Applying Theory to Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Applying Theory to Practice - Essay Example Experience has convinced me that my singular performance alone would not allow me to manage pain effectively. The policy makers and all the staff have to be convinced about the management plan. A team management of pain is now better accepted (Zalon et al, 2008). A comprehensive plan would be set up for systematic and uniform management of pain in the hospital. Care from initial assessment to planning for discharge would be incorporated. Competency of the staff would be ensured through continuing education. All nurses would have laminated pocket cards with FACES scale and numerical scale for analyzing the pain by the scales (Bines & Paice, 2005). If the card showed an intensity of ‘four† on the scale, intervention was made. Including pain as another vital sign would produce awareness of the distress and decide whether it was time for intervention. A series of questions would be added to the inpatient and outpatient forms so that the features of the pain would be elicited (Bines & Paice, 2005). Electronic devices would be in place for reminding the nurses about the time for reassessment of pain. Screening for pain and assessing its nature and intensity would be an essential step. Details of the pain and how it had affected the patient would be recorded. The patient would be needed to provide informed consent and participate in deciding the individual care plan for pain management. The pain would be assessed carefully and managed appropriately in order to uphold the patients’ rights (Bines & Paice, 2005). The goals for relief of pain must be ascertained. Realistic and safe goals would be identified. The patient would be asked about the activities or functions that he would like to do or perform when he had no pain. Enquiring about the patient satisfaction would provide information and experience of the best techniques to manage pain in a similar situation later. Non-pharmacological management simultaneously would add to the satisfaction level ( Hardy, 2011). The patient and the family would be given educative material to familiarize themselves with the plan. This information would help them gain knowledge on the procedures adopted in my institution. They would be reassured about the competency of the staff which also included pain specialists (Bines & Paice, 2005). Their fears about whether staff would believe the patient and respond immediately would be dispelled. The patient’s fears about opioids would be carefully managed. Publishing the information on the internet would help the staff to download it for the patients. Pain-related information would be maintained at the Health Library in the hospital. Computers would be available for patients and families to browse for the information (Bines & Paice, 2005). The pharmacological therapy with opioids or NSAIDs would be decided upon by the uniform recommendations of the hospital. The variation in dosage would be by variation of age of the patient, the type of wound, t he intensity of pain, the hospital procedure done, the surgery performed and the underlying illnesses. Non-pharmacological adjuvants which could provide relaxing moments would include visual stimuli like photos or pictures or a television programme (Bines & Paice, 2

Philosophy of Assessment Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Philosophy of Assessment - Term Paper Example This essay considers my personal philosophy of assessment. One of the primary considerations I recognize in terms of assessment is developing a means of judging student participation and effort throughout the marking periods and course. One of the primary challenges I had when originally considering assessment was the nature of developing assessment strategies that are student specific, or measure objective standards of comprehension. While ideally classrooms are constituted by students of the same level of achievement, in reality this is not always the case. Early in my teaching career I recognized that I would have to make the difficult decision of requiring all students to achieve the same level of achievement. From this foundational level I then began to design assessment strategies that required students to achieve an objective standard of accomplishment. In these regards, I have been greatly influenced by constructivist theory of assessment, specifically a text Understanding by Design. This text contends that assessment should be designed from a top-down structure with the end goal in mind. Working from this theory, each semester I considered the ultimate objective for the course and then worked back from that in developing assessment strategies that would work as standards bearers for the marking period. Still, I recognize that this approach to assessment should only be used to construct a general approach to curriculum development. As is later demonstrated, the most effective instruction and assessment will consider the learner’s background knowledge and phenomenological grasp of the learning material in developing dynamic and multi-varied assessment mechanisms. In addition to these constructivist approaches to assessment, I have become more directly acquainted with direct methods of assessment. It’s indicated that one of the primary such means of demonstrating direct assessment strategies is through the teacher’s active involvement in student learning. In these regards, â€Å"the teacher a) presents information, b) develops concepts through lecture, c) requires students to recite or respond to questions, d) provides feedback and reteaching as necessary† (Payne 63). In terms of my own assessment strategies, I implement direct methods in a variety of ways. After determining the end of course objective I would then break down the marking period into manageable units (chapters). Within each of these units (chapters) there would be a final exam and quizzes. The quizzes were implemented in large part as a means of motivating students to remain consistent with scholastic work throughout the chapter. In these regards, oftentimes I approached quiz grades with a more lenient approach than I did the chapter tests. The student quiz scores also functioned to aid me in identifying areas of student progress that are more in need of attention. Indeed, student quiz assessment was a learning process for the students as well, giving them an early idea of elements of the text that they must further study. With the final exam then students had to demonstrate their mastery of the material. Rather than functioning as a learning aid, the final exam existed solely for the purpose of measuring the student’s achievement in relation to the objective progress they made within the specific unit. Through research I have discovered a