Clinical Reflective Analysis

The uncomfortable part about this rotation was mostly working with the elderly adult population. I felt cheated, again. The first time I earned a degree I expressed interest in working with mothers and babies and I did not have the opportunity to do so. That same thing happened again in this program. I found myself counting down the days until clinical was over. I do not feel that activities of daily living, although important, should be the primary focus of

Reflection is a process of exploring and examining ourselves, our perspectives, attributes, experiences and actions / interactions. It helps us gain insight and see how to move forward (Nursing Times 2018). I believe reflection is particularly important when it comes to Nursing, as medicine is constantly changing/ improving and us ourselves medical professionals must adapt with the changes in medicine. I find that reflection is extremely useful in doing this as we can look over procedures or experiences that we have had, how that made us feel, whether we would change anything, then in the future we can see the changes that may have been made, whether this has changed our feelings and opinions on medical practice.

Throughout my clinical experiences, there have been quite a few circumstances I have been placed in that have remained with me whether good or bad. All of them have been learning experiences for me whether it is how to improve and to do better next time from a mistake, for me to learn that this is or is not how a patient should be treated, how to handle family situations, and many others. One experience that I was able to participate in that will remain with me because I had not experienced this before was during my critical care rotation in the fall of 2015. This patient was dying and we were implementing comfort care for him.

In turn, I believe that I have taught both the patients and the staff that there?s more to young people than just hormones and we are capable of feeling compassion and empathy. Numerous patients have told me how nice it is to see today?s youth so eager to please and willing to give back to the community. Perhaps the knowledge of this fact instills hope within each patient and helps them find their voice.

This objective will affect my future nursing practice because conducting physical head to toe assessments and obtaining vital signs is a different process when working with paediatric patients rather than adults. It is crucial to note any changes that I can catch throughout my assessments, and vital signs since paediatric patients might not be able to communicate with me if they feel any changes in their health. By understanding the anatomy and physiology, the developmental stages of children, and obtaining accurate vital signs and assessments, it will increase my knowledge, skill, ad judgment to successfully complete and distinguish any abnormities and changes during my assessments. Also, knowing the developmental stages and distraction therapy method techniques can help me provide thorough examinations and find ways to help my patients cope if they are feeling anxious and scared.

The good thing in my experience would be that I got to have the experience of doing interviews and I actually enjoyed it. I also gained more confidence in interacting with my patients.

The hands on experience I get in the classrooms is incredibly fun. I am enjoying learning skills that will be of value to me for the rest of my career. Whats’s more exciting is having the opportunity to put those skill to practice in the hospital with patients. So much knowledge is gained from interacting with the nurses and pateitns, something that can’t be learned in a classroom. Another aspect of the nursing program I enjoy is working with my fellow peers. The nursing program has a small group of people which allows us to become close. We struggle, cry and succeed together. It feels like I am part of a family we area learning together and learning from each other as

My experience in mental health clinical was very different from any other clinical I had before. In a mental health clinical setting, I am not only treating client’s mental illnesses, I am also treating their medical problems such as COPD, diabetes, chronic renal failure, etc. Therefore, it is important to prepare for the unexpected events. In this mental health clinical, I learned that the importance of checking on my clients and making sure that they are doing fine by performing a quick head-to toes assessment at the beginning of my shift. I had also learned that client’s mental health illness had a huge impact on their current medical illness.

In recent years, reflection and reflective practice have become well-known term with in the health care arena. They are words that have been debated and discussed with in the health care setting (Tony and Sue 2006). Reflective practice is essential for nurses, as nurses are responsible for providing care to the best of their ability to patients and their families (NMC, 2008). Reid (1993) states reflection is a process of reviewing an experience of practice in order to describe, analyse, evaluate and so inform learning about practice. Johns (1995) notes that reflection enables practitioners to assess, understand and learn through their experience. Reflective practice, therefore, offers nurses an opportunity to review their decisions and

During this placement I helped enrich the day-to-day lives of the residents and from this I have learnt so much about myself and I have been able to better myself and further develop skills such as listening. From organizing several months of work experience over the past three years has provided me with a concrete understanding of medical research and it application on a larger scale. Shadowing my GP regularly allowed me to observe the front line of the NHS and better understand vital services they provide. Whilst attending lectures at NYU I was lucky enough to visit the NYU Langona Comprehensive Epilepsy Center in which I was able to examine how medical research is conducted in another country and an insight into the multi-disciplinary system which modern healthcare is so dependent on and which ensures the highest possible standards of patient

This experience prepares the student for the realities of professional practice, acquiring the knowledge skills and attributes to become a safe, competent practitioner (Mcallister 2001, cited in Midgley 2006). Educational audits by the clinical lead universities monitor clinical learning environments for their appropriateness of learning provision, enabling the ward to facilitate change if necessary to ensure continuing suitability as a clinical placement (NMC 2008).

The purpose of this journal is to reflect on my experience and skills gained during my clinical placement at Ben Taub Hospital. On my first clinical day, I was excited and nervous at the same time. My first placement was in the PREOP/PACU area. I was assigned to help a patient who had been in the PACU area going on 2 days. Normally, once the patient comes from surgery they are only in the PACU area for a short period of time before they are discharged home or given a bed in another area of the hospital. This particular patient still had not received an assignment for a bed. The physicians would make their rounds to come check on him daily. The patient was a 28-year-old Hispanic male, non-English speaking, he had a hemicolectomy. He had a NG tube, urinary Foley catheter, and a wound vac. My preceptor had just clocked in and she needed to check on the patient’s vitals and notes from the previous nurse. Once she introduced me to the patient and explained while I was there, she then asked me to check his vitals. (Vital signs indicate the body’s ability to regulate body temperature, maintain blood flow, and oxygenate body tissues. Vital signs are important indicators of a client’s overall health status (Hogan, 2014). I froze for a quick second. I have practiced taking vitals numerous of times and I knew I could do it correctly. I started with the temperature first, when I was quickly corrected on a major mistake I had made by my preceptor. I HAD FORGOT TO WASH MY HANDS and PUT

My reflective clinical practice experience was based on my eight weeks placement in an acute mental health ward in a hospital. I was not sure of what to expect because I have never worked or placed in an acute ward and this was my second placement. Before starting my placement, I visited the ward and was inducted around the ward. This gave me a bit of confidence and reassurance about working in an acute ward.

My area of interest is “Hypertension in the African American Male population”. I want to study the incidence in different communities of African American males in the U.S. This will help me to identify risk factors in these communities that could be modified. NIH offers grants to conduct such research. After an in-depth review of the literature, I will seek advice from colleagues and senior researchers. Having a good idea is very important to start with. I will talk to the NIH program official and follow their guidelines in the NIH web page. I will remember the review criteria while writing the grant and follow the instructions carefully.

Today I had a great day at the clinic. For the morning section, I had Omar Lora as my patient. Last time when he came, I collected all my assessment data. Today I updated his medical history, dental history, vitals, and EIOE, then I completed filling out the gingival assessment, the treatment plan, and the SAOP. Finally, I was ready to have my assessment data checked. It went really well, and I learned ways to helped me be more efficient with my time management, for example, I did not know how to have my radiographs up in the other monitor while I was doing my assessments. It was a little time consuming having to open and minimized the window every time I needed to look at the radiographs. Also, I discovered that having a piece of paper out and taking