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Reflection for academic writing
Explain critical thinking in Nursing
Explain critical thinking in Nursing
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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. Look back Mrs. D. was admitted to the unit in 2011. She is 84 years old widow who was diagnosed with dementia, diabetes mellitus type II, hypertension, high cholesterol …show more content…
D. standing near her room, breathing sharply. While asked what has just happened, she answered, ‘I feel dizzy and can faint!’ Mrs. D. then explained that she rose up from her chair in the television room and felt lightheaded. I decided to bring her to the room hoping she would feel less dizziness if she could sit. After consultation with my mentor and third year unit nursing student, I decided to perform measurement of her vital signs. Since only electronic sphygmomanometer was available for me that time, I had to use it for my procedure. Gladly, I discovered that I have already used such equipment in my previous nursing practice. Using the standard sized calf, I found that her blood pressure was 135/85, respirations were 16, and her pulse was 96 beats per minute (bpm). However, I decided to recheck the pulse manually, founding that it was irregular (78 bpm). The patient stated that she felt better after rest. Immediately after the incident I made a decision to explore carefully the medical chart of Mrs. D., along with her nursing care plan. That helped me to discover multiple medical diagnoses influencing her
An audit of patient records completed in 2005, revealed a low incidence of respiratory rate recording. An initial audit completed revealed that only 7% of 341 patients had a respiratory rate recording (Butler-Williams 2005). Due to this worrying outcome, the priority was to implement appropriate training to raise respiratory rate significance. Due to the audit being completed hospital wide and with no prior warning, it is an accurate indicator of an overall attitude of practice towards the recording of respiratory rate. Various studies have been conducted in order to gain an understanding as to why this precious sign is so often ignored. Jacqueline Hogan explored the paucity of patient monitoring on acute wards, completing qualitative research using focus groups in 2004. Four major themes were identified, firstly the issue of the nursing workload. Many participants acknowledged the expansion of the nurse’s role and with this added responsibility, the need for delegation of activities such as patient observations. Observations are often delegated to junior staff members such as healthcare assistants and student nurses. Although many nurses admitted to delegating this vital activity, 73% of nurses did not consider healthcare assistants possessed the required knowledge to interpret observational results. With this lack of knowledge comes the absence of appreciation for the completion of such vital signs, and
In this paper I will write about my observation of the Miss Z who was a 28 year old patient in the S hospital where I had my Lifespan 1 clinical placement. Also, I will write about Mrs. M. who is a Registered Nurse at the High Risk Pregnancy Unit of the S. hospital where Miss Z. was a patient. More specifically, I will describe how Non-Stress Test was done by the nurse Z. During this test nurse repositioned Miss Z, strapped two sensors to her belly, and interacted with Miss. Z. In the second part of my writing I will discuss two types of nursing knowledge such as Case knowledge and Patient knowledge. (Joan Liashenko, Anastasia Fisher 1999) I will describe how nurse Z incorporated these types of nursing knowledge into her encounter with Miss. Z.
There are events, subtle or otherwise, leading up to a critical change in health status. As nurses at the bedside, we must have strategies and protocols implemented in order to monitor changes in vital signs and trends leading towards a cardiac, respiratory, or neurologic event. In a hospital setting, patients are monitored for changes in condition, whether it be improvement or deterioration, allowing clinicians to decide the course of action to follow in their care.
Licensed practical nurses (LPN 's) fill an important role in modern health care practices. Their primary job duty is to provide routine care, observe patients’ health, assist doctors and registered nurses, and communicate instructions to patients regarding medication, home-based care, and preventative lifestyle changes (Hill). A Licensed Practical Nurse has various of roles that they have to manage on a day to day basis, such as being an advocate for their patients, an educator, being a counselor, a consultant, researcher, collaborator, and even a manager depending on what kind of work exactly that you do and where. It is the nursing process and critical thinking that separate the LPN from the unlicensed assistive personnel. Judgments are based
Adult nursing is a subject I am passionate about. In my opinion, there is nothing more important than the health, safety and security of one’s self and others. I aspire to achieve these attributes for individuals in everyday life and this course will help me to do so. I find helping people rewarding and adult nursing provides a professional platform to achieve this target. It also helps me to progress to a stable job that is solely concentrated on making a positive difference in someone’s life. For this reason, I would feel privileged to be accepted on to this course.
The view of nursing is now more in depth and well rounded than before attending this class. Also, I now have a better understanding that scientific knowledge has a huge impact on nursing. Before taking these specific classes this semester I did not realize how much of a role science played in the nursing career. This quarter has really shown me that a nurse is not a "task monkey." The most surprising thing that I learned this semester was the abundance of knowledge that a nurse has to have in variety of areas such as assessment, legal, risk prevention, and educator just to name a few. As I make my journey through nursing school to expert nurse, I will always remember my instructors and dean continuously repeating that I must choose
To grow with the greater demands of modern health consumers, nursing can attain ways to distil stagnation while advancing with the constant flow of healthcare, providing ever increasing care.
The main aim of this reflection is to demonstrate that I provided this care. During my training as a student nurse, I have been involved with many patients with complex needs of a with the support of a mentor, however this was, primarily, the first time since qualified and on completion of my registration that I became responsible and accountable for my practice.
In this reflective essay, I will be using the Driscoll’s model of reflection to talk about how my knowledge of quality nursing care has improved since the commencement of this module. Quality nursing care has helped me develop various nursing strategies that will guide me in my first placement and throughout my career in nursing. Furthermore, it has taught me about communicating effectively with patients, I have learnt about verbal communication such as paraphrasing when communicating with patients to ensure that what said is properly understood. I have learnt not to make assumptions about patients and putting them in the middle of their care, taking into account their preferences.
“The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival” (Aristotle, n.d.)
First, I would like to tell you that your draft is a great source of inspiration. As a mother, as a working student, and as a woman over forty I can tell you that the conclusion of your essay inspired me deeply and convinced me that in life "slow and steady wins the race." Like you, I study between washing dishes and ironing clothes. Thank you for sharing your emotions and your story with me and the rest of the class. After having read the conclusion of your draft, I feel less alone in this crazy journey.
To make good nursing decisions, nurses require an internal roadmap with knowledge of nursing theories. Nursing theories, models, and frameworks play a significant role in nursing, and they are created to focus on meeting the client’s needs for nursing care. According to McEwen and Wills (2014), conceptual models and theories could create mechanisms, guide nurses to communicate better, and provide a “systematic means of collecting data to describe, explain, and predict” about nursing and its practice (p. 25). Most of the theories have some common concepts; others may differ from one theory to other. This paper will evaluate two nursing theorists’ main theories include Sister Callista Roy’s
This reflection of vital signs will go into discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of each vital sign and the importance of each of them. Vital signs should be assessed many different times such as on admission to a health care facility, before and after something substantial has happened to the patient such as surgery and so forth (ref inter). I learned to assess blood pressure (BP), pulse (P), temperature (T) and respiration (R) and I will reflect and discuss which aspects were more difficult and ways to improve on them. While pulse, respiration and temperature were fairly easy to become skilled at, it was blood pressure which was a bit more difficult to understand.
The interdisciplinary course is a core requirement in the after-degree nursing program as it incorporates the principles of self-directed learning and promotes critical thinking, which is an essential element in nursing practice. As a final year nursing student, I believe that knowledge from this course will enhance my ability to provide patient-centered care.
Mrs S. is an 88 years old female patient who lives on her own, and was admitted into a rehabilitation ward following a hip operation due to a fall at home. She has a past medical history of Congestive Cardiac Failure (CCF), diverticulitis, and asthma. Also, Mrs S presented with rapid weight loss, palpitation, feeling tired, peripheral oedema, fatigue, difficulty breathing when lying flat in the bed, waking up at night with shortness of breath and anxiety. In addition to all that she had a pressure sore in her bottom that was not broken. In order to have good holistic care of Mrs S, the nursing process was used as identified by Sibson. Sibson (2010) identifies four key steps to the nursing process, which are assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation; which are important for ensuring a quality standard of nursing care.