As a patient care volunteer at Chandler Regional Hospital’s surgical/orthopedics department, one particular patient exemplified the difference one state of mind can make. I had been doing my weekly room check-ins when I met Mary, a patient who had knee surgery following a car accident she had been in. When I asked what she needed, she requested a glass of water and a warm blanket for her husband. I was struck by how attentive she was towards his needs considering she had just been in surgery a day earlier. She later shared that her husband was in fact undergoing cancer therapy. Concerned with how she was handling her situation, she confided in me that she was grateful to be alive and was looking forward to spending time with her husband.
One time, I was taken aback and saddened by a patient yelling a plea to God as she was suffering through tremendous pain. As I walked into the room, the first thing this patient did was stop yelling and attempt to put on a calm face. It was a sobering moment, but I proceeded to ask her if I could do anything to help. What struck me most about this moment, was how much fight this lady could conjure up to hide her pain and yet still remain compassionate towards me. I hadn't expected anything, but this experience was a brilliant reminder of why I wanted so badly to improve the conditions of patients across the medical spectrum. I couldn't fathom the extent of this patient's pain, but I could fathom the idea of pain itself. In the patient, I saw a little bit of myself. I wanted to help this patient greatly and desired the means to do so. In this patient, I saw the nature of humanity. Human beings, for the most part, are inherently good and strive to be selfless even at their weakest moments. In fact, most people I know tend to be more worried about others than themselves, whether it be from a positive or negative perspective. As I got to know this patient, I realized how much she wanted to be with her family and see her grandchildren grow up. Though she was aware of the pain and suffering, she was also aware of what could be once she got through this struggle. Once I become a medical doctor, I can give back
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.
Skin integrity is an important concept that’s nurses assess on their patients. A key skill in nursing practice is to frequently assess the skin for possible breakdown or decreased skin integrity. Skin assessments should be conducted thoroughly once a shift and frequently reassessed for any signs of change. Skin discrepancies may be the first sign of an underlying issue. Early detection of any breakdown can help to implement interventions sooner. Unfortunately, unless there is a major skin discrepancy, skin issues can easily get overlooked, specifically in documentation and report. The focus of this paper is to research new skin integrity assessments to improve documentation effect and accuracy, resulting in decreased prevalence of skin breakdown in hospitalized patients. Topics discussed include reviewing current practices and new skin assessment techniques that decrease the prevalence of skin breakdown and pressure ulcers.
Looking back on this clinical day, I would state that I effectively met my overall goals for the day - Safely and efficiently administer medication, enhance my nursing/CNA skills, and determine how to implement infection control into a health care setting. During medication administration, I did come across some difficulties – dropping a few pills and being unsure of the medication in the med cart – but that did not prevent me from safely administering my medication. I completed the three medication checks, while ensuring that I recognized the six medication rights. This experience sanctioned me to acquire comfort in passing meds, and permitted me to see how to prioritize time when a patient takes numerous medications. Alongside medication
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.
Holistic nursing to me is a practice of applying both subjective and objective patient assessment into the plan of care. Not only do we need to look at the physical condition of the patient, but also their social and environmental factors that influence their state of health. When this application process is incorporated into the patient plan of care, we are incorporating all aspects of the patient’s life that help define and create their ideal state of health. In review of several nursing theories discussed by Montgomery-Dossey and Keegan (2012), which incorporate the aspect of holistic nursing practice, I found that Jean Watson’s Theory of Transpersonal Caring was most closely linked to aspects of my current nursing practice.
I shared my professional and personal experiences with colleagues. I also partook in health care team activities, where I established and maintained collaborative and productive working contacts with the health care team (Sibiya & Sibiya, 2014). From time to time I consulted with relevant service providers and medical experts identify personal needs as well as strive for improved professional performance
There are many demanding professional adjustments when transitioning from student nurse to graduate nurse and the use of refection during this time is said to be a very important tool in guiding the learning process. It is common in the field of nursing to utilise reflection to critically analyse certain experiences and reflect on how they made them feel and react. This involves looking deeper into a particular experience and deciding what was good, what was bad and what would be a better course of action if they were to re encounter it in the future. However there may be potential barriers when trying to make judgements about a students inner most thoughts and personal experiences. The purpose of this essay is to critically analyse the concept of reflection and to find out if it is an essential component to nursing practise in the transition from student nurse to graduate registered nurse.
The following essay is a reflective account on an event that I, a student nurse encountered whilst on my second clinical placement in my first year of study. The event took place in a Fountain Nursing Home in Granite City. I have chosen to give thought to the event described in this essay as I feel that it highlights the need for nurses to have effective communication skills especially when treating patients that are suffering with a mental illness. Upon arriving to the Nursing home for the second time on Thursday November 14,2013; assigned the same patient as before. On meeting my patient the first thing I noticed myself doing without even thinking about it was giving her a visual inspection. Before nursing school I never really looked at
In this case study I will use Gibbs (1988) model of reflection to write a personal account of an abdominal examination carried out in general practice under the supervision of my mentor, utilising the skills taught during the module thus far.
The objective of this reflection is to explore and reflect upon a situation from a clinical placement on an orthopedic unit. The incident showed that I did not provide safe, timely and competent care for my patient when the oxygen saturation was low. Furthermore, this reflection will include a description of the incident, and I will conclude with explaining what I have learned from the experience and how it will change my future actions.
Reflective Practice Introduction: Reflection its self is looking into personal thoughts and actions. For nurses this would mean looking at how they performed a particular task taking into consideration their interaction with their colleagues and other members of staff, patients and in some cases relatives This then enables the nurse to assess their actions and thought processes. There are various frameworks of reflection that one could choose and the examples used for this work is by Gibbs (1988), Johns (2000) and Benner (1982) Gibbs: Gibbs reflective cycle encourages one to think in order about the different areas of an experience. It is presented in a number of questions that the reflective practitioner
Starting the Registered Nurse (RN) to Bachelorette of Science in Nursing (BSN) program at Jacksonville University in June 2015 was a simple transition for me. I had graduated an Associates Degree in Nursing (ADN) program in December 2014 and became a licensed RN in January 2015. I had just gotten hired for my first nursing position the month prior to the start of class and had not yet started working. I was very much still in student mode. While this makes it a bit easier to learn and process information in a classroom setting, I had no real world experience to help guide me. Through the knowledge I have gained as a student at Jacksonville University I have become a competent and well-rounded nurse. I am able to quickly problem solve and utilize critical thinking to identify and rectify issues. I have even put together, and will be presenting, and presentation about nursing practice for staff members at the facility where I work.
As higher standards expected are from the public and higher patient safety demands are expected from health boards, therefore, there is a need for a way of measuring standards of practice which can be achieved through active thinking in a clinical environment brought about by critical reflection (Rolfe, Jasper & Freshwater 2011). Reflection has become such a key component in the role of a nurse that the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) have seen it fit to include it in their professional code of conduct the Code: Professional Standards of Practice and Behaviour for Nurses and Midwives, hereafter referred to as the Code (Nursing & Midwifery Council [NMC], 2015). With reflection being a vital skill for nurses to continue their professional development (Parrish & Crookes, 2013), an analysis of what it means to reflect within nursing is needed by all who intend to enter the profession to ensure its effective use is applied.
The Royal College of Nursing defines reflection as the process of thinking deeply with the purpose of understanding (RCN 2013). Reflection is a way people recollect, think and evaluate their knowledge which is a vital part of learning. (Boud et al cited in Royal College of Nursing). Reflection allows us to be conscious of any form of discrimination. It enables learning from mistakes and prevents future occurrence (RCN 2013). In addition, Jasper et al (2013) looks at reflection as a way professionals learn through various experiences in their role. They also went further to say, for development to happen in our roles as professionals, there is the need for continuous process of building our knowledge.