Practicum Projects for Online MSN Degree Programs

          

One of the requirements for Online MSN Degree programs is a practicum project. Whether in nursing administration (executive leadership) or clinical nurse leadership, or nursing education, any program will require some type of project to be developed based on assessment of organizational need, and include some type of measurable evaluation of the project.  Some examples of projects are:

Documentation of patient status between a critical care unit and step down unit to avoid miscommunications regarding patients’ readiness for CCU transfer and prevent patient readmissions to CCU.

Increasing use of cardiac rehabilitation services for improved patient cardiac outcomes

Diabetic education for new graduate nurses for improved patient compliance

Patient advocacy staff  training program for reduced staffing and improved patient satisfaction

Staff retention and succession planning for improved shared governance and staff satisfaction in a Magnet designated facility

Establish an effective process for post surgical patient discharge, including patient education, to reduce complications and readmissions.

Development of a nursing student attitude assessment tool for faculty implementation during clinical rotations for measuring attitude benchmarks during clinical evaluation. 

Develop an effective Root Cause Analysis process to prevent/reduce medical errors  

Develop a consistent shift change communication process and policy to increase patient satisfaction

Standardize organizational staff orientation modules to improve partnerships with local mental health providers and increase patient satisfaction and admissions

Standardized shift-change hand-off form to improving nursing hand-off communication and reducing medical errors

Implementation of Bedside Reporting to increase patient satisfaction

Implementation of a shared care program for Ventricular Assistive Device implant patients between local community health care facilities and large medical centers to reduce patient readmission and mortality.

Implement Electronic Health Records to  ensure secure and efficient communication for healthcare personnel in providing standards of care policies, preventing adverse events, and establish standard processes throughout the organization to improve patient safety.

Develop an inpatient smoking cessation consultation program in conjunction with an outpatient smoking cessation program to reduce tobacco use in a patient population for a health care organization. 

Develop a  wound care discharge program to decrease infection rates post discharge, and potential readmissions.

For more examples go to : http://online.sxu.edu/programs/masters-degree-nursing/practicum-examples

_______________________________________________________________

 As you can see by the list above, all of the proposed projects relate to nursing practice in clinical, education or leadership areas.  Each project refers to measures of success which can be tangibly evaluated.  The key to a successful practicum project is a clearly defined objective which has specific measures tied to that objective.

Dr. Maggie