Practicum Location and Preceptor Background

My practicum time will be spent at SUNY Ulster, in Stone Ridge New York, as well as Vassar
Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, New York. I will be working with forth semester
ADN students who are about to graduate. My preceptor is Linda Loomis who is a full time
assistant professor. This semester Linda is teaching lecture Monday and Friday at Ulster, and
clinical rotations on Tuesday and Thursday at Vassar Brothers Medical Center. Linda also works
per diem in the Emergency Department at Vassar Brothers Medical Center. Linda has been an
RN for 29 years, obtained her ADN at SUNY Ulster in 1988, and obtained her MSN at SUNY
New Paltz in 2011. Linda has had a variety of different nursing experiences ranging from
med/surg, critical care, management, and teaching. As well as participating in practicum at these
locations, I will also be involved with the Remote Area Medical (RAM) group going to
Knoxville, Tennessee with Dr. Digger, and several colleagues.

Broad Practicum Goals

My broadest goal for this practicum is ultimately to gain the hands-on experience to assist in
producing safe, competent, practicing nurses by being a role model, mentor, and educator. Until
now everything has been a concept, and an idea. I feel this is the time when I can put to work all
of the different learned concepts, and theories together to provide a substantial base to expand
on. By participating in this practicum will help to achieve my end goal of feeling more
comfortable, and confident in the novice nurse educator role. By helping the underserved
population through RAM, this will also bring me closer to achieving my end goal.

Practicum Activities

There are many different things that I will have the opportunity to experience during my
practicum at Vassar Brothers Medical Center, and SUNY Ulster. I will have the opportunity to
assist students in their clinical day, and to be a resource for the ADN students. I will be involved
in the evaluation process of the students practical skills throughout my time. I will also be
attending staff meetings to experience what occurs during the meetings such as discussions
regarding curriculum objectives and student outcomes, and any barriers or issues the faculty may
be facing. I will also be involved with helping formulate case studies that the students will be
asked to complete early on this semester. I will also be attending a couple of different workshops
regarding different technologies that are used in the classroom to include one that my preceptor
will be teaching about making games to enhance the students learning experience. I am looking
forward to a busy practicum with a lot of opportunities to feel more comfortable, and confident
in the novice nurse educator roll.

As far as the activities that will be done at the RAM trip, Im really not 100% sure what we will
be accomplishing other than helping those in need who do not have access to quality healthcare.
During my experience, I will be keeping a journal so I remember the activities that were done on
a day to day basis. I will also be taking photos when appropriate, so I can make a presentation
on what RAM is, and why there is a need for the program as well as volunteers. I will present
this presentation that I make during a post conference to encourage the soon to be graduate
nurses to get involved and help those that are less fortunate and to get involved in their new role
of serving the community.

Professional Experiences

This practicum is unlike any that I have done prior. I have never taught anything formally, and I
am confident of the base that I have learned throughout my years in this educational path at
SUNY Delhi. I am looking forward to sharing different strategies that I have learned in the
coursework here, as I am looking forward to learning new strategies that I am not familiar with,
or to reinforce strategies that I am familiar with. I am looking forward to experience and see
how the split classroom works, where there are two instructors in a classroom for I believe the
pharmacology class. During this class one instructor is the lead lecturer and the other is more in
charge of case studies for example. I am interested to see how this works to perhaps use it in the
future. They also use the flipped classroom concept, and use several different technology based
equipment/programs that I have not had the opportunity to work with which will enhance my
professional experience overall. I am certainly looking forward to the weeks to come. As far as
RAM I am looking forward to having an experience that I had never heard of prior, and I am
excited to get the opportunity to participate, and perhaps in the future I will have another
opportunity to serve in the RAM arena to build on my professional experience and give back to
those in need.