Posted: December 2nd, 2022

Journal Entry Goals and Objectives

Journal Entry
Goals and Objectives
The goals and objectives from the practicum experience include educating the males in Michigan about the risks of smoking and the relationship to lung cancer. Creating awareness about the risks of smoking is essential to encourage smoking cessation (Berger & Mooney-Somers, 2017). Creating awareness, providing knowledge, and influencing attitudes are vital in creating behavior change. A change of lifestyle will lead to better health outcomes.
I achieved the goal of creating awareness among the AA males in Michigan. The program successfully educated the target audience on the risks of smoking, such as lung cancer. During the program, the target audience committed to stopping smoking. A practical smoking cessation assessment can be measured six months to one year after the program. The program successfully educated the AA males and triggered positive attitudes that are vital in behavior change.
Three Challenging Patients
The first challenging patient was a 53-year old AA male with severe smoking withdrawal symptoms. The patient had attempted to stop smoking, but the symptoms kept getting worse. For example, he had sleeping difficulty, poor concentration, anxiety, anger, and restlessness. He had tried various attempts to quit, but he was always going back to the old habit. The patient did not adhere to psychotherapy and pharmacological treatment due to his indulgence in alcohol and hard drugs.
The second patient was a 57-year old AA male who recently divorced his wife. The wife was critical in Helping him in stopping smoking. Since the separation, he has been a chain smoker and reports signs of depression. He takes other hard drugs and alcohol. He reports difficulty in breathing and persistent dry cough. A further Assessment of the patient was necessary to determine the mental condition and cause of the symptoms.
The third patient was a 59-year old father who is a chain smoker. He regrets the decision to start smoking, but he wants to quit. His son is 30 years old and has been a chain smoker as well. He is mentally disturbed that he influenced his son. He fears he has lung cancer after coughing blood for a week, experiencing recurrent chest infections, and persistent breathlessness. He requires further examination and screening.
Lessons Learned
I learned that comprehensive care is essential in care provision since multiple patients present with co-occurring disorders. I learned the role of including diverse healthcare workers in a healthcare promotion program. For instance, I learned that psychotherapists, psychiatrists, and cancer specialists are vital in providing care for the patients (Halpern et al., 2018). Another lesson is that follow-up is vital in the treatment process. It is vital to provide care to the patients and encourage follow-up until complete recovery. I learned that family support and involvement are vital in the provision of care. Family can contribute to better results upon supporting a patient and encouraging them to adhere to treatment (Halpern et al., 2018).
Resources Available
The resources available in the health promotion program include personnel for the training sessions, training materials, and funds to facilitate the training. Local healthcare workers were vital in providing data to understand the health dynamics of the target audience.
Evidence-Based Practice
The program had two critical evidence-based interventions, including counseling and fear appeal. Counseling is vital in promoting behavior change and altering attitudes. Fear appeal is critical in encouraging people to alter behavior for fear of the negative consequences (Halpern et al., 2018).
What to do differently
In the future, I would make the program longer and create an extensive follow-up program. The program should take a longer time to encourage behavior change and encourage individuals to embrace positive behavior (Tremblay et al., 2019). Another change is to create a year-long follow-up for the patients. Follow-up encourages smoking cessation and prevents relapse.
Patient Flow and Volume
The best strategy is to book appointments with the patients to avoid congestion at the waiting bay. Another approach is to request additional healthcare workers to Help in attending to the needs of the patients.
Communicating and Feedback
The improvement of skills and knowledge is vital in the healthcare system. The best approach is to engage in other health promotion programs to gain practical experience (Powers et al., 2019). I will request my preceptor to recommend to me other health promotion programs I can participate in. Another approach is to create time with my preceptor to learn behavior change interventions (Powers et al., 2019). I will write a report to my preceptor detailing the success and challenges of the current program, recommendations, and opportunities for future improvement.
I am doing relatively well in the provision of care and encouraging behavior change. I am learning additional skills I should sharpen and strategies for providing comprehensive care.
My preceptor was happy about the program. When he read the report, he sent me a message saying he was happy for the excellent work. Additionally, he wrote a recommendation letter as a sign of his satisfaction to change the lives of AA males in Michigan.

References
Berger, I., & Mooney-Somers, J. (2017). Smoking cessation programs for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people: A content-based systematic review. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 19(12), 1408-1417.
Halpern, S. D., Harhay, M. O., Saulsgiver, K., Brophy, C., Troxel, A. B., & Volpp, K. G. (2018). A pragmatic trial of e-cigarettes, incentives, and drugs for smoking cessation. New England Journal of Medicine, 378(24), 2302-2310.
Powers, K., Herron, E. K., & Pagel, J. (2019). Nurse preceptor role in new graduate nurses’ transition to practice. Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, 38(3), 131-136.
Tremblay, A., Taghizadeh, N., Huang, J., Kasowski, D., MacEachern, P., Burrowes, P., … & Bédard, E. L. (2019). A randomized controlled study of integrated smoking cessation in a lung cancer screening program. Journal of Thoracic Oncology, 14(9), 1528-1537.

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