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2024 Nursing Conference Grant Winning Essays

The questions for this year’s application cycle were as follows: 

  1. Please describe how you will share what you learn at this conference with colleagues. 

  2. How will you incorporate what you learn from this educational offering into your practice? 

  3. How will this conference advance your long-term career goals (beyond the attainment of continuing education hour requirements)? 

 

Essays were lightly edited for grammar, flow, and readability.  

 

Jeanie Chung

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Essay 1:  As a leader on my unit and a member of the critical care shared governance team, I am in a unique position to advocate for changes within the unit. One of the sessions that really stood out to me was, ?Sleep During Sedation: Separating Fact from Fiction? presented by Dr. Kayli Dayton. Sleeping during sedation is very much a prevalent mindset in our unit. When patients woke up delirious, I just blamed it on the unavoidable consequence of keeping them alive. Dr. Dayton talked about the LACK of sleep patients have while sedated and how it contributed to post-ICU syndrome and dementia. She talked about how these mental health disorders can be lifelong! When I saw video testimonies of patients, previously sedated, talking about how hallucinations were their new reality, it really caused me to question my practice and the practice of our unit. What is the point of keeping the body alive if we destroy the mind in the process? We currently do spontaneous breathing trials between 3 am-5 am and spontaneous awakening trails between midnight and 3 am. Patients get no rest for days at a time. I will work to advocate for changes in practice that allow for less sedation and the promotion of natural sleep. I will share this enlightening information with my shared governance council and work to change from the mindset that seems to be harming our patients to the mindset that promotes patient recovery.

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Essay 2: After attending the 2024 conference in Denver, I plan on changing my practice to incorporate more evidence-based practice and to provide education to others so that they also will incorporate evidence-based practice into their daily routines. I often get assigned as the rapid response nurse at my hospital and as such I will utilize information I learned to critically think and provide evidence-based care. The session, ?Critically Thinking in the Most Time-Sensitive Clinical Emergencies? presented by Karen Marzlin, really stands out in my head. Not every call to me, while I am covering rapid response, is an emergency. Many of the calls are from nurses who have patients with vague symptoms. Working night shift, the providers covering can be quickly overwhelmed with patient load and rely on nursing to provide pertinent information quickly in order to intervene before patient deterioration occurs. Marzlin?s class taught me how to turn vague symptoms into a focused assessment and be able to suggest next steps of care to the primary nurse or physician. I am also assigned the charge nurse role in my unit. I typically work in a unit with new graduate nurses, nurses new to critical care, or nurses with less than 3 years of experience. These nurses will approach me with their concerns and ask for suggestions. After attending this NTI, I will have more knowledge to be able to provide answers for them that will improve patient outcomes.

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Essay 3: My long-term career goals are remaining at the bedside and being a preceptor and a mentor to staff. I want to be able to provide answers to questions, solutions to problems, and critically think through complex situations. This was my first year attending NTI in person. It exceeded my expectations. The sessions I attended were relevant to my practice and the presenters were able to relate to the audience. The presenters were highly educated individuals, but at the same time still remember what it was like at the bedside. Each presenter was passionate about their subject and that passion was passed to me. After so many years at the bedside, I felt like I was seeing the same types of patients over and over again and doing the same thing over and over again. Attending this conference pushed away all the cobwebs in my mind and I felt like my mind just got a total makeover. It sparked my passion for critical care nursing once more. Learning new information keeps me excited about my profession and sharing the information I learned gives me inspiration to promote change. This conference will keep me excited about being at the bedside and the knowledge I bring back will enable me to guide future generations of nurses coming into my unit.

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