Natasha N Dundas

Nursing 4010

 Narrative – Self Reflection

 10^th May, 2017

 

 

   As nurses it is imperative to continue your education. With the advancement of technology and changes in the health care system, nurses must reframe from being stagnant. A nurse’s commitment to his or her patients is reflected in a commitment to lifetime learning. Ongoing professional development ensures that nurses are contemporary practitioners of safe and expert care. Continuing education (CE) courses not only are often required for re-licensure and certification, but also expand a nurse’s knowledge and contribute to career growth. Today’s society is always changing whether it’s by culture or even by government, nurses need to be able to adapt to those change to better serve their patients. Continuing education helps a nurse to grow professionally, personally, and culturally. For me continuing education is not only about the degree, I enjoy interacting with other nurses, net working and coming out of my comfort zone of working with a certain type of people or a certain types of patients. My clinical site is at Green Point Health Center with a vast population of Polish my clinical experience there was amazing. The staff was great always smiling and willing to help the patient’s and the atmosphere were warm and inviting. My presentation site was at Woodhull hospital. My team and I thought Diabetes nutrition because in that area has a very high count of diabetics.

Objective 1. I always felt confident because the staff was always willing to assist and answer any question I may have had. The learning experience was great with the help of the staff, my professor and my classmates. I participated in clinical conferences every morning before we began to see patients. Wearing white blouse and black pants always followed uniform code of conduct. At clinical I did part take in morning report. As an adult learning I had to do my own research on different topics in this course. For instance, in the diabetes teaching I had to do a lot of research on that topic. Whenever given an assignments they were completed in a timely fashion. At my first meeting at Woodhull hospital I was told by my professor that I would not be staying at Woodhull hospital, instead I would be going to Green Point where it’s an extra train ride from Woodhull after already taking the bus from my house, which took an hour. I was not happy about that then I said to myself “take a chance”. When I got to Green Point the first day I loved it, so I made it my duty to get there on time every clinical day.

Objective 2. At my site I registered the patient by interviewing them, by finding out what is the reason for their visit, taking vital sign and getting them ready to see the physician. However, as a student I did not have access to the computer to retrieve medical records. The staff nurse and other health professionals collected the other information. Even thought I was around a different culture the patients were very pleasant and were willing to talk to me regardless of the language barrier. I did have a chance to collect significant data because there is a registration sheet that has specific questions and assess which needs to get done before seeing the physician. No patients received a complete physical assessment at registration. I did not have a chance to administer any mediation. I did prioritized care for some of the patients by writing up their plan of care. Safety measures were maintained in working in the community setting and in a timely manner.

Objective 3. In my clinical experience therapeutic communication has been a bit challenging because of the language barriers with some of the patients. However, with the help of my classmate who spoke the language, therapeutic communication was able to be established. There was a language phone in case if we needed to use it for translation. At my service-learning site at Woodhull I distributed Spanish version of our teaching project to the Spanish-speaking patients. Communication between my professor and classmates were very clear and effective. My professor with double check with us to see if we had any further questions or concerns. Whenever I had a patient who I couldn’t help because of the language barrier the head nurse or my classmate would translate. Nursing intervention is documented accurately whenever I would do an assessment or follow up phone calls for monitoring blood pressures.

Objective 4. My service learning project-teaching plan was teaching the patients about how to manage diabetes with good diet and exercise. We made a poster board demonstrating healthy fruits and vegetables. We discuss how and what type of exercise is meaningful to hell control diabetes. We handed out granola bars, water, bananas and apples to the patients to encourage them to eat healthier. The residents really enjoyed the presentation, they asked questions and were eager to received handouts about keeping a log of all their medications and blood sugar testing for when they go to their physician. The service learning presentation was a success.

Objective 5. Even thought I didn’t have access to the patient’s medical record I was able to received some personal information when interviewing the patients. All information obtain was maintained in strict confidentiality according to the institution privacy protocol. For instant no patient information was allowed to leave the institution and had to be discarded in a designated area.

Objective 6. I believe I demonstrated commitment to professional development. I spent hours researching and learning about how to present a topic that seem to bean epidemic in this country and will continue to educate patients on the importance of managing diabetes. I will continue to educate myself so that I may be able to better serve my community. This course has made me really appreciate working with the community.

Objective 7. Prior to clinical in orientation we were told about the policies and procedures of the intuition that we were expected to follow. For instance, we were not allowed to attend clinical if we did not received the flu vaccine. As nurses it is very important to utilize the American Nurses Association Standards in the clinical practice.

Objective 8. It was very easy to collaborate with the team at the clinical site and the patients also made it very easy. They never hesitate to speak to me even though I was a student. In my service learning we did referrer the patients of other recourses such as the American Diabetic Association. We taught the patients about joining their local YMCA where they can enjoy physical exercise while helping to maintain a stable blood glucose level.

Objective 9. I finally realize how economic, political, social and demographic forces the affect of delivering health. This area has a lot of uninsured patients so sometimes they have to wait longer than usual just to see the physician or sometimes hours just to have a new prescription. The lack of knowledge and education plays a role in how some of the patients may perceive health care.

Summary: This clinical experience was a very good one for me. I have learn to not judge the book by its cover because if I did not go to this site I would not have met so many wonderful patients and staff. My opinions on community nursing has change because there are a lot patients out there that can use my help. Whether its by education them on how to live a healthier life, by simply comforting them or even advocating for them to be able to get health insurance.