Reflection On Communication In Nursing

I spoke with Thelma a registered nurse that started her clinical practice at a hospital on a medical unit at Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. Brookdale is a teaching hospital located in inner city Brooklyn. She worked with post-ops and pre-ops on a 72 bed unit. The unit dealt with hematology, oncology, pulmonary, endocrine, cardiac and renal. She was a staff nurse at Brookdale for 2 ½ years. She didn’t like this position because it was a hub for patients to get and out. Thelma stated, “Patients come and go rapidly and I didn’t have the opportunity to create relationships, I didn’t really get to know my patients”. Thelma’s perception of the hospital setting is that you don’t get a good picture of who the patient is, you just get a snapshot of their current situation. She felt that you missed the bigger picture of the patient overall, in some ways you miss everything that led them to med surge. Also, she enjoys interacting with patients and teaching; in the med surge unit

She had “follow-ups” the she needed to provide care to. One of her clients had diabetes and stage II pressure ulcer on the sacral area and she contacted them to let them know she would be coming at a certain time frame to check on his wound. She went to the client’s house and assessed for safety and to be sure that he was fed and cleaned. After she did that assessment she spoke to the client and asked about their overall health and inquired if there were any changes from the last visit. She took a look at his wound and documented the progress, there wasn’t any changes. The health aid happened to be there and she asked her questions regarding his ambulation. Thelma mentioned that she was going to follow up with the physical therapist. She cleansed his wound with normal saline and dressing changes. She completed her paperwork in her car and it was sent to her supervisor