This final project has been very interesting. Going into it, I did not think I would learn so much about the process and my topic. My groupmate and I worked really hard on this project and put everything we had into it. Many challenges presented but through communication and reasoning we were able to resolve it. This project has taught me how to collaborate with others in a way that is not usual. I have never written a paper with another person before but I really enjoyed it. I feel it requires a different set of skills from other collaboration activities. You have to work through every little detail and both agree on it before continuing. This will help me through my career when dealing with similar situations. For a future employer, I would want them to know that I stayed driven and positive during this project. I worked through each assignment diligently and completed it efficiently. From this project, I can contribute to critically appraising articles and help with examining them. I can identify good articles from bad articles by looking over the credentials and reading the article. I can positively contribute to the medical profession by participating in these articles and giving adequate input. Through this team process I was able to identify some of my strengths and weaknesses. I feel like I am strong in designing and articulating words in a way that makes sense and is meaningful. I feel like I need to work on my grammar capabilities as sometimes this was lacking. Over all the team process was very beneficial and provided great cooperation experience.
Appraisal and Synthesis
Our topic of discussion has been very interesting to use. We have found articles that follow on both sides of for and against the use of cannabis for symptoms related for Parkinson’s disease. This disease has no cure so it is the job of the health care team to explore and find new treatment options that best suites the patient. Our research and analysis of our articles made us really think about ethics and how they can play a role in what treatments work some patients. Some cultures and religions may be against the use of cannabis, but the nurse should always educate patients on the variety of options that they have. Without education, the patient could be left guessing what to do rather than making an informed decision.
This critical appraisal did not change my mind, rather, enforce what I had expected. I knew cannabis could play a role in sleep and muscle tenacity in patient’s who have Parkinson’s disease. I am family with Michael J Fox who is currently sufferings from mild Parkinson’s. We watched videos on him to get a better understanding of how the disease works and affects patients. Our findings still lead us to resort to further research before providing a strong recommendation for or against. This does lead me to follow up on the topic as more research is found out about the efficacy. My teammate and I both agreed with the articles that are pro cannabis as they can be affective. The process of articulating the paper has been a challenge. We both have very expansive minds that can counteract each others views. We debated and both came down to the same consensus. Our writing styles are both different as well but I feel like this can compliment our paper by providing different views intertwined with each other. I feel like our hard work through this process of figuring out our challenges will ultimately benefit us.
From Inquiry Through Discovery
After thorough development or our PICOT question and retrieving peer edited articles, we found that some revision was needed. We decided to look at a broader age group in which we included anyone receiving the medical marijuana with any age. This helped in finding more article as needed for our paper. In continuation of developing our paper, we looked in depth at each article chosen to compare results and see if they would fit in the scheme of our paper. We want to create a connection between the articles that include the major nursing theory. This was not as easy as it seemed and developed challenges. First was in choosing a theme that correlates with he articles and the scheme of the paper that we want to deliver. This in itself presented a challenge as there was not many theories that we could intertwine into the paper. This made us question some of our sources and we decided to take a look for other sources that could present new information. In doing so, did not completely resolve our issue, rather, gave us more knowledge of our topic and how to discuss it in our paper. With these challenges came success. We were successful in defining what our articles mean and how they relate to each other. With the class activities, we were able to understand what the articles meant and how the information is presented relates to what we need to know. This was not an easy task and required work but we now have a better understanding of what each article is trying to portray. This project has been a challenging one but with determination to succeed, these challenges have been over come so far.
Planning The Journey
Eric and I plan to be very successful in drafting and writing our team project. We cooperate and listen to each other very well and this will set us up for success. We will be on top of each other throughout this whole project as we live together and can keep each other accountable. If one of us is lacking in our part, we will communicate that and find the most effective compromise to the issue. A benefit we have is that we live together and can do each part together. A down fall is that we both can procrastinate at times but I believe this will not be an issue for this project. This project will benefit my communication with others and increase my ability to problem solve. I look forward to getting after it during this project to show case my abilities.
