INTRODUCTION
The professional value that I have chosen to reflect on from my practice is based on privacy and dignity for a patient admitted in the hospital. To enhance my reflection development, Driscoll (2007) model of reflection; What? So what? Now what? will be apply. According to (Lowenstein, Bradshaw, and Fuszard, 2004), reflection is the method of analysing and reviewing one’s practice as a nurse, with the aim of improving one’s interactive skills with both patient and colleagues. Reflection is a method of re-evaluating practice accounts and providing substitute tactics to doing things (Howatson-Jones, 2016). Reflection is a vital learning tools which can progress on innovative knowledge (O'Carroll, Park and Nicol, 2007) and enables
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Alfred is a 65 years old man and was admitted with diarrhoea and generally unwell to the hospital. In the process of his admission he was isolated in a side room to prevent and reduce any risk of spreading infection. Alfred was a barrier nursed because he had clostridium difficile. He was isolated to lessen the hazard of spread of infections to other patients, visitors, and healthcare staff. Appropriate personal protective clothing such as aprons, gloves are to be worn before contact with him. Proper hand washing with soap and alcohol based hand gel was meant to be used before and after contact with Alfred to reduce transmission of infection. He requested for toileting and asked me to bring him a commode. I brought in the commode, placed it by his bed side for use and then assisted Alfred on it. I gave him the buzzer to press when he finished with his toileting. To sustain the privacy and dignity, procedures were carried out with doors and curtain shut around his bed …show more content…
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Nurses everywhere face problems and challenges in practice. Most of the challenges occur due to a struggle with the use of ethical principles in patient care. Ethical principles are “basic and obvious moral truths that guide deliberation and action,” (Burkhardt, Nathaniel, 2014). Ethical principles that are used in nursing practice include autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, veracity, confidentiality, justice, and fidelity. These challenges not only affect them, but the quality of care they provide as well. According to the article, some of the most frequently occurring and most stressful ethical issues were protecting patient rights, autonomy and informed consent to treatment, staffing problems, advanced care planning, and surrogate decision making (Ulrich et. al, 2013). The ethical issue of inadequate staffing conflicts with the principle of non-maleficence.
The first provision of the American Nurses Association’s (ANA) “Code of Ethics” states, “ The nurse, in all professional relationships, practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth and uniqueness of every individual, unrestricted by considerations of social or economic status, personal attributes, or the nature of health problems.” The second provision states, “The nurse’s primary commitment is the patient, whether the patient is an individual, family, group, or community” (Fowler, 2010). As nurses we need to respect the autonomy and allow for the patient to express their choices and concerns. We also need to provide them with support by giving them knowledge and understanding so they
The purpose of this Reflective assignment is to demonstrate how the application of the Registered Nurses standards for practise (2016) can be used in reflective practise. The Registered Nurses standards of Practise (2016) states that RN’s should develop their practise through reflecting on experiences, knowledge, actions, their feelings and beliefs and recognise how these factors shape professional practise(RNSP, 1.2).Reflection allows individuals to look back on their day-to-day situations and how they made us react and feel; what we would change if we had the chance, to create a different outcome; and what we would do next time to enhance the way we conduct ourselves in a professional manner.
Poor care does not only result in bad press and public perception but also break the trust between the patient and nurse. Utilising the theoretical framework developed by Todres et all (2009) which explores eight central aspects of what it is to be human. Todres et al (2009). This model can be used to improve nursing care. Referring to the term ‘being treated as human beings’ not being treated as a number or object.
Although nursing is universally practiced, not all nurses values and morals are the same. Nurses and nursing students are usually put in situations where they must operate within an ethical structure which is either unfamiliar to their cultural criterion or those of the patients for whom they are taking care of. The most prominent values and morals of nurses are based on human dignity and benevolence. Human dignity is the main component that branches off into other values under caring for health and well-being. Trust, integrity, autonomy, and privacy are one of the many sub-values that fall under human dignity. It is important for the nurses to respect and understand the culture and beliefs of the patient without being judgmental or confrontational. The wellbeing of the patient is priority and so the nurses must focus on gaining the patients trust first by tending to their needs and exhibiting
As health care providers, nurses strive to instill confidence in their patients and their loved ones. A nurse is respectful to their colleagues as well as their patients. Nurses promote patients’ independence, patients can be confident in the knowledge that a nurse will do what is best for them, respecting their privacy and dignity. This means that a nurse does not share the patient information for personal reasons nor does the nurse get involved in a patients personal relationship if it is not medically relevant (NCSBN, 2011).
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In order for nurses to practice ethically they must understand the meaning behind each professional value. The first value is human dignity. With each patient we encounter we must show them respect as individuals. It does not matter what the medical condition is, race, ethnicity, culture, religion or gender of the individual. The dignity of a person must be protected. As nurses we must respect the uniqueness of each individual we care for, as this is a fundamental right of all humans. A person with dignity feels a sense of self-worth and as nurses we must do our best to help our patients maintain that feeling of worthiness.
Definitions of reflection vary depending on the discipline of the author. Having reviewed the literature, Bulman (2008, p.2), a nurse, defines it as “reviewing an experience from practice so that it may be described, analysed, evaluated and used to inform and change future practice”. It is a personal process requiring honesty, openness, self-awareness, courage and a willingness to act on criticism. It acknowledges that feelings and emotions influence actions. Critical reflection involves in depth examination and questioning of personal, social, historical, cultural and political assumptions and perspectives that are embedded in actions. It is an active process enabling one to make sense of events, situations and actions that occur in the workplace (Oelofsen, 2012). It transforms a situation in which there is confusion and doubt to one that is clear and coherent (Dewey, 2010).
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The American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nurses has five elements that pertain to the Principle of Autonomy. Each individual element applies to “respect individual persons” (Baillie, McGeehan, Garrett T, M., Garrett R. M., 2013, p.33). In Chapter 2 of the Health Care ethics: Principles and problems text, it discusses thouroghly the consent of an individual to make their own decisions regarding their health and future requests of care. As a nurse or within all heath care professions, we must treat each individual patient with care, respect, and to remain mindful to the patient regarding any aspect of their lives. In the ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses, it explains ways of maintaining the empathy required in the health field. It further discusses that the respect for human dignity must be a priority, relationships to patients must remain neutral, the severity of the situation, the right to self-rule, and the professionalism that must be upheld by the nurse and their associates.
Patient’s personal hygiene is a vital part of the nurse’s role. Young (1991) described cleanliness as a basic human right, not a luxury the need for the patient to physically cleansing and which would include skin, hair and nails.
In this age of fast paced life and information overload, there is a growing need to slow down or even stop to contemplate and critically evaluate the mounting flood of activities and information that swarm our lives. Critical Reflection Analysis has not only become to me a safe haven and comforting refuge, but also a resort that showcases the function of reason and knowledge in understanding the complex nature of relationship that exist between the Healthcare System, the patient, and the Healthcare provider. For a safe and effective nursing practice, a proper knowledge and understanding of nursing code of ethics, the definitions, concepts and principles of all stakeholders need to be recognized.
The position statement in paper 2 has an introduction and conclusion, as well as have used a large amount of evidence in the context to demonstrate the contribution of reflective practice in the health care setting. This essay has used credible and relevant references on most occasions. Nevertheless, it is not well structured. The author does not provide a clear plan for this position statement in the introduction, the context is lack of argument, and there are new information presented in the conclusion. The author does utilise several evidences from journal articles and NMBA, and yet have insufficient consideration of alternative views. Furthermore, some sentences in the context are not coherent and logical.
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