Karen Short Story

Throughout my time on the Mother Baby Care Unit, I have faced many instances in which I have been able to reflect on both my patients and the care that I was providing them. One situation in particular that I found myself critically reflecting upon involved a new mother who was feeling slightly stressed about being discharged as her newborn son would not be going home with her. For confidentiality reasons, this patient will be given the pseudonym of Kayla for the remainder of this reflection.

She will not give up on her grandson and is determined to keep going for him and to keep him as healthy as possible. What I thought to be interesting is that she never asked anybody in town to bring the medicine to her or to come check on her every day to (not to be morbid) make sure the grandmother is still alive! The race of the nurses is never specified, but perhaps they are white, and if they are white it makes perfect sense why she wouldn't want to ask for help. It seems reasonable not to want help from a race that just several decades ago treated your family like animals, and still now treat you like a lesser person. She can do it own her own and she will show them that.

As an aspiring Neonatal Nurse Practitioner, I will graduate from UNCG with my BSN, work for a year as an RN, and eventually attend a graduate school to accomplish my ultimate goal of obtaining my DNP. As a neonatal nurse practitioner, it is imperative to exude compassion, while demonstrating critical thinking skills when faced with arduous circumstances. I understand that working with distressed families in the NICU will be a challenging task, both emotionally and physically. I am aware that it is my responsibility as a nurse to not only know how to provide physical care to my patient's, but to also attend to their emotional needs and the needs of their loved ones. Nurses are expected to be the liaison between families and doctors. So, in the

Another big role in a pediatric nurse’s job is telling the parents disturbing news when it is necessary. Telling the family any bad news is more of a process than anyone might think. The pediatric nurse responsible for this task must first think ahead, plan for the worse, and plan for the reaction of the family. The pediatric nurse must set time apart from their busy day to be able to spend it with the family of the patient. One is never sure how the family will react or how long it will take to explain all the details and answer all the family’s questions. , According to Crawford in his journal “It is also helpful in many cases to have a witness to what was actually said as sometimes, despite all the care and attention to detail, mixed messages can be conveyed” (Crawford 3). In the article, it also states that the pediatric nurse should give open and honest information to the family. The nurse should start the conversation off letting the family know that they are here to support and encourage. The nurse should be straight forward from there on out and should refrain from using elaborate or confusing words with the child’s family. The nurse should avoid not only confusing the family but also excuses, jargon, elaborate reasoning, and the temptation to speed through the bad news without making 100 percent positive the family understands what they are being told. When the nurse has properly told the family the bad news, he or she must

The nurse had been in the nursing profession for fifteen years and working on the NICU Unit for five years. She was of Caucasian background and a single mother of two young children. She first met the patient when she was admitted with complication during the sixth month of her pregnancy. The nurse had extensive training and experience working in the paediatric unit of the hospital where she was employed. Caring for children is her passion since she lost her first child due to birth complications and raised her two children alone while putting herself through university.

The theory I selected to apply to the above situation is the Birth Territory theory. This theory was created from empirical data collected by the authors who serve as both midwives and researchers. It has a critical post-structural feminist undertone and elaborates on the ideas of Michel Foucault. The Birth Territory theory predicts and elaborates on the relationships between jurisdiction (use of authority and influence), terrain (the birthing environment), and personal emotional and physiological experience by the mother. This nurse-midwifery theory was chosen because both of the major concepts directly correlate with the incident and are critical aspects of labor and delivery situations. MAYBE ELABORATE A diagram of the Birth Territory theory can be seen in Appendix A.

The personal values of this nursing student would first suspect child abuse especially if the child has bilateral fractures of the femur. Abuse toward others is not tolerated in this author’s personal life. Respect for others is another value of this nursing student. Though showing this respect toward others is difficult at times when faced with patients and families who continually show a lack respect for themselves and others. Respect for this eighth month old child is easily done, but to put aside personal basis and continue this respect toward the mother if abuse is the cause of the injuries may be difficult. Responsibility for ones own actions and owning up to those actions is a value of this nursing student. This author attempts to treat others fairly, equally, and the same way that she (this author) would like to be treated. These personal values are difficult to practice at times when others that this nursing student comes into contact do not have similar ethical values.

The declining number of nurses, the increasing numbers of patients to care for, electronic charting, and increased pressure to provide the best patient satisfaction which drives reimbursement levels leaves nurses not always able to provide the emotional support a laboring woman needs. Often there are not replacements for many of the resources which are lacking. The emotional support a laboring woman needs to successfully navigate labor and delivery, with as few interventions as possible, is often not able to be provided continuously by the nurse alone. While family/significant other presence is vital and important to a laboring woman, it is often not enough. They lack the knowledge and education regarding needs of a laboring woman during the various stages of childbirth. Additionally, many times they are just as overwhelmed with the process as the patient and are unable to provide the continuous emotional support at the level the laboring woman

In 2015, I started working as a pediatric Licensed Practical Nurse, and throughout my journey, I provided care to a various family with children with special need. Every family is different, some were made of a single mother and her children, some were extended families, and most importantly every mother was at least eighty percent involve in her childcare. During my nursing clinical rotations and my few trips to doctor’s appointments, I tend to see more women accompany their children to medical visit or any other event. I believe that women around the world are to encourage and celebrate the amazing care they provide to their children. I also believe that the bond between mother and child is a very special alliance that needs to be Cherise.

I was able to display an awareness of how one's values, belief impact on practice. The promotion of breastfeeding on the maternity unit and neonatal unit highlight this. Transcultural care is transferred into nursing practice, regardless of cultural differences a nurse needs to gain the trust of the service user. Hockenberry and Wilson (2011) argue that bottle feeding is an acceptable form of feeding babies, to which nurses not all should assume parents are familiar with artificial milk around feeding and preparation. Nurses should be able to provide information and assistance to parents becoming competence in doing so. This is important for nurses and students to demonstrate an understanding of the impact of cultural differences on the neonatal

On arrival, Joe’s mother Catherine was distressed and throughout every stage of Joe’s care it was important Catherine was provided with clear information in order to empower her to make informed choices regarding Joe’s care (Glasper et al. 2010). Parental involvement was introduced after the Platt Report in 1959 which recommended that parents should be allowed to stay with their hospitalised child. The report has led to significant improvements in interactions between parents of hospitalised children and the staff who care for them (Priddis and Sheilds 2011). Sousa et al (2013) carried out a study that found communication between parents and children’s nurses is vital. Sousa et al (2013) found that almost all parents who participated in the questionnaire agreed it was a priority to get information on their child’s health condition. This indicates that is important for nurses to manage the child and family as a whole holistically (NMC 2015). Catherine

Kacy Briggs was kidnapped on march 3rd 2016. The day after there were signs printed with “MISSING”, and “UNKNOWN.” I wish I was there to help you, I wanted to be there and save you… but I couldn’t find you. But after all this time you were right under my nose. And I had no clue.Im ready for the truth to come out what about you Kacy. Oh and it’s Hailey, Hailey Briggs.

I want to recall a particular incident that occurred very early in my journey to becoming a NICU nurse. It was not long after orientation, I was no longer working with my preceptor and I was on my own caring for these tiny humans. I have the responsibility of total patient care, including their airway, especially if a respiratory therapist is unavailable. In our unit, one can feel quite overwhelmed as it is large and there are always monitors beeping for different reasons. We have multiple staff around including fellows, residents, respiratory therapist and of course there are always parents and relatives on the unit since there are no restricted hours. That day

Kristen M. Swanson RN, PhD, FAAN derives her Theory of Caring from the works of multiple nursing scholars, combined with empirical evidence and phenomenological investigations, to create a middle-range theory applicable to almost any healthcare setting (Swanson, 1991). The middle-range theory evolved partially due to Dr. Swanson’s doctoral studies under Dr. Jean Watson (Wojnar, 2014, p. 689). Dr. Swanson’s theory contains a perinatal background, initially developed specifically in attempt to explain miscarriage experiences (Wojnar, 2014). By conducting three different studies involving three different perspectives, Dr. Swanson was able to establish and define five concepts, caring processes, critical to her theory (Swanson, 1998). The three perspectives investigated by Dr. Swanson were women who miscarried, NICU caregivers, and at-risk mothers. With each study, her definitions of the five caring processes evolved (Swanson, 1991).

Patient’s in the NICU are considered to be very tiny and fragile and immunocompromised due to their immature organ systems which can lead to many dangerous medical problems. Patricia W. Stone states “maintaining a safe environment reflects a level of compassion and vigilance for patient welfare that is as important as any other aspect of competent health care” (Stone, 2008). The patient’s safety should always be a top concerned for a nurse because in a health care facility the purpose is to heal the patient and get them on the road to recovery. Nurses must learn from the errors of the past and use their knowledge to improve the quality of nursing to the patients to ensure if errors do happen again that the use of evidence-based practices are put into place to improve their outcomes. According to Higher Quality of Care and Patient Safety, “Registered Nurses (RNs) are instrumental in achieving multiple care goals, including promoting infant health and clinical stability, maintaining the integrity and cleanliness of central catheters, and preparing families for their role in infant care and successful transition it home” (Lake, 2016). Nurses are reasonable for the education of the families of the patients to ensure that the best quality of care for the patient is maintained outside the hospital to ensure the best medical outcome for the infants.