What did you notice about the professional nursing meeting initially? Describe what you saw, heard, and did during
the meeting? I thought this meeting was very informative. The presenters appeared very knowledgeable about the
topic. During the recording I was trying to piece all the information together with what I am used to see, and I do
hear stories of patients being sent home without correcting the initial problem for various reasons and being
readmitted not long after. I can understand how this can negatively impact their health and increase their overall rate
of mortality, but I have also seen some situations with readmission is inevitable too. I do feel that the system at St.
Mary’s does well with getting patients on hospice in a timely manner.

Interpreting

Describe what you thought about the information being discussed. Have you been involved in similar discussion
during your previous student nurse experiences? Describe the similarities and/or differences to those encounters. I
believe the information discuss was very helpful in seeing the bigger picture. I think as soon to be nurses we will be
very task oriented, but the focus should always be healthier outcomes and preventing mortality rates. I have
personally heard nurses say they would not be surprised if a patient died in the next few days or so and this along
needs to be taking more serious when possible. I personally witness nurses using the rapid response team more and
calling rapids if they do see a rapid decline in a patient’s status. Prioritizing the health of our patients, assessing

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them regularly, and obtain their vitals is extremely important to ensure that they continue to be stable and that we are
doing all that we can.

Responding

Discuss elements of quality improvement, service excellence, population health or leadership you noted as part of
the meeting focus. As for quality improvement, nurses should reach out to the providers if patients have a decline to
determine the next steps. Utilization of safe care and escalation processes is important to make sure we are
responding to our patients issues as soon as possible for better health outcomes. Patient satisfaction and improving
our quality skills will make patients want to come to our hospital to get care due healthy outcomes.

Reflection-in-Action

What role would you take if you were being assigned to represent your unit in this group? What subcommittee
would you like to participate with and why? The goal I would take would be a quality service officer. I would be
interesting in focusing on primary interventions that can help prevent mortality overall. Reducing complications
would be a focus as well as correcting documentation of comorbidities and patient history. Past medical history and
documentation of comorbidities is essential because these things make. Difference on how a patient will respond to
specific types of treatment as well as what type of treatment they will need. Implementing the importance of
removing foleys and good hand hygiene as well as appropriate PPE implementation. Discharge planning is also
essential, making sure patients follow up with their PCP and medication management.

Reflection-on-Action and Clinical Learning

What written evidence is available to support professional nursing groups and their impact on the development of
evidence-based practice and quality improvement related to patient outcomes? Cite/reference all journal articles that
contributed to the evidence. There are numerous articles that are available and support this topic, but I found on
article that resonated for me. This article focuses on the development of strategies by examining and understanding
the important determinants for patient mortality. This article examines data for patients from an acute care
hospitalization using seven categories such as nurse-physician relationship, nursing staffing characteristics,
physician characteristics, professional practice environment, nurse experience, registered nurse educational
preparation, and clinical nursing support.

Nielsen, A., Stragnell, S., & Jester P (2007). Guide for reflection using the Clinical Judgment
Model. Journal of Nursing Education, 46(11), p. 513-516.
Tourangeau AE, Cranley LA, Jeffs L. Impact of nursing on hospital patient mortality: a focused review and related
policy implications. Qual Saf Health Care. 2006 Feb;15(1):4-8. doi: 10.1136/qshc.2005.014514. PMID:
16456202; PMCID: PMC2563988.

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