Monday, March 1st: Happy March! Monday, I triaged 4 patients throughout the day and put most of my energy towards the Colon Cancer Prevention movement we have during this month! We have been promoting the use of FIT (Fecal Immuno Tests) for our patients between the ages of 45-75 to test for the presence of blood in the stool, and me and the Nurse Practitioner created a raffle program as an incentive for the patients to complete screening. Every person who returns a FIT stool sample will be entered into a raffle to win a $25 gift card! I created posters today to promote this raffle and posted them around the clinic (poster pictured above). Two patients were interested in doing FIT tests so I sent them home with them to be returned in 3 days max. I was informed today of a FIT test we did last week that detected early colon cancer in one of our patients! It makes me feel justified in my Colon Cancer advocacy and has inspired me to push the FIT tests that much more. Just knowing that that 1 test could have potentially saved his life is enough reason to keep pushing.
5.5.3 Develop strategies to reinforce or change organizational culture to support health education/promotion
5.5.5 Conduct strategic planning
5.5.6 Conduct strategic plan
At the end of the day, one of the patients opened up to me about experiencing severe domestic violence for the past 7 years. She described how he stabbed her, cut her face, punched and drowned her, and kept her from ever receiving proper medical advice. He withheld her insulin from her, making her blood sugar levels increase so much so that she lost 4 of her toes due to diabetic neuropathy. She was bawling crying talking to me about it, and I was crying while listening. I was able to connect her with our social work resources for domestic violence victims, and she plans on going to a woman’s shelter to escape. This patient visit emotionally moved me so deeply, and I learned so much from that one conversation. I learned how willing patients are to open up to us, just because we are in scrubs. I feel so honored to have made her feel safe enough to talk about the horrific abuse she has been enduring. I feel like I left a piece of my heart with her and hers with me, and I am really looking forward to continue working with her and help her get past this difficult part of her journey.
6.3.1 Asses and prioritize requests for advice/consultation
6.3.2 Establish advisory/consultative relationships
6.3.3 Provide expert assistance and guidance
Tuesday, March 2nd: Tuesday, I triaged 4 patients and conducted the health literacy assessment on one of them. I sent 1 patient home with a FIT test and entered 1 patient into the raffle, which is exciting! I identified a need for a Spanish version of the raffle advertisement poster, so I created a Spanish version and posted them next to the English versions around the clinic (Pictured above). I also located Spanish informational pamphlets on colon cancer and put copies in each room next to the English ones we received from National Colon Cancer Prevention Coalition last week (Pictured above). After posting in Spanish, we sent a FIT test home with one of the Spanish speaking patients today! It is so important to make these resources accessible to everyone in the clinic, not just English speakers. I learned today that it sometimes may be easy to overlook things outside of your own population, like language, but it is simple to make the changes to be inclusive and equal to all!
6.1.4: Adapt information for consumer
6.1.5 Convey health-related information to consumer
7.1.2 Identify the literacy level of intended audience
3.1.2 Develop materials to implement plan
2.3.5 Apply principles of cultural competence in selecting/designing strategies/intervention
Wednesday, March 3rd: Wednesday, I triaged 5 patients and completed 3 health literacy assessments! I’m starting to love delivering these assessments and the database is really growing! I’m excited to start scheduling the low literate patients for the new Health Education courses. I had the other Health Promotion intern shadow me for all 3 of my health literacy assessments so she could learn how to properly deliver them. I had her practice delivering it on me, and then she completed the 4th and 5th patients by herself! She also learned how to enter the data into the database herself. I was impressed with how quickly she learned and how she was able to deliver it with such ease. Today, I learned how much more efficient it can be to have two people working together towards the same goal, and I feel like I improved my leadership and teamwork skills today. I also sent 2 more patients home with FIT tests, so the results should start coming back soon!
3.2.1 Develop training objectives
3.2.2 Recruit individuals needed for implementation
3.2.5 Implement training
3.2.6 Provide support and technical assistance to those implementing the plan
4.3.7 Train data collectors involved wth evaluation
Thursday, March 4th: Thursday, I came in for night clinic from 5:30-9:30, so I mainly focused on triaging patients. I also trained the entire night shift staff (front desk, triage, and liaison volunteers) on the protocol for FIT tests (pictured above). With this new procedure, we should all be able to process the tests quickly and get the results to the patients as soon as possible!
3.2.4 Develop training using best practices
Friday, March 5th: Today, there were only 2 patients to be seen for the entire day. I sent one patient home with a FIT test, and I educated the other patient on how to better manage his diabetes. I helped him brainstorm some healthy alternative foods to incorporate into his diet, and we came up with strategies for how to exercise more. He was very receptive to our discussion and seems very motivated to change his behaviors. He understands the relationship between carbs and sugar to increased blood glucose, and I tested him by asking him to list foods high in carbs and sugar vs foods that are low. I brought in a nutrition label and went over how to understand it and what to look for. I am excited to see him again in 2 months and see how his HbA1c has changed.
6.3.3 Provide expert assistance and guidance
7.1.7 Deliver messages using media and communication strategies
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