Overview
Undergraduate Research Forum (URF) is a platform for students of Miami, Florida that aims to promote research academic experience. Students of any major are eligible to participate in this scholarly activity. They may apply online and prepare their presentation in any form: individually, in groups, as a community project, and so on. Thus, the target of URF is research itself, including the investigations of relevant topics and dissemination of results. Personally, my presentation was associated with nursing view on obesity in the US and worldwide. During the forum, I learned a lot regarding nursing approaches to patient assessment and communication strategies.
Problem
The main problem this scholarly activity addresses is the lack of knowledge in various subject areas, including nursing, languages, biology, etc. Nursing may be defined as the action to use a patient’s environment for his or her health improvement. At the same time, it turns out that a nurse does not treat, but creates the most optimal conditions for recovery by training a patient to adapt to new conditions associated with a serious illness (Penrose, Yeomans, Praderio, & Prien, 2012). A nurse needs to organize the best methods of self-management and teach patients to apply the foundations of disease prevention and health maintenance. The mentioned points are considered problems because it is essential to continuously improve nursing approaches and strategies to health issues, thus adjusting them to the modern requirements. Participating in this activity, a nurse will grow as a specialist and learn how other nurses apply their skills and knowledge through discussion.
Solution
The transfer of information about results of studies during the presentation as well as maintenance of the scientific or business community as a social institution compose the solution that may be achieved during URF. In addition, presenting the results of the study at the forum, a topic researcher ensures the dissemination of certain information to the scholarly community. Functions of a nurse follow from the mission of nursing in society, and they are of great importance regardless of location (home, work, school, hospital, etc.) and time of care, the severity of a patient’s condition, and other factors. A nurse should actively involve a patient in self-care along with the members of his or her family. The solution is determined by the objectives of nursing, which were shared in the course of the forum.
Opportunity
URF is designed to capture the opportunity of gathering various students together and encouraging them to discuss the challenging scholarly aspects. Asking meaningful questions and providing valuable responses, students “ensure vitality and sustainability by building a forward-looking, efficient, and caring culture that stimulates, recognize, and reward creativity, entrepreneurial thinking, and exemplary performance” (“Student as Scholar,” 2017, p. 44). The contribution of each of students made within this forum is an opportunity for others to grow as experts in their field. Accordingly, I acquired knowledge and created the vision of the trends and challenges associated with nursing. Moreover, as noted by Penrose et al. (2012), a nurse receives the overview of various problems and may identify the existing gaps that are to be addressed in the further research.
Program Competencies Addressed
Among the competencies addresses during URF, there are patient-centered care, continuous quality improvement, leadership, and work in interdisciplinary teams. All of the mentioned competencies are relevant to nowadays environment that requires nurses to be attentive to patients’ needs, expectations as well as develop diversity awareness.
References
Penrose, L. L., Yeomans, E. R., Praderio, C., & Prien, S. D. (2012). An incremental approach to improving scholarly activity. Journal of Graduate Medical Education, 4(4), 496-499.
Student as Scholar. (2017). Web.