My team members and I are awaiting feedback on our dissemination project. I am looking forward to getting this feedback to see how it can be applied to clinical practice.
The topic of our project is emphasizing the importance of accurate intake and outputs. Through the research that my group and I did, we found how important intake and output is. With extra research done with this topic, I know that I will be sure to chart accurate intake and output, including the IV fluids. Understanding the importance of accurate intake and output could also allow me to have positive effect on my colleagues. Charting IV fluids or drinks are intake numbers that can sometime be forgotten in healthcare. Additionally, we also discovered the automated urine output devices. I had never heard of this device before, so this new information would be helpful to bring into my career, especially if the place I work at does not have this device.
I felt that I played a positive role on the impact of the team. I usually sit in the background and just put in my part and someone else takes charge. However, I feel that with this project, I took more of a leadership role. Of course, I collaborated with all members of my team, but it felt good being able to play a leadership role in this process and I think it will help me to take charge in other situations, which I don’t normally do. This is something that I could let me future employer know about to show that I can work as a team in both the leadership position and the team member contributor position. I will let them know that I am an easy person to collaborate with and that I have past experience in quality improvement and evidence-based practice initiatives.
The team members and I all worked really well together, and everyone played their part. Although, we had 8 members of the team, I feel that we all did an equal amount of work. I was worried about this going into beginning this project because I know that when there are multiple people working on one project, the process can be a bit difficult. With all of this being said, I am proud of what my team and I have created, and I hope that the final product is able to provide positive intervention in clinical practice.
Before reading both the final proposal and their pamphlet I had developed an insight on the importance of accurate intake and output. On Maine Medical Center R7 the cardiac floor requires accurate documentation of intake and output to ensure that patients are not losing or gaining fluids at an increased rate. The final proposal was well written, and I appreciated that they were to do two surveys to assess for the effectiveness of education pre and post pamphlet exposure. Their pamphlet is well set up and provides good pieces of information. What I would say for a potential suggestion is adding what patients’ intake and output monitoring would be essential for. I appreciated that this group added methods that would be useful in assessing a patient’s intake and output in an accurate format.
I felt that this the brochure was filled with very helpful information regarding the importance of documenting correct intake and output. I like how you gave the idea of automated urine output devices as a way to get accurate documentation of the intake and output. Giving suggestions is very helpful when addressing an issue because it lets people know of ways that it can be improved. I also liked how you explained how patients also keeping track of their own intake and output would benefit the nurse and the patients as well. Overall, very well done!
My group also had R7 at Maine Med, so we also chose the importance of accurate intake and output. Right away one thing I noticed was how your group implemented how patients can help the nurses maintain accurate charting. This was not a concept that my group really touched on, so I found that part to be especially informative. Overall, I found you infographic to be very informative and easy to follow. You really were able to identify the importance of making sure that the care team is overall making accurate and correct intake and output. Nice job Emily!
I think this is a very important topic to bring attention to, as intake and output can be missed. I know that on R1 of Maine Med, they measure intake and output for every patient and try to ensure patients understand the reasoning behind it. I think the section of your brochure “how can patients help” is very important to add. It puts the responsibility on both the nurses and the patients, allowing the patients to be involved with their care. Also, I liked the fact about informing UAP of charting intake and output, as they might empty a foley and not document how much they removed which will mess with accuracy. Your project is very informative and professional, great job!