Attending the Sigma Region 15 Symposium was a great experience that provided information on a variety of topics.  A lot of information was shared making it difficult to focus on just one. However, the presentation that resonated with me the most was titled “Increasing Nurses Compliance with Bedside Report” . Report is a part of nursing that is crucial as this is what sets the next nurse, or other healthcare professional, up for success. Communication is key as a nurse since you are working with many other individuals and passing off information that can easily be misinterpreted or misheard which can lead to significant health issues/ mistakes. Bedside rapport is a way of performing this handoff information at the patient’s bedside that they are speaking about. This method gives the patients a say in their plan of care which supports the principles of ethics in nursing and the importance of allowing the patients to make their own decisions. Bedside report is not used as commonly, especially in my own experience, I have only had very few nurses go to the bedside for report rather than staying in the hallway. The reason I chose this presentation to speak about is because a bedside report is something I am interested in and wonder if the benefits outweigh the risks. When I say risks, I am thinking of lack of privacy if the room has two patients in it, difficulty to share more sensitive information in front of the patient or if it is morning report, disruption of sleep. 

I also wanted to add in the presentation on contract grading presented by one of our professors, Debra Kramlich. Contract grading is new to us this semester and although change can be difficult and confusing, the presentation helped me to appreciate it. I have a better understanding of the purpose of this new way of grading and it provides us with the role of holding ourselves to a certain standard. By allowing us to choose our grade, we set that standard for ourselves and know what we need to accomplish to achieve it. Compared to those who do not want to put the effort in and therefore, from the start put it out there that they are only shooting for a C. 

Through this symposium, I learned more about research in regards to evidence based practice and how it improves health care. As future nurses, we are encouraged to participate in research. In addition, we are the ones working in the conditions therefore, making us the best person to provide feedback on what needs to be changed or what is not working. One of the presenters spoke about “telehealth” and how that is a new service due to COVID but has stuck around as we have learned that it is more beneficial than we thought. We are always working on improving the quality of care for our patients and I feel telehealth does that. During the presentation, one of the presenters had to step out onto a telehealth call for someone in need and without this, the patient would not have gotten the answers or help they needed immediately to help them through whatever they were dealing with. Furthermore, telehealth saves time, money, more convenient for all but especially those who lack transportation. 

All of this information spoken about so far will be taken into consideration and practice with me as a nurse. Another presenter mentioned health disparities which is a topic we have spoken about in other classes. I have learned the importance of looking at a patient and asking myself “what has happened to them?” or “what is their life like outside of this building?” rather than making my own assumptions. Going along with this, we want to look at the patient holistically. Lastly, the importance of providing education to our patients and making sure they understand it. This leads me to think of the dissemination project we are working on in class and how we will be creating some form of bathroom poster, pamphlet, or podcast which will be used to inform others of the topic we chose. We want to keep nurses up to date on the most recent research and practices. It is projects like the dissemination which allow us to look at actual problems in the hospitals and generate a solution and then provide education on it.