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Running head: SERVICE LEARNING
Service Learning
Jennifer Housel
NURS 320
Ferris State University
1
SERVICE LEARNING 2
Abstract
This paper is going to explain the role of service learning in professional education and address
the importance of volunteer work. I will be working at the office of an obstetrician and
gynecologist. In this paper, I will address what is expected as a volunteer, the potential
outcomes from this experience, and how I am involved in the community. This paper will also
explain how service learning will give me valuable experience towards my career as a labor and
delivery nurse.
SERVICE LEARNING 3
Service Learning
During the first semester of the RN to BSN Program at Ferris State University students
are given the assignment to find a community agency to become involved with in a service
learning program. “Service learning is an education strategy that develops students academic
learning, interpersonal skills, and sense of responsibility while enabling them to make
meaningful contributions to the community” (Warino, 2013). The contents of this paper describe
the proposed volunteer activity, the agency being served, and the role and activities of the
volunteer at the agency. In addition, program objectives and learning evaluation are explained in
detail.
There are many opportunities to become involved in the community with service
learning. Some opportunities include volunteer work as a group, while other opportunities are
for the individual. Service learning is beneficial to everyone involved, and plays an important
role in the student’s professional development.
Agency Description
I have decided to complete my twenty hours of service learning with the office of Lapeer
Obstetrics and Gynecology. The office offers prenatal care for expectant parents, postpartum
checkups, family planning, routine well-woman exams, and treatment for disorders of the female
reproductive system. I currently work in a similar work environment, in the labor and delivery
department, at a small hospital in Lapeer. The birth center only has two obstetricians at this
time. One of the physicians, Dr. Lisa M. Allen, has agreed to let me complete my volunteer
hours at her office in Lapeer.
Dr. Allen had the biggest smile on her face when I initially asked her about volunteering
at her office. One of the department clerks that I work with is also employed part-time at Dr.
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Allen’s office. The clerk, Carri Ormiston, had told me about the mass amount of patients that
Dr. Allen cares for each week in her office, in addition to being “on-call” fifty-percent of the
nights and weekends at the birthing center. It was Carri who helped me gain the courage needed
to approach Dr. Allen with the proposal of me completing my service learning in her office. I
am grateful that Dr. Allen is allowing me to volunteer with at her office. This service learning
project is a win-win situation. I will learn valuable skills that I will use in the future to help
patients, and Dr. Allen will receive some much needed help. The true benefit to the community
is that that Dr. Allen’s patients will get a bit more attention.
Dr. Allen is an obstetrician and gynecologist, commonly abbreviated as OB/GYN. In
addition to delivering babies, she also performs operative gynecology procedures at the hospital.
Dr. Allen also provides high-quality health care for women at her office, which is located in the
same town as the hospital. The prenatal and post-partum care provided at the office is extremely
important to the women. Effective prenatal care can prevent poor outcomes. In addition, post-
partum care “can assist women in continuing the health promoting behaviors initiated prenatally
through out their lifespan” (Blackwell, 2002). I expect to do a great deal of patient teaching
during my volunteer time. Working in the office will allow me to serve the Lapeer county
community.
Volunteer Role
I am excited to volunteer in the doctor’s office because of the experience I will gain. Dr.
Allen told me that I would have the opportunity to experience new situations in her office that I
do not usually see at the birth center. For example, currently at work I do not care for pregnant
women less than 20 weeks gestation and only have textbook knowledge of the care that the
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women receive in the office. Caring for newly pregnant women will be a notably great learning
experience for me.
Since I have never been pregnant myself, I have a very limited idea of the initial pre-natal
care that is routine. In other words, I only have textbook knowledge on the subject. “Service
learning is more than volunteerism because it connects academic coursework with service to the
community” (Ellen, 2012). I am looking forward to becoming more knowledgeable about
prenatal care since OB is my chosen field of nursing, and I look forward to staying in OB for the
rest of my career as a nurse.
I will be working in the office during regular hours a few times a month or more. Since I
am a registered nurse in labor and delivery, I will need only minimal training. I am required to
wear clean scrubs and a name badge. The experience I gain while working at the office will
benefit me professionally in my current position at the birth center as well as in the future.
Program Objectives
The hours I spend volunteering for the service learning project will help me to achieve
the RN-BSN Program objectives. One of the main objectives of the program is that students will
“demonstrate a level of professionalism that is congruent with the inherent values, ethics and
behaviors of the discipline of nursing” (Ferris State University, 2011). Identifying, planning, and
participating in volunteer activities that contribute to self-development and growth is essential to
further understand and appreciate the profession of nursing. Not only does this service help
students to gain further understanding of course content, it also gives them an enhanced sense of
personal values and civic responsibility.
The extra training that I will receive in the office volunteering will benefit me
professionally. I plan to add this experience to my resume under the section “additional training
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information” since the volunteer work is pertinent to the field of nursing that I plan to continue
my career in. I will continue to grow as a nurse throughout the professional program at Ferris
with the experience I gain from the ongoing service learning project.
Activity Description
I am also looking forward to learning more about happens at follow-up appointments
after a delivery. When I send a patient who is a new mother home from the birth center I always
read discharge instructions to the patient. I often feel disconnected from what I am saying, since
I have not personally experienced a follow-up appointment in an office myself. I stress to my
patients at the birth center how important it is for them to keep their follow-up appointments. I
am looking forward to participating in the follow-up appointments with the post-partum patients
at the office. Furthermore, if I ever decide to continue my education to become a nurse midwife,
this service-learning project will benefit me greatly. The experience may also help me continue
to expand my knowledge in my current field of work. There is only so much that I can learn
from reading textbooks. Actual experience will help me to bring many theories to life by being
able to see and recognize the bigger picture first hand.
I believe that it will be especially nice for the patients to have a familiar face between the
hospital and the office. Often the only time that I meet pregnant mothers ahead of their delivery
date is in triage. Usually, when I meet a patient in triage, they are in the triage unit because of
high-anxiety situations. Therefore, the patients that I meet in triage do not always remember me
by the next time I see them again.
Getting to meet the expectant mothers during routine exams will be a more ideal
encounter to form a trusting relationship in. As well as forming better nurse-patient
relationships, I also hope to learn more about the doctor that I work with in the hospital. I feel
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that I could be a better assistant to Dr. Allen during a delivery if I spend more time around her
and get used to her expectations and non-verbal cues.
Some of the activities that I may be doing in the office include; taking vital signs,
collecting urine for specimens, updating patients’ medical history, drawing blood for lab work
completing appropriate lab related paperwork, giving injections, setting-up cleaning-up exam
rooms for each patient, and talking on the phone with patients who want to “speak with a nurse”
or “leave a message for the doctor”. In all honesty, I am hoping to assist in some “special”
procedures as well, including IUD placement and LEEP procedures.
I believe this will be an “eye-opening” experience to see what the physician spends her
day doing while she is not in the delivery room. When I work with Carri at the hospital, she
often mentions the demands of the clinic. I hope to not only help in meeting these demands, but
also be a useful asset to the clinic.
Evaluation Plan
In NURS 450, Nursing Capstone, I will complete the final assignment for my service-
learning project that will identify the professional insights that have occurred. “Reflection helps
the student think about and analyze their experience in the context of their classroom learning”
(Ellen, 2012). In the “post-service” assignment I will give examples of how my learning
experience has impacted my career process. “Students are required to critically reflect on their
service and learning experience through writing, discussion, journalism, or presentation” (Ellen,
2012).
After my volunteer time is complete I hope to have a better understanding of the prenatal
and postpartum needs of women. Furthermore, I expect this experience to show me how I can
become more involved in my community. I hope that I have a make a positive impact towards
SERVICE LEARNING 8
the community, and that this project inspires me to do more community service in the future. I
would be happy to continue volunteering at Dr. Allen’s office even after I complete the BSN
program. The need for self-reflection after this project will be important to fully analyze the
experience. In 2012, White and O’Sullivan supported the need for self-reflection:
Self-evaluation requires one to know what to evaluate, how to collect that data, how to
analyze and evaluate the data, and what to do with the findings. It requires a level of
objectivity and self-knowledge about performance as compared to expected competencies
and standards. Through learning about the development and maintenance of a
professional portfolio, students are given the tools to document learning and to map their
professional careers. (pp. 189)
Conclusion
Working in the OB/GYN office will allow me to grow professionally and personally.
Throughout my volunteer time at Dr. Allen’s office I will gain insight to the comprehensive care
provided by the physician. This includes reproductive health care, prenatal care, and well-women
care. Once I have completed my service learning experience, I hope to be more confident with
my abilities in my current work position. I am looking forward to learning and using the new
skills that I gain from this experience.
SERVICE LEARNING 9
Contact Information
Agency: Lapeer Obstetrics and Gynecology
Contact Person: Lisa M. Allen D.O.
Contact Phone: 810-245-8620
Contact E-mail: lisa.allen@mclaren.org
Contact Address: 944 Baldwin Road Suite G Lapeer, Michigan 48446
(See Appendix A)
SERVICE LEARNING 10
References
Blackwell, D. (2002). Prenatal care services in the public and private arena. Journal Of The
American Academy Of Nurse Practioners, 14(12), 562-567. doi:10.111/j.1745-
7599.2002.tb00090.x
Ellen, M. (2012). Linking classroom learning to the community through service learning.
Journal of Community Health Nursing, 29(1), 53-60.
doi:10.1080/07370016.2012.645746
Ferris State University. (2011). BSN Program Outcomes. Retrieved from
http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/colleges/alliedhe/Nursing/BSN-program-outcomes.htm
Warino, S. (2013). Promoting professional growth through service learning. Radiation Therapist,
22(1), 115-118. Retrieved from CINAHL Plus with Full Text.
White, K. M., & O’Sullivan, A. (2012). The essential guide to nursing practice. Silver Spring,
MD: American Nurses Association.
SERVICE LEARNING 11
Appendix A
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