Nadia Pyrol
NYCCT
NUR 4010 (Sp/17)
Narrative Self-Reflection
Introduction:
This is the first time I’m writing a self reflective paper about my clinical experiences. This paper that you are reading is about my time at Kings County Hospital. Kings County Hospital is located in East Flatbush. This is a self reflection paper about my experiences and thoughts at this hospital. Also, this reflection is about my clinical growth and progress during this semester. As you continue to read this paper, I will be explaining about how I fulfilled the nine clinical objectives of the clinical evaluation tool. Every Tuesday, I was placed in different types of clinics in Kings County. I visited the diabetic clinic, the breast clinic, pediatric clinic, and women’s health clinic. I’ve learned a lot during my clinical rotations at Kings County Hospital. I encounter many patients and staff members. From each encounters, I gained a new experience and lesson which I can carry over into the next one.
Objective 1: Demonstrates individual professionalism through personal behaviors and appearance.
Maintaining appropriate professional behaviors at all times is extremely important and is a great quality to have, especially during work (in this case clinical setting and in school). Displaying and maintaining appropriate behaviors/conduct during clinical (school hours and work), shows professors/bosses, classmates/staff members and even patients that you are here to work/complete all tasks to your highest ability and you are prepared for any assignment that you would be given. Showing them that you have respect for others (and their boundaries) and yourself and shows that you are reliable. During the course of my clinical rotation, I maintained and demonstrated appropriate professional behaviors. Every week, I arrived to my clinical location on time and dressed in professional attire. I show respect to my professor, classmates, staff members, and patients. A night or two before clinical, I ensure that all my supplies needed for clinical are in my bag and that all assignments that are due is completed. I participated in pre and post conference during each clinical. I spoke about clinical experience for that day. I engaged and gave feedback when my professor asked about different topics.
Objective 2: Employ analytical reasoning and critical thinking skills when providing care to individuals and families in the community setting.
During my clinical rotation at Kings County Hospital Center, my classmates and I were unable to or rarely exercise my analytical reasoning and critical thinking skills when providing care to individuals and families in the community setting. During clinical, we were placed with a nurse or a PCT. We would just observe the interaction between the nurse/PCT and the patient. But at times we were able to give some of the patients’ education about their diagnosis, proper nutrition, drug regimen, potential vaccine side effects, and offer emotional support. On the last Tuesday in April, we conducted a service learning project. This service learning project was presented in the Kings County Hospital Center’s lobby.
Objective 3: Effectively communicate with diverse groups and disciplines using a variety of strategies regarding the health needs of individuals and families in the community setting.
The community surrounding Kings County Hospital Center is a very diverse one. Every Tuesdays, My classmates and I encountered several people that spoke different languages. Communication is very important especially in nursing. Engaging in therapy communication is the reason why nurses are the most trusted profession. We’re active listeners. We ensure that the patient understands every treatment that is given to him or her. During clinical, we ensure that the patients we encountered is fully aware of treatment and education. There has been several occasions during I was able to translate for the patient. I speak Creole (Haitian). This is my second language. I made sure to explain to each patient in simple terms and required them to demonstrate or repeat education that was given to them. Communication between classmates, the professor, and I were great. We all shared our cell phone numbers and emails.
Objective 4: Establish environment conducive to learning and use a plan for learners based on evidence-based practice.
In the nursing profession, our duty is to assess, plan, implement, and evaluate all clients we come across. We develop individualized care plans for each patient because each client is unique. But in community nursing we assess, plan, implement, and evaluate the community as a whole. At Kings County Hospital, my classmates and I were unable to develop and implement a teaching plan for and adult and/or family in the community. Instead we conducted a service project which was presented to the people in the hospital. Before the presentation, my classmates and I researched and gathered data about the community. After reviewing all the data, we had to choice a topic which would be suitable for this community. The topic that we picked was prenatal care. As a group, we decided on this topic because we realize that this community needed more education about prenatal care. The data we reviewed showed that East Flatbush has a high preterm birth rate, infant mortality and premature birth mortality. We created a poster board that had information about prenatal care, risk of pregnancy, high risk pregnancy, teen pregnancy, perinatal depression, nutrition, and STDs/HIV/AIDS, and other general information about prenatal care. We also handed out booklets, pamphlets, and locations of resources in the community. We had a lot of people stopping by at our table (patients/Family members, nurses, doctors, and other staffs in the hospital. Everyone was pleased with the presentation. We educate the community about the importance of prenatal care. The presentation was a success because we surpassed our goal (which was educating 50 people). We had a total of 70 people that find in our sheet. And many of these people told us that they would inform friends and family about the information that they received from us today.
Objective 5: Utilize informational technology when managing individual and families in the community.
The clinics at Kings County Hospital, did not allow us have full access to the clients’ EMRs. The nurse who was percecpting us that week decided if she/he wanted to show us the client’s information. Most of the time, nurses would show me how she documents and write up proper nursing notes on the computer. They would show me on the EMR the clients history, current plan, goals (met or not), medications, and labs. Maintaining client confidentiality is very important. Clients trust nurses so we must do our best go to keep all information confidential. All the information I obtained by the client and nurse was kept confidential.
Objective 6: Demonstrate a commitment to professional development.
As I venture off into my new nursing career, demonstrating a commitment to professional development is very important. The nursing profession is constantly changing. As it changes, I need to be able to change and develop new skills but at the same time developing my old skills so that it can be able to accommodated the change as well. The nursing field is filled with challenges. Life is all about continuous learning and developing skills and suiting it up for personal need. Keeping up with current studies/researches, books, and other types of medical media is essential in my field because I do not want to give my community, clients, and staff false information. For example for our service learning project, we got all our information from reliable websites and resources. We made sure that all information was accurate and was written within 5 years. Also, we used many references.
Objective 7: Incorporate professional nursing standards and accountability into practice
I utilized American Nurses Association standards in clinical practice daily. Each hospital has their standards. But it is important to follow ANA because it the foundation and is used across the nation. Before we entered the clinics at Kings County Hospital, my classmates and I had to attend an orientation. During this orientation we learned about Kings County Hospital’s mission statement, goals/visions, policies and procedures. This orientation was very informative because we learned about our responsibilities and role in the hospital. I complied with all of Kings County Hospital’s standards of practice. It is always important to follow the policies and procedures because they are in place to keep everyone safe. Incorporating professional nursing standards and accountability into practice is a key component in nursing. We need to be accountable for our actions. Doing the right thing at all times because it ensures patient safety. .
Objective 8: Collaborate with clients, significant support persons and members of the health care team
In every healthcare facility, the goal is to ensure that each patient is receiving the best quality of care. In order to deliver the best quality of care healthcare members need to collaborate with each other. My interactions with the nurses, doctors, PCTs, and other healthcare members were overall good. They were very receptive. They all had a common goal and that was to give the clients the best care. As I stated previously, we were unable to be involved with patient care. I watch nurses and other healthcare members create and deliver patient care. For the Service learning project, I was able to identify health care resources for clients and families in the community. The resources pertained to our topic (prenatal care). On a sheet of paper which we handed out, we listed locations, telephone numbers, and websites that were helpful with giving information about prenatal care.
Objective 9: Recognize the impact of economic, political, social and demographic forces that affect the delivery of health care services.
I was able to recognize the impact of economic, political, social and demographic forces that affect the delivery of health care services in this community. My overall experience at King County was satisfactory. I think that hospital could do better. They are very resourceful which I think is a great thing. The hospital is equipped with many specialty clinics. But I think that they need to spread the word and letting the community know that they have resources that can help them. They need to do better with minimizing language barriers, increasing public awareness of their resources, decrease waiting times, educate the community more because many believe their health are great but when looking at the data it’s the opposite.
Conclusion:
Being in this class and clinical rotation gave me a different insight in to community nursing. I thought it was going to be a boring class. Community nurses face a great deal of challenges. The work of community nurse is very much needed in every community. This community nursing course taught me that nursing isn’t just about being at the beside. The nursing field has many different branches. You can a med-surg nurse one day and the next day you can anesthetist nurse. But the root of it which is my favorite part of nursing is “patient center care”. The goal of nursing is take care of the patient whether it is a neonate, older adult, or the community. Nursing is about caring for the patient and restoring the patient to his/her optimal functioning level. It was a pleasure experiencing this class and clinical rotation.
