Cognitive Load Theory Paper

In health care, the nurse holds many responsibilities. The nurse must care for a patient by following the physician’s orders, assessing labs and objective data, in addition to discerning needs for the patient discharge plan. The discharge plan should be initiated soon after the patient is admitted to the hospital. The nurse, along with the interdisciplinary team, will assess the patient needs for returning home, with the nurse providing much of the discharge education. The purpose of this discussion is to choose two learning objectives for the Shadow Health patient Tina Jones. I will describe the teaching methods I would use, discuss how I would evaluate Tina’s learning, and list any possible barriers to learning. I will also relate this to

I feel so proud and yet so humbled to be a nurse. Helping a post-operative surgical patient regain the strength to walk brings me immense satisfaction. Collaborating with physicians to advocate on behalf of unstable patients makes me feel like a valued part of a team. Consoling tearful, discouraged patients can be gut-wrenching, but it teaches me the power of empathy. Making a real, tangible difference in my patients’ lives is what drives me toward this next phase in my career.

As chronicled in Why Hospitals Should Fly, expecting that a mistake can always materialize, can prevent them from happening, thinking of this I will remember to be a more vigilant and mindful clinician. Furthermore, I will be cognizant at limiting risky behaviors, as the Just Culture lecture stated, these are the most significant threat to patient safety and if continued become reckless behaviors. At last, while I look to monitor my own behavior, I would like to believe that I will now be proactive, and watchful for other risky behavior that may be taken place at my institution. Overall, I feel the class material and my classmate’s comments educated me on many aspects of nursing, and I don’t feel like I am exaggerating when I say I believe I am a more prepared clinician today then I was before this class started. And for that, I want to thank my fellow classmates for the education and their openness in reporting the variety of aspects that they have encountered. It shows how you can learn from having an open dialogue and discussing errors made and those that were almost

Over time the health care industry has become more complex. Health care is rapidly evolving and continuing to complicate our delivery of care, which in turn has the same effect on quality of care. This steady evolution and change results in nursing shortages and an increase in the prevalence of errors being made. In hopes of preventing these errors and creating safe and high quality patient care, with the focus on new and improved ways of thinking, The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) initiative was developed. The QSEN focuses on the following competencies: patient-centered care, quality improvement, safety, and teamwork and collaboration. Their initiatives work to prepare and develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are necessary to make improvements in the quality and safety of health care systems (Qsen.org, 2014).

The key learning points and insights learned is that in nursing, learning never ends. As the health care system continues to change, it is the nurse’s obligation to do the same. By reflecting on previous clinical feedback I realized that entering my first year of practice, I will be a novice nurse that will have a lot of personal and professional development to gain. The CNO style-learning plan will aid me in my first year of practice on a medicine floor.

In 1999, expert surgical nurse authors at the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) developed a comprehensive curriculum to assist in the education and transition of nurses entering perioperative clinical specialty for the first time (Beyea, 2002). In 2007, Periop 101: A Core Curriculum (AORN, n.d.) was created which moved the instructor-based program into an online format of modules designed to assist with mastering core perioperative competencies. The program provides instruction with videos, assigned readings, and quizzes at the end of each module. The learning focuses on patient safety and the program is best utilized when combined with preceptorships and skills labs.

The first day, I have arrived at the Ambulatory Care office I was a bit nervous because I did not know what they would expect of me. Mr. Price first professionally greeted me and shared with me the Dallas VA mission statement, to fulfill President Lincoln's promise “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan by serving and honoring the men and women who are America's Veterans.” Mr. Price then provided me with a nametag and a projected itinerary for this week. During the first week of my service learning, I was taught how to properly answer telephones, greet patients, and schedule appointments. By performing these tasks, I was able to enhance my medical terminology and communication skills. Although I was not directly exposed to patient care, shadowing a healthcare manager allowed me to witness the actions that occur behind the scenes that make a difference in improving the quality of care that patients receive.

Secondly, the medically trained personnel must be taken into consideration. Without the most realistic training available, combat medics will not be as prepared to properly assess and treat casualties. A Marine Corps Staff Sergeant is quoted in saying, “I can honestly say that the military training that I received did not prepare me nearly as well as the live tissue training. I had to

The positive approach to HFS training allows patients lives to not be put at risk during the teaching process. Student’s can practice administering a catheter or assisting in surgery without the added stress of harming the patient. HFS allows students to practice complicated procedures they otherwise may not have the opportunity to participate in. From poison to natural disaster, with HFS students can practice group situations and emergency preparedness and have time to reflect on what they could do better next time. (Garrett, B., Macphee, M., Jackson, C. 2010)

Nearly ten years ago I entered the Army service. Through these years my work in the medical service as a medical laboratory technician, biomedical research, and most recently as a registered nurse has challenged me to examine my own practice and technical skills. I have learned about compassion, respect, empathy, equity, understanding, benevolence, and other attributes that contribute to being a proficient nurse. Our service members, families, and military culture present unique challenges that demand diversification, flexibility, and adaptation to sometimes overwhelming circumstances. My love for our military men and women and the families that stand behind them causes me to seek best practices, and innovation. The military has done a tremendous job at advancing battlefield trauma care, and statistics indicate that we have standard setting rates of battlefield lifesaving.

Through my practicum experience involving the triage system, instruction of clinical nursing, and creation, implementation, and evaluation of triage scenarios at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center Emergency department, I developed useful knowledge and gained valuable and practical skills that helped to build a strong foundation for myself as a nurse educator. The following discussion details my practicum experience with regards to what could be considered the highlights or most important components.

December 18, 2015 was my second shift at Sunny brook hospital on the trauma unit. It was my first night shift as a nursing student. This situation that occurred was extremely meaningful to me as a student nurse because the events made me fell very overwhelmed, stressed, and unable to make appropriate decisions. Reflecting back on that night, it made me realize that I did not exemplify best practice. I personally believe my personal emotions clouded my judgment, which interfered with my performance and my lack of knowledge on how to

As a competent registered nurse, my career goal is to become a healthcare quality improvement leader, a position that would enhance my commitment in promoting patient safety. I not only believe in enhancing the capacity of other care providers, but also in improving the quality of the healing environment for the benefit of both patients and their care providers. This means not only promoting collaboration with the multidisciplinary teams, but also building the necessary healing partnerships with our patients. To enhance the quality of the healing environment, I aspire to continue analyzing researches for evidence based practices and advocating for their actualization. I will continue focusing my time and energy in encouraging other nurses to improve their skills through formal education, so they can empower themselves as advocates of quality improvement for the benefit of their patients and coworkers.

Cognitive load theory intersects with human cognitive architecture by addressing working memory as limited to three to seven elements of information when the learning of new information is a requirement (Blissett, Cavalcanti, & Sibbald, 2012). Yet, where there is familiarity of information, both capacity and duration limits of working memory are eliminated (Paas & Ayres, 2014). Cognitive load theory introduces the prominence of cognitive schemas as a strategic approach toward the organizing and storage of knowledge using the concept of chunking multiple elements of information within a single element with a specific purpose (Paas & Ayres, 2014). Cognitive schemas explains a learner’s transition from novice to skilled due to the creation

Mental workload (MWL) has been described as a hypothetical construct that is widely used in studies of human factors and various measurement techniques to evaluate equipment and work systems in terms of the workload experienced by people using them (Gopher, D. and Donchin, E. (1986)). It has been identified that by optimizing the allocations of MWL to individual, human errors can be reduced and lead to increase in system productivity (Xie and Salvendy, 2000, Moray, 1988, Gopher and Donchin, 1986). Over the years extensive researches have been conducted to search for definition of MWL but none of these were widely accepted or quantitatively verified. The most common definition for MWL is as a function of internal capacity that reflects the interaction between attending task demands and capacity imposed on the operator. Capacity is determined by operator's skill, training and influenced by internal factors like stress and fatigue; whereas task demand is identified by number of tasks to perform, task complexity and structure, amount of attention required and time available (Bainbride 1997, Xie and Salvendy 2000). In addition, MWL was described in term of experience load, which indicated that workload is not only task-specific but also person-specific and depends on the interaction between operator and task structure (Schvaneveldt et al, 2004). Following this concept, factors of experience like motivation and effort to perform a task or working difficulty and discomfort would