Earlier in the semester, when my clinical group and I chose a topic for this project, I felt as though I had a lot of knowledge regarding Intake and Output recording in hospitals and other health care facilities. In my clinicals, I learned of all the protocols they had in place for tracking what patient’s drank and what their output was. I noted how seemingly effective this system was and how it provided better care and monitoring of hospital patients. However, the further into this project we get, the more I have realized that even with all of these protocols, posters and expectations of recording I&O at hospitals, the measurements are still nearly always inaccurate. I realized all of the factors working against an accurate recording, such as patients disposing of empty cups, multiple healthcare professionals recording the same intake value, and nurses forgetting to document IV fluids for intake in addition to oral fluids. It was not only the peer-reviewed literature we cited, but I also began seeing slip-ups in I&O recording on the cardiac floor where I attend clinical.
Though this was a major issue I witnessed too often in clinicals, it helped me to start brainstorming how I would do things differently in order to get a more accurate measurement of a patient’s input and output. These ideas in my head throughout my days on R7 helped me to enhance our project proposal for EBP, and also helped me to understand how I will use what I have learned in my future practice. I plan to properly record these values each day, and collaborate with those I work with in order to make sure any values are not incorrectly documented. This project has helped me to realize how important these findings are and how they can help us understand a patient’s condition and progress toward recovery, especially on a cardiac unit.
My team has been successful in many ways throughout the creation of our project proposal. Each member of the team has gone above and beyond in locating articles, asking questions during clinical, and using skills learned in Evidence-based Practice to get to the final draft of our project proposal. In addition, my team has worked very well together from the start, and dividing the tasks evenly among us when we are not able to work together in person. No conflicts have resulted due to lack of participation or conflicts among group members. The only conflict we have had, however, is that we had to revise our Project Proposal three times. This caused some confusion and much more effort in order to complete our final draft, but eventually it was worth it.
Project Proposal Link: https://erando.uneportfolio.org/2021/11/08/project-proposal/
