Mary (name has been changed for confidentiality) is a combative and aggressive resident. Due to Mary’s violent behavior, she receives careless and inadequate care from the nursing assistants in our memory care unit. When I first worked with Mary, she was being held by her arms and legs. This was necessary to successfully clean her up because she hits and grabs anyone who tries to assist her. Despite being pressured to hurry, I was careful to make sure I communicated everything that I was doing to her. I saw that her expression spoke fierceness, but her eyes spoke sorrow. Her actions were the result of her severe dementia, and it was important to me that I treated her as a human being. While she was defined as a two person assist, I discovered
You did an awesome work, I heard. We have monthly meetings, where we talk about the latest news in the nursing world, policy and procedure, quality improvement and many more issues. What I really enjoy about the meeting is that everyone can address his/her concerns without feeling afraid and intimidated. The meeting led by a registered nurse who is familiar with our day to day situation at work.
This can be a big issue with long-term hospital stays and is especially prevalent among elderly patients. It is not always the physical harm done to a patient that is the issue, but the dignity of the patient as well. When the nursing staff is not fulfilling their duties in this area, patients can suffer emotional distress. The humiliation that person can feel combined with physical harm is abusive and can constitute
On my first day of the placement, Mrs X was introduced to me by a senior member of staff, he explained to me that Mrs X is an 83-year-old lady, and has Glaucoma, and Presbycusis, commonly known as an age-related hearing loss. Due to the deterioration in her sight and vision, she found day to day living on her own becoming more challenging, therefore, this resulted in her coming to live in the care home in 2013. He went on to explain that; Mrs X displays behaviour that challenges: shouting, hitting out, and refusing any assistance. Furthermore, the behaviour she displays is aimed at the newer members of staff.
Elderly adults face an abundant amount of abuse in many healthcare settings. According to the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), elder abuse is defined as, “intentional or neglectful acts by a caregiver or “trusted” individual that lead to, or may lead to, harm of a vulnerable elder” (NCEA, 2017, p. 2). Elder abuse can possess many forms, including physical abuse, neglect, emotional or psychological abuse, financial abuse or exploitation, sexual abuse, and abandonment. (NCEA, 2017, p. 2). This abuse can take place in many settings that house seniors, age 65 years old and up regardless of age, sex, or race. These senior care facilities can include, rehabilitation centers, long-term care facilities, nursing homes, and/or senior day care
As I began my education in nursing, nearly 20 years ago, I reflect on my transition from a student to my current role. Throughout my undergraduate education I often became confused and perplexed when my instructors discussed nursing theory, and to be quite honest; I became bored. I didn’t understand at that time how theory applied to my role as a nurse in the clinical setting. Scholars have defined theory in multiple ways but the definition that I relate to the most is that, theory “is a creative and rigorous structuring of ideas that project a tentative, purposeful and systematic view of phenomena (McEwen, Wills, 2014). This definition acknowledges that we develop global ideas (theories) based on the events that we observe in practice. Now,
Developing confidence, and competence is a challenge faced by novice nurses (Morrell & Ridgway, 2014). Over the course of my nursing degree developing, and maintaining confidence in my clinical practice has always been a personal challenge. During my preceptorship placement, I have the opportunity to continue to cultivate my confidence, and prepare to begin my practice as an independent graduate nurse. In the reflection, I will discuss how I have gradually become a confident practitioner through my experiences in my clinical placement, and especially those in my preceptorship placement.
She should go to her superior and report all abusive acts towards any patients not just elderly. Her supervisor should then know appropriate procedures to follow.
As long as I can remember, my whole childhood I have known what I wanted a career in. I have always wanted to be some type of nurse, this influence came from my mother, who is a nurse and inspired me to also become one. In ACA I learned this still might be the right step for me. As we have went on in the semester we have learned what our personality type is and what are learning skills are revolved around. Mine deals best with complex communication and problem-solving in times of stress.
The following essay is a reflective paper on an event that I encountered as a student nurse during my first clinical placement in my first year of study. The event took place in a long term facility. This reflection is about the patient whom I will call Mrs. D. to protect her confidentiality. Throughout this essay I will be using LEARN model of reflection. I have decided to reflect on the event described in this essay since I believe that it highlights the need for nurses to have effective vital signs ‘assessment skills especially when treating older patients with complex medical diagnoses.
“The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival” (Aristotle, n.d.)
The goal of my learning plan for this semester is to develop skills in health education specific to adolescents. I chose this as my learning goal because my placement this semester at Sunnybrook Hospital, Injury Prevention Program, gives me an opportunity to provide health education to high school students every Tuesday at out P.A.R.T.Y. Program so I thought I should use this opportunity to develop my and improve my nursing skills in this area. As well as good health education skills to adolescents can benefit the students by proving them a motivating learning environment and better learning outcomes. I hope they can enjoy my teaching and absorb the information and use them in the future. I have considered many factors in the process of developing my learning plan such as the nursing standards of health promotion, prevention and health protection, professional relationships, capacity building etc… I brainstormed possible topics such as possible topics that are related to injury prevention itself for example, concussion prevention or preventing sports related injuries. I also thought about doing topics that are relevant specifically to the P.A.R.T.Y. Program such as teenage suicide and prevention or distracted driving. After assessing my placement and the clients which in this case are the students, I have recognized that one of the program’s goals is to educate the students about injuries and injury prevention. I also found that our clients had a lot of potential in learning about this subject which can greatly benefit their lives and influence change in their behaviour to increase control of their own health and make better choices. In terms of my personal needs, I felt that I had room for improvement in terms of my le...
My first patient that was assigned to me was a 50-year-old woman admitted for coughing and nose bleeds. She states that she has been bleeding for the last two to three days. After coughing, she had chest pains that would go away and come back. Her admitting diagnosis was CAD. The patient had past medical history of NSTEMI and chronic diastolic failure, coronary angioplasty, chest pain and hypertension and hyperlipidemia. My assessments went very smoothly. She was able to tell me that she experienced shortness of breath upon exertion. She was not experiencing any pain. Further, I was able to find that she was hypertensive at 148/89. I looked into her issue and discovered that her nose bleeding may be related to HTN because high blood pressure
So what is good patient care? Well a patient should always be treated with respect. And when voicing their concerns and complaints listened to carefully. They also should be showed empathy, which is the ability to identify with and understand their feelings and situation. While being shown compassion, which is seeing through the eyes of the patient. It is just being there for them when they are feeling their most vulnerable.
I implemented ones role as a nurse in ways that reflect integrity, responsibility, ethical practices & evolving identity as a nurse committed to caring, advocacy and quality while adhering to evidence based practice by complying with the agency, school, and state law regulations. I made sure to follow all the guideline and safety precautions throughout the day. I treated every resident with respect and protected his or her rights. For example, I followed the hospitals policy when giving a TB test and having my instructor assist me through the process by following infection control and making sure to mark where the TB test was given on the forearm.
During my placement in 3rd year I was placed in a care of the elderly ward. The patient I will speak about will be called Maura. Pseudonyms will replace all names to maintain patient confidentiality in accordance with The Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics for Registered Nurses and Registered Midwives (ABA 2014). Maura is a 94 year old woman who has chronic lower back pain, depression and cognitive impairment. While there I had witnessed, a nurse communicating with Maura in an unethical manner. Maura was very upset and confused and kept saying her husband was