Pediatric Issues NURS 420 - Care of Infants & Children Purpose of Assignment The purpose of this assignment is to provide

the student with the opportunity to identify and investigate a social issue or problem specifically related to the pediatric population. The student will research the topic integrating knowledge of growth and development, psycho-social, physical and nursing sciences. The body of the paper should not exceed 5 pages excluding the title page and reference page. Student Approach to Assignment I chose teenage drunk driving for this assignment because I feel it has the greatest potential of harm to the most people. Unlike other potential topics, teenage drunk driving has the ability to not only ruin the teenagers life, but the life of an innocent bystander as well. As I found while writing this paper, it is also still a very large issue struggling to be controlled. Reason for Inclusion of the Assignment in the Portfolio This assignment is included in the portfolio because it highlights the care that I gave to a complex patient and demonstrates integration of a wide variety of end of program behaviors. Critical Thinking Revises actions and goals based on evidence rather than conjecture. In this paper, I present research that shows that alcohol advertising has a tremendous effect on the likelihood of a teenager consuming alcohol. With this information, I present that parents may decrease the chance of their child consuming alcohol by limiting the amount of alcohol advertisements an action that was based on the evidence presented in the long-term research study. This made me revise my initial thoughts on the subject, which were that proper education of the dangers of alcohol would counter the effects of advertisement. This study showed that regardless, aggressive advertisement had the biggest impact more so than education. Therefore, the more effective goal is to limit the access teenagers have to these aggressive advertisement campaigns. Communication Accesses and utilizes data and information from a wide range of sources to enhance patient and professional communication In this paper, I describe a technique that is being used to communicate with teens the dangers of drunk driving. Based on their research, a group of educators re-enact a drunk driving scenario, complete with fake blood and screams. The teens watch as the scenario plays out, and the research shows it can be very touching. This form of communication is effective, and support by research. This technique uses the research results to enhance the communication of the dangers of drunk driving.

 Teaching Evaluates the efficacy of health promotion and education modalities for use in a variety of settings with diverse populations One particular education modality talked about in this paper was the reenactment of a drunk driving accident. In this method, students from a high school are picked out and made up to look like accident victims. They are then staged in crashed vehicles to act as if they were in an accident. Emergency crews then come out and work the scene like they would a normal accident. I describe in the paper that this is an effective style for education of the high school population because they see their peers in life threatening (sometimes fatal) situations and the reality sets in. There is research alongside this education tactic, which details that students report a greater understanding of drunk driving risks after witnessing said reenactment. This is evidence of me evaluating the efficacy of this education modality. Another setting where an education modality was evaluating was online. Another teaching strategy defined in this paper was the use of online modules for the students to complete. This was being studied by the Journal of Medical Internet Research, who found that online modules significantly reduced the reports of alcohol binge drinking in males aged 1520. They did not get this effect on the female participants. Therefore, my evaluation of this modality is partially effective, but worth including in any education regimen on drunk driving. Further research is recommended on the phenomenon found with the female participants. Research Evaluates research that focuses on the efficacy and effectiveness of nursing interventions The interventions that were analyzed with research were the two teaching strategies mentioned above. These include the reenactment of a drunk driving accidents and the use of online modules for students to complete. Both of these interventions were supported by research. The reenactment had a study that analyzed before and after reports by the students about drunk driving. They found that, after the reenactment, students were more receptive to drunk driving teaching and said that prevention of drunk driving applied to their lives. With the online modules, the results of the study were mixed. In males, they saw a significant reduction in reported weekly use of alcohol binge drinking. However, they saw no effect in the female participants. I recommend further research to explain this phenomenon. Therefore, I used research to evaluate the effectiveness of both of these interventions to reduce teen drunk driving. Applies research-based knowledge from nursing as the basis for culturally sensitive practice The teaching strategy (and research) of re-enacting the drunk driving accident is described in the research as being effective because of the culture of teenagers. In high school, many teenagers place very large amounts of value into their peer groups

and friends. Therefore, witnessing their friends (a key part of the enactment is to use students that are well-known) undergo the trauma of a car accident is what really drives the message home. This is explained in the research, mentioned above, that also shows that this method is effective. However, this needs to be done carefully. As we described, teenagers put tremendous value into their peer groups, and showing their peers in the realistic injuries during the demonstration can cause some serious harm. In the research, they negated this by allowing for significant time after the action to talk and answer questions showing the students that were just dead participating in the discussion. During the reenactment, some students have a hard time emotionally with witnessing it. These students are allowed to separate and are given one-on-one attention with trained counselors. Therefore, this teaching intervention is supported by research and makes alterations to meet the culture of the audience. Professionalism Understands the effect of legal and regulatory processes on nursing practice and health care delivery, as well as limits to ones own scope of practice In this paper, I describe some of the concerns the nurse should have when treating a teenager after a DUI incident. Several of these concerns are based off of the legal aspect of drunk driving. Namely, the patient may not be willing to provide a full history to avoid self-incrimination, as well as the presence of police officers is likely to gather information. These factors are how the legal process will hinder nursing practice. As far as scope of practice, the nurse is placed in an awkward position. Media reporters and police officers will likely question the nurse for details, and the nurse may very well want the patient to be punished depending on the situation. However, the nurse must remain as the patients advocate and fall back on their policies and procedures to refer the media to the appropriate spokesperson. It is also important to avoid statements about the patients diagnoses, as reporters will not differentiate between medical and nursing diagnoses. Culture Demonstrates sensitivity to personal and cultural definitions of health, and how these beliefs influence an individuals reactions to the illness experience and end of life. During the re-enactment scenario described above, we find a description of the cultural view of health of teenagers. The research on this teaching strategy describes that teenagers do not typically grasp the concept of illness and death, as there are typically healthy with their youth and may not have had experienced death due to their younger age. During the re-enactment, the teenagers are forced to witness their friends in a near-death (or, death) experience and they can relate to what they see into their own lives and age-group which changes their perception of health and death.