Clinical Reflective Report

The final semester of nursing school is most likely the most challenging yet exciting and enlightening time for most students. This semester, we will be spending most of our time outside the classroom and applying the knowledge we have obtained from the previous and present semesters into patient care which will serve as a guide and promote easier transition as we advance to our future career in nursing. In order to prepare as the semester approaches, I decided to listen to our clinical orientation recording on the 20th of August which was posted on Blackboard. This recording provided all the major information and requirements that we need to know about our capstone clinical. On August 23rd, I met with my clinical instructor for a brief clinical

I shadowed my preceptor throughout the whole day shift for me to have a general idea of how things work around the unit. During this shadowing experience, I was able to observe my preceptor perform various nursing skills such as head to toe assessments, intravenous line (IV) insertion and removal, managing IV therapy, IV and oral medications administration, wet to dry wound dressing change, give medications and feedings through a Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastronomy (PEG) tube as well as providing patient and family education and carrying out effective communication

While shadowing my preceptor, I witnessed the communication process between health care professionals and patients. At the beginning of the shift, I went with my preceptor to get report on her assigned patients from the night shift nurse. Bedside handoff is significant because this will help you get a better understanding of your patients and know any recent changes or any other important information that you need to know regarding their condition. The night shift nurse communicated effectively making sure she was providing every detail that my preceptor needed to know regarding her patients such as their diagnoses, admission date, wounds or skin breakdown, when the last time they had their pain medication, IV and/or PICC lines, any recent abnormal findings, tests or procedure they have scheduled for the day, etc. My preceptor then would ask the night shift nurse giving the report any follow-up questions or clarification in order to obtain a better understanding of her patients to provide quality care throughout the shift. The physicians only saw and checked on their patients for a short amount of time, therefore the communication tie between the patients and their respective physicians is not quite apparent and only limited. And since nurses are at the bedside and able to interact more with the patients, they bridge the communication between the physicians and patients. In addition to that, I noticed that the interaction