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A reflection on first year at university being a student nurse
Importance of communication skills in the health sector
Importance of communication skills in the health sector
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Canada health care system is struggling to provide quality care to the growing number of older adults in our acute and longterm care settings. This paper is a self-reflective analysis on caring for the older adult and how communication, clinical skills, and proper hygiene are essential in providing high quality care to older clients . This paper will help determine my weakness and strengths, so I can continue to grow as a Lisence Practical nurse and help Canada’s health care system.
For the purpose of maintaining confidentality, I have named my patient Mrs. Holistic in order to adhere to the code of ethics, according to the laws and regulations of College of License Practical Nurse of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Communication
One of the
Holistic took place on a long term care unit, where my patient was diagnois with a sacral fracture and leukemia. I introduced myself as a student nurse, and told her I was on a eight week clinical placement. I asked her open end questions, that essentialy gave me back ground information on Mrs. Holistic past. Throught my care for Mrs. Holistic, I found that listening and empathizing with her concerns really helped develope a therapeutic relationship. We both had a sense of humour , which alwayed helped are conversations grow. I viewed Mrs. Holistic not just a patient, but as someone mother, sister, wife and friend. I believe that this approach helps respect the client and helps facilitates trust
“Failure to attend to hand hygiene has serious consequences: it has a negative effect on patient safety and the quality of patients’ lives, as well as on their confidence in healthcare delivery. However, the prevalence of hand hygiene omission is still high” (Canadian Disease Control, 2016 p 1). Washing hands before and after patient contact seems like a simple solution to prevent the spread of bacteria between patients. But it is not as simple as it seems.According to new CDC data, “approximately one in 25 patients acquires a health care-associated infection during their hospital care, adding up to about 722,000 infections a year. Of these, 75,000 patients die from their infections ( CDC, 2016 p 1).” Leaving a finacial burden on Canada’s health care
According to Statistics Canada Report 2013, “life expectancy in Canada is one of the highest in the world” and it is expected to grow, making the aging population a key driver to our health-systems reform. By 2036, seniors in Canada will comprise of twenty five per cent of the population (CIHI, 2011). Seniors, those aged 65 years and older are the fastest growing population in Canada. Currently there are approximately 4.8 million Canadians aged 65 or greater. It is projected that this number will increase to 9 to 10 million by 2036 (Priest, 2011). As the population get aged the demand for health care and related services are expected to increase. Currently, the hospitals in Ontario are frequent faced with overcrowding emergency departments, full of admitted patients and beds for those patients to be transferred to. It has been reported that 20% of the acute care beds in the hospital setting are occupied by patients that do not require acute hospital care. These patients are termed Alternate Level of Care (ALC). ALC is “When a patient is occupying a bed in a hospital and does not require the intensity of resources/services provided in this care setting (Acute, Complex, Continuing Care, Mental Health or Rehabilitation), the patient must be designated Alternate level of Care at that time by the physician or her/his delegate.” (Ontario Home Care Association, 2009, p.1).
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines hand hygiene as, “a general term that applies to routine hand washing, antiseptic hand wash, antiseptic hand rub, or surgical hand antisepsis.” (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2013) The idea of hand washing has been around for centuries. In the mid-1800’s Ignaz Semmelweis established that hospital-acquired diseases were transmitted via the hands of health care workers. After Semmelweis observed physicians and health care workers in the obstetric setting and studied mortality rates he recommended that hands be scrubbed in a chlorinated lime solution before coming in contact with every patient. Following the implementation of Semmelweis’s recommendation mortality rates associated with childbirth fell from seven percent to three percent. Although Semmelweis observation and recommendations were significant fellow physicians and colleagues did not adopt them. The 1980’s posed as a crucial time for health care in the sense of hand hygiene. This was when the first national hand hygiene guidelines were published in the 1980s. In 1995 and 1996, the CDC/Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) in the USA suggested that either antimicrobial soap or a waterless antiseptic agent be use...
The focus of health care is and has always been, practicing good hygiene, living a healthy lifestyle, and having a positive attitude reduces the chance of getting ill. Although there is not much prevention we can take for some of the diseases but we can certainly practice good hand hygiene to prevent infection and its ill effects. Research proves that hand washing is surely the most easy and effective way to prevent infection in health care. The question for this research: Is Hand washing an effective way to prevent infection in health care? It led to the conclusion that due to the high acuity, high patient: staff ratio, and lack of re evaluation certain units in the health care facilities cannot adhere to correct hand washing guidelines. Hand
Fox, C., Wavra, T., Drake, D. A., Mulligan, D., Jones, L., Bennett, Y. P., & ... Bader, M. K. (2015). USE OF A PATIENT HAND HYGIENE PROTOCOL TO REDUCE HOSPITAL-ACQUIRED INFECTIONS AND IMPROVE NURSES ' HAND WASHING. American Journal Of Critical Care, 24(3), 216-224 9p. doi:10.4037/ajcc2015898
Mary (name has been changed for confidentiality) is a combative and aggressive resident. Due to Mary’s violent behavior, she receives careless and inadequate care from the nursing assistants in our memory care unit. When I first worked with Mary, she was being held by her arms and legs. This was necessary to successfully clean her up because she hits and grabs anyone who tries to assist her. Despite being pressured to hurry, I was careful to make sure I communicated everything that I was doing to her. I saw that her expression spoke fierceness, but her eyes spoke sorrow. Her actions were the result of her severe dementia, and it was important to me that I treated her as a human being. While she was defined as a two person assist, I discovered
Developing confidence, and competence is a challenge faced by novice nurses (Morrell & Ridgway, 2014). Over the course of my nursing degree developing, and maintaining confidence in my clinical practice has always been a personal challenge. During my preceptorship placement, I have the opportunity to continue to cultivate my confidence, and prepare to begin my practice as an independent graduate nurse. In the reflection, I will discuss how I have gradually become a confident practitioner through my experiences in my clinical placement, and especially those in my preceptorship placement.
An important step to decrease an ageist attitude is to take a step back and recognize biases and preconceived ideas that one has about older adults (DeBrew, 2015). Recognizing biases in combination with furthering one’s education about the effects of aging and the specific needs of older adults will help increase compassionate care. To allow for effective interventions it is important that the nurse understand that illness and infection manifest differently in older adults than they do in the younger population (DeBrew, 2015). In addition, through ethnographic study it was found that when nurses spend time doing activities with older adults it helps strengthen relationships and sense of community between care providers and elderly patients (DeBrew, 2015). According to the article, “occupational therapists who worked with older adults felt ‘stigmatized’ by their peers because their work was viewed as less challenging and requiring less skill and intellect than caring for other populations” (DeBrew, 2015). To promote compassionate patient care it is important that nurses and other professionals get support from their peers to confirm that their work is not insignificant and looked down upon. Finally, include the older adult while creating the plan of care to show them that they are a valued part of their healthcare
The introduction to infection control taught me that there is a greater importance than ‘just’ washing hands, that it is an actual matter of serious illness, which can become a life or death situation. It is a very difficult situation, as vulnerable/ susceptible patients are coming into an environment, which is abundant of infectious agents to be looked after. A fact that surprised me was that 1 in 10 develop a Health Care Associated Infection with an increased mortality rate of four times somebody that doesn't. The Nurse’s role in this is to identify risks to the patient in order to break the chain of infection. Thus there are practice issues and measures set up for Health Care Workers to comply to. The content not only explained t...
Self-analysis is a way the author reflects on her own personality traits and improve on the known weaknesses moving forward. It is very important because it enables her to succeed in college. Reflecting on the already-known strengths and weaknesses, she can identify five learned behaviors that will not empower her to succeed in the nursing program. Furthermore, she can also identify five learned behaviors that will enable her success in the nursing program.
This essay critically examines the relationship between interventions and the dubious increase in hand hygiene compliance by healthcare professionals by using the framework of evidence-based practice to evaluate previous literature, identify barriers, and note mechanisms used to measure effectiveness of interventions. The systematic review, Interventions to improve hand hygiene compliance in patient care, conducted by the Cochrane Collaboration investigated innovations to improve hand hygiene compliance within patient care. The review included 2 original studies with an additional two new studies (Gould & Moralejo et al., 2010). Throughout the review, it was affirmed that while hand hygiene is an indispensable method in the prevention of hospital-acquired infections (HAI), the compliance among nurses’ is inadequate. Nurses are identified within the public as dependable and trustworthy in a time of vulnerability due to their specialised education and skills (Hughes, 2008).
I think it is important that I clarify my own values to ensure that my care is client-centered. Self- reflection during care is also fundamental as it makes me aware of my actions and whether they are establishing a therapeutic relationship or doing the opposite.. Finally, I need to learn to be more empathetic towards my patient’s situations by being interactive, gaining insight and avoid being focused on the task and more on being with the situation. Some things that I will preserve are attentively listening, demonstrating attending behaviours and maintaining my patient’s dignity by ensuring privacy and
Reflection allows us to think about an action or incident that would enable us to consider what was positive or challenging and if right, plan how it might be improved or done differently in the future. The Royal College of Nursing. (2017). Throughout this essay I will be reflecting upon my role as a student in higher education and as a future healthcare practitioner I will be using Gibbs (1988) model of reflection to reflect on my experiences so far as a student nurse. I will end the essay with an action plan to show the learning outcomes and activities that are required to meet these aims.
Hand hygiene, when done correctly is the most effective technique to prevent the spread of communicable diseases. It prevents nosocomial infections and transmissions of bacteria from one patient to another (Carter 2002). Hand hygiene has been highlighted significantly by many public health committees as an important aspect of delivering good quality care in health care settings (Lankford,
As I reflect on 2016 I am pleased with the result and progress made. Each goal set for 2016 as it relates to the key result areas of the Teleservices operation was obtained or just marginally below achievement, while others overachieved. I continue to feel as though I have a fantastic group of dedicated, motivated and loyal team members. Each with individual areas of needed development, but all with the required attitude and passion needed for further development.
Through my experiences and coursework at Ursinus I believe that I was able to take on multiple projects and get them done in a timely manner. Knowing how critical time is, I made sure that I planned out my schedule in a way where I would get my work done on time or even earlier. I work well with people and possess a healthy curiosity that marketers need to have to be effective. I am able to communicate with many people across different levels and platforms. I am also always looking for new opportunities and ways to be innovative. I like finding new way to do things and how to do them differently that would be more efficient. I believe that stepping out of my comfort zone is a way to be successful because by pushing myself to be uncomfortable