Postpartum Assessment

I utilized critical thinking skills when I provided care for my patients on the postpartum unit. I was assign a mother and her infant 24 hours post-delivery. Being that the infant was 24 hours old I did every four hour assessments on the mother and infant. I made sure I followed the acronym BUBBLE (breast, uterus, bowel, bladder, lochia, episiotomy) to assess the mother, as well as following the newborn assessment for her infant. I had no abnormal assessment findings. I made sure I reported the assessment to the RN I was working under, and documented in the patient’s record.

Core Competency: Caring

2. Give an two examples of how you functioned within the legal and ethical parameters of the student nurse role

1. I stayed in my legal parameters

when I identified the mother and infant’s identification number on their arm bands before I handed an infant to a mother.

2. When on the labor and delivery unit I wasn’t able to do everything that a nurse does. I made sure I observed the nurse, provided as much help to her as I could, and stayed within my role as a student shallowing.

Core Competency: Communication

3. Elaborate on how you exhibited cultural sensitivity when communicating with patients, families, and healthcare team members. Culture includes many aspects of an individual and can comprise of language, ethnicity, race gender, faith, sexual orientation, profession, tastes, age, socioeconomic status, or disability.

I exhibited sensitivity in communicating with a primigravida. She had been trying to push her baby out for almost an hour. She was very tried and in a lot of pain. She was also having trouble pushing during her contractions. The RN and I were trying to give her words of encouragement. As a mother myself seeing her go through so much pain I could help but to be empathic towards her, and provide her some comfort.

Core Competency: Learning/Spirit of Inquiry

4.

Explain how you utilized the principles of teaching/learning to encourage health promotion and illness prevention with women, infants, children and families including acknowledgement of religious, cultural and spiritual influences on health and health promotion activities of the client.

My patient was not very religious, but for her it is cultural for males to be circumcised. Since my patient was a multigravida she was already very educated on caring for an infant. I made she I was assessing her knowledge of infant care when I provided some teaching for caring for her infant’s circumcision. I made sure she knew not to wipe away the yellow covering around the penis and not to give him a bath until the circumcision is healed.

Core Competency: Professional identity

5. Describe how you protected patient rights in all aspects of care (confidentiality, autonomy and privacy; including protection of rights with the use of technology).

I respected my patient’s rights through confidentiality. I had a primigravida mother who had a group of family members awaiting for her infants arrival. There had been some slight complications with the delivery and when the infant was born it had to be taking to the NICU. I know I could only disclose information to the patient’s mother and not the other family

members.