Running Head: POST-PRACTICUM REFLECTION 1

Post-Practicum Reflection

Courtney Jones

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

Chris-Tenna Perkins PhD, RN, ANP, CNE

NUR 4116P

April 15th, 2019

Honor Code “I pledge..”

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Post-Practicum Reflection

The Bon Secours Care-A-Van is a mobile healthcare clinic that offers medical

services to uninsured individuals throughout the Richmond community since 1994 (Care-

A-Van, n.d.). The Care-A-Van healthcare professionals are also bilingual in English and

Spanish, which allows them to offer healthcare services to an array of adults and children

in the community. Also, the Care-A-Van team is composed of a diverse group of

providers with an array of specialties in order to meet all of a patient’s healthcare needs.

Noticing

The Care-A-Van utilizes various churches in the Richmond area to serve the

uninsured and provide free and necessary healthcare. When I enter the Care-A-Van

location, I observe an array of team members setting up and preparing for the busy day. I

also observe a large group of people lined up in what is usually a gymnasium preparing to

fill out registration forms and wait to be seen by a provider. With that being said, the

mornings can be quite hectic and therefore, I see and hear a lot of people. When I arrive

at the Care-A-Van I locate the charge nurse and determine who needs help and assistance

setting up for the day. My expectations are met considering whenever I am at the Care-A-

Van it is very organized and every team member is aware of their role and

responsibilities, which makes the morning and day run smoothly.

Interpreting

My values certainly were shaped by my Care-A-Van clinical experience; after

working alongside patients who are uninsured and are facing medical conditions in need

of treatment but have an inability to pay it has certainly expanded my values of caring
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and compassion to those in need. Additionally, observing the behaviors of the Care-A-

Van staff and their desire to go above and beyond to bring about positive patient

outcomes has expanded my value of servant leadership and will influence my practice as

a professional nurse.

Problems that I observed while at the Care-A-Van were certainly language

barriers between the patients and the providers. For example, one instance I sat with the

discharge nurse who did not speak Spanish and there were unfortunately not enough staff

interpreters present so the nurse had to utilize an over the phone interpreter, which was

difficult because the nurse had trouble verifying that the right information was being

passed along to the patient. An additional problem that I witnessed was a patient that got

injured while on a job site and therefore, the Care-A-Van staff had trouble deciphering

whether they were going to be able to provide certain diagnostic testing considering the

patient got injured while at work. Therefore, the nurse utilized the social worker as a

solution to determine the degree of care that they could provide.

Responding

The needs of this community that I observed were an array of medical conditions

and complaints and overall a need for patient education, health promotion, dietician

counseling, and lifestyle change education. For example, a majority of the patients at the

Care-A-Van were diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes or obesity. Gifts that the Care-

A-Van staff and I offered were providing the community with various resources such as

diabetes teaching at discharge, lifestyle changes such as healthy eating and exercise tips,

and financial resources to aid the patients in their ability to pay such as goodrx and the

Bon Secours care card.

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Reflecting

This clinical experience has influenced by academic life by being more aware of

the needs and hardships that people in my community face; therefore, I am able to apply

that knowledge to my other clinical rotations. For example, I can educate my other

patients on resources that are available in the community if they were to be in need.

Additionally, I will also apply my enhanced values of caring, compassion, and respect to

my patients in my subsequent clinical experiences. This experience has affected my

personal life by certainly increasing my gratitude and gratefulness for having medical

insurance and the ability to see a medical provider when necessary.

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References

Care-A-Van. (n.d.). Retrieved January 9, 2019, from

https://bonsecours.com/richmond/community-commitment/community-

development/care-a-van