Optimal patient outcomes are achieved when evidence-based practice (EBP) is utilized in the clinical setting. How is your topic supported by best practice? What does the evidence say? How does your topic align with nursing standards? How does your topic promote patient safety?

Week Two

The second week of the practicum experience offered a good platform to continue exploring the topic of interest, entailing urinary tract infections and antibiotic stewardship. Therefore, I was able to explore various aspects, such as the extent to which the chosen topic is supported by best practices, the existing evidence regarding the topic, and how the topic aligns with nursing standards (Ho et al.,2019).

In addition, in week two, another question was explored, which was about how the topic promotes patient safety. Various scholarly activities were also undertaken during this week, including

• A literature search and summary regarding published information on urinary tract infections and antibiotic stewardship was undertaken to further fine-tune the topic.
• Peer discussions and replies on weekly discussion boards.
• Studying materials that explore the relationship between urinary tract infections and antibiotic stewardship and patient safety promotion.
• Exploration of best practices related to the topic of interest and how to implement them in a typical patient care setting.
• The other scholarly activity involved the completion of case study analysis, which involved exploring patient cases and making inquiries about the existing evidence-based interventions that can be used to address the cases or problems.
• The next activity accomplished collaboration with other professionals within the practicum setting to help explore various aspects, such as fine-tuning the topic of interest and appropriate access to the relevant materials.

There were two main objectives that were to be fulfilled during the second week of the practicum. The first objective was to evaluate the biophysical, psychological, organizational, informatics, ethical, and legal knowledge of nursing science as a foundation for expert clinical practice in a specific nursing clinical specialization. The other objective was to demonstrate accountability in specialty practice according to accepted standards of care and safety.

These objectives were achieved in the second week. An exploration of urinary tract infections was accomplished, and the biophysical evidence regarding the topic was explored. For example, the diagnostic aspects of urinary tract infections, pathology, and physiology were all explored to gain a deeper understanding of the problem (Behzadi et al.,2021). Therefore, the topic was explored against the background and light of nursing science as the foundation.

As earlier highlighted, the second objective focuses on demonstrating accountability in specialty practice according to accepted standards of care and safety. Urinary tract infections are known to lead to various negative impacts, such as longer hospital stays and higher healthcare costs. In addition, inappropriate use of antibiotics to treat bacterial infections has also been shown to lead to antibiotic resistance, to the detriment of effective treatment and care (Ahmad & Khan, 2019).

Therefore, this objective was achieved by seeking to be accountable for antibiotic medication use and exploring evidence-based practice strategies for preventing and controlling urinary tract infections.

Week two’s practicum experience also advanced various aspects related to the South University pillar of nursing, which include professionalism, critical thinking, holism, communication, and caring. The activities and experiences of the week were connected to professionalism since I contacted various professionals and the preceptor regarding the topic of interest and sought their input regarding how the topic is supported by best practices and how best it can be explored to promote patient safety.

Critical thinking was also applied in refining the topic of interest and exploring the fundamental elements of science which are at the root of the topic of interest. For example, it was noted that the fundamentals of science at the root of urinary tract infections include microbial pathogens, as UTIs are usually caused by bacteria (Klein & Hultgren, 2020).

There are also various routes of infections that should be studied as well as the risk factors, among others. In addition, the fundamentals of science found at the root of antibiotic resistance include empirical treatment, effects of urinary tract infections on antibiotic use, and antibiotic resistance, which must all be explored in detail for adequate understanding.