Module #5 Entry

-Why would a patient want to create a blog? What might they gain from this?
I have had some patients in the hospital with chronic illnesses that have been actively keeping a blog of their experiences. I believe that for some people it helps them cope with what is happening to them if they can share it with other people. Or it is used as a way to keep family members who live far away up to date with what is happening.

-Why would a health care provider create a blog?
A health care provider might have a blog with health tips that their patients could benefit from. They could post a "health tip of the week" or something like that. Or they might use it as a way for their patients to get to know them on a more personal level. I can't see very many other uses for a public blog when it might involve patients' private health information.

-What are ethical considerations when blogging on a public website, such as we've used for this class?
When posting material on a public forum such as a blog, it is important to respect the privacy of patients that you have had contact with. It would not be appropriate to post private health information in a public blog.

Module #4 Entry

How did the readings influence your perception of your own clinical decision-making?

The readings for this module definitely made me think about the way that I make decisions, especially the power point slides that Dr. Sward put together. In the power point presentation, Dr. Sward cites Patricia Benner and her five different levels of experience in nursing; novice through expert. Reading about these different levels made me ponder what level I am at personally and how that affects the kind of decisions I make.

I did find it interesting, however, that in Benners levels of experience the lowest level, novice, is said to strictly follow rules, while the highest level, expert, is said to follow intuition. The video that we watched of Daniel Kahneman alternatively said that intuition is often wrong, and that certain computer prediction models often perform better than so-called experts because they use simple, linear logic and stick to the rules every time.

One thing is for sure, and that is that I feel these clinical decision support systems can be very valuable in practice, and greatly assist health care personnel in making the best decisions to help their patients.

Module #3 Entry

I am currently an ICU nurse, and I teach my patients something every shift I work. Whether it be about a new medication, or about a procedure that we are doing, teaching is an everyday event. When I finish school, I hope to be a diabetes educator, which will obviously involve a lot of educating. I will teach about diet, exercise, glucose monitoring, medication, insulin, insulin pumps, and the list could go on and on. I cannot really think of any nursing role that does not involve teaching of some kind.