How To Write A Nursing Reflection

Even when last Friday week three was, it was the second time that I have a patient assigned to my care and as expected I was still feeling nervous due to the age of my patient. However, at the same time I was looking forward to experiencing taking care for a little one and be able to applied new nursing skills due to mu first interaction with a patients his age. The experience was very gratify and enjoyable to be able to help a little one to feel more comfortable while performing nursing skills. The fact that the instructor was with me during the assessment help me to feel more confident as well as be able to ask questions and concerts that developed during the assessment. My assigned patient has a twin who was also staying at the same unit but on a different room so it was very interesting to be able to interact with both twins and observed the development differences even when they are identical twins. The nurse assigned to care for the patient was very helpful and approachable as well which make things a lot easier going in reference to taking care for a little one for the first time besides OB rotation which was more observable and not so much hands on. So far, I am looking forward to next week rotation and excited about learning new

The last week of classes for NURS1005 were a series of clinical skills activities. These activities refreshed the student’s minds on what they will be doing on placement and how to do it. We got assessed on three clinical skills; taking and recording vital signs, blood glucose levels and doing a urine analysis. I’ve chosen to reflect on taking vital signs and how I performed them. Reflection is a very important part of learning from experiences which is essential in nursing. Nursing practises continue to change and it is easier to go with and to add to that change if you are reflecting on your practise. This essentially makes nursing practises better for the patients. I have reflected on the process of how I took the vital signs during my clinical skills activities. I was very nervous but believe I performed them well due to how I was taught, what I have read and seen and the vital signs signified how my peer was acting which was healthy and within a normal range. Even though I felt I did them well, there were improvements that could and have happened since. Most of the improvements are minor in comparison to the strengths I have but it is important to recognise improvements when needed so you are giving the best and accurate care. I was aware of these improvements needed and tried to strengthen them during my clinical placement which helped me learn different ways of doing processes and also the rationale behind the processes.

Overall, I do not feel like a great deal of improvements needed to be made in my delivery of care. I felt comfortable communicating with my nurse and the health care team, assessing the patient, and educating family members. My nurse did not feel well, so she started off the day a little on edge and irritated, but through showing that I was willing to assist her in any way possible, she was more than willing to assist in my learning. I could improve my delivery of care by asking my nurse more questions and looking up more information in the patient’s chart. I noticed that the layout of the NICU was quite different than last week, so I did not have a computer to look up patient information, but rather, I looked alongside my nurse.

My learning needs were supported this week by the nursing staff on the unit allowing me to help with assessing and treating their assigned patients .In addition, my clinical instructor discussing ways to improve out charting.

The second week of my preceptorship brought many new experiences for me, and I can honestly say that each day I spend with my preceptor is better than the last. This week I focused on time management of a full patient load with continued documentation practice as well as admission and discharge procedures. I’ve had brief experiences in my past rotations assisting with discharge teaching and admission assessments however I have never been able to fully take charge and complete the process from start to finish, so this was a great learning opportunity for me.

Third week into clinical. So far, things are slowly improving, however I do need to work on critical thinking and being less task oriented. I had my very own patient. The clinical objective was to be able to perform a successful health assessment on a patient and to identify factors in the environment that would impact patient care. Hopefully from there, my critical thinking skills will develop through experience and to fill my concept map thoroughly. On Tuesday, my patient was an older gentleman who came in with destruction of the liver due to medication. When caring for my patient, I made sure that he received everything that he wanted. I felt that I did well in that aspect for seeking good for the patient. I was told to get his good and make his bed. I don’t know why making his bed didn’t occur in the beginning. But, I learned that in the beginning, it’s important to make sure that the environment is clean, their bed is made, and ask if they needed a show. The important thing that I received from this is asking yourself what would you want the nurse to do if you were the patient. One thing I do realize is that my ability to work with patients and communicate with them with some baseline knowledge is good. With these, I am able to be more confident in my work. But, I do need to work on looking at the full picture when gathering information from the patient. I tend to overlook things but I will improve by realizing my failures.

It was a really short day for me, so I just worked on completing more referrals and watching Donna check-in patients. There are quite a few steps on Donna’s part that include: checking to make sure that the insurance has not changed, the pharmacy has stayed the same, collecting copay, and a lot more things that I need to still get in there and learn. We had one particular patient that had a procedure scheduled for weeks that we had to reschedule until insurance differences could be worked out. He was not a happy camper, but luckily he directed his anger toward the insurance company and not us. I haven’t got to really be in the front office much this week because of the need in the clinical area, but I hope to get more experience in this area

For the next time I plan to be more prepared. I would have by then studied more techniques available for me to use. I plan on using every tool at my disposal, including my pediatric nursing book and health assessment book. I also plan on using any other tools provided to me by my instructors. Having a sound and structured plan is key to success in patient assessments. Having one for next time will greatly improve the experience for me and the

In this reflection, I am going to use Gibb's reflective cycle (Gibbs, 1988). On the first day of our placement, the nurse and I went to try gaining consent from a resident to become my patient/resident for my portfolio and nursing care plan. The nurse and I managed to gain consent from Mrs. A to become my patient/resident for my portfolio. With the help of the nurse, I explained to the resident about the portfolio and that I am going through her medical notes and details for me to complete my nursing care plan and to gather her objective data. After our conversation with the resident about the portfolio, the nurse asked me to spend time and talk to Mrs. A to gain her trust so that she will cooperate with me. When the nurse left us, I notice that Mrs. A is nervous of me being there, so I tried to comfort her by spending one hour talking to Mrs. A about her past experiences as a nurse aid. She also mentioned that sometimes she is getting depress because of her regrets in the past, I listened to her stories and regrets carefully and attentively for me to get some details on how to comfort her.

Several of the roles which I observed this morning were expected: the nurses took vitals for incoming patients, performed focused assessments, and were the main communicators between family, the patient, and the physician. I realized when the first patient came in around 10:00 am, the RN’s role in assessments, gathering blood work, and carrying out all the necessary steps to situate and stabilize the patient as soon as possible. It was incredible seeing the nurses work together, in sync, in those first moments when the patient was brought in. And though expected, I appreciated seeing just how much communication was held and information was gathered from the patient or family members by the nurse. Jessica asked the right questions from both parties, while still showing incredible empathy and not making the whole situation seem rushed and flustering. I understood this as another essential role of the nurse in the ED; he or she must maintain even in such a fast-paced environment empathy and focus in each interaction.

As I progress through my clinical experience, I have seen personal growth. Initially, when I began, I focused on completion of the immediate HPI, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment plan. Currently, I see myself thinking about long-term health goals for the patients. For example, for patients who have had a CVA, I find myself considering the life changes this condition has on patients who are recovering from this potentially debilitating condition. I think about the long-term treatment goals as it relates to controlling hypertension, cerebral vascular disease, and other associated cardiac disease complications. My knowledge base is beginning to expand past the immediate needs, and I am feeling more comfortable with common primary care concerns. I am not ready to be independent. However, I do recognize a lot of growth.

Throughout this semester, I learned a wide variety of skills in both the clinical and classroom settings. I believe the goals that I set for myself at the beginning of the semester were appropriate and realistic, because I was able to achieve most of them adequately. This course fit into my overall learning goals because it covered a wide breadth of populations and array of community issues (through worksheets, PowerPoints, videos, etc.). The course also expanded my general knowledge, and helped me to narrow down which kinds of nursing I would like to pursue in the future. My PLGs helped to make me a well-rounded health professional, by motivating me to learn about different topics that I may not get another chance to touch upon so deeply.

One of my patient’s husbands arrived on the unit and explained to me that he had not spoken to a doctor since his wife was admitted. I let him know that I will speak to the team leader to see if we could get the doctor to speak with him. I spoke with the team leader and explained to her that the husband would like to speak with the doctor to get more information about his wife current conditions because she was acting like her normal self. She contacted the doctor and left a message. After a couple of hours the doctor came in and spoke to both the husband and the patient about finding out which medications was causing the patient’s altered mental status. The husband thanked both the doctor and me.

My four weeks of clinical placement had thought me lots of things that can help me to become a better nurse in the future. I give my outmost respect and thanks to my clinical preceptors to the learning and knowledge they have imparted. I have learned a lot from clinical placement because 2B ward is a surgical unit I came to understand the complexity of wound care. Every wound should be assessed according to its type and severity because every type of wound has its appropriate dressing. Aside from learning clinical procedure such as wound dressing, drug administration (within scope of practice), naso-gastric feeding and etc, I came to learn the importance of teamwork it makes the job easier and allows good communication within staff members of the ward. I am looking forward for my upcoming clinical placement in 3rd year to gain more knowledge in and experience to develop my nursing skills and become a competent nurse in the future.

The following reflection demonstrates my awareness for my own cultural influences. Through the cultural lenses of a student nurse and a tennis member. They have impacted the way I view others and is a guidance to my bicultural professional health care relationship.