Chronic Illness Reflection Essay

This essay reflects on the experience of a nurse dealing with a patient suffering from chronic illness and pain. The nurse learns the importance of listening to patients and providing appropriate support. The essay uses the reflective style GIBBS to support the framework and structure of the essay. Subject: Nursing

Running head: Chronic Illness
Chronic Illness
Reflection Essay

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Chronic Illness
According to Caffery and Pasero (1999), the definition of pain is highly unpleasant
physical sensation which is suffered by a person due to an injury or illness which also include
mental suffering. The nurses have to explore the thinking and feelings of the patient who is in
pain to help them appropriately (Nurwidya, Syahruddin, & Yunus, 2016). The nurse is the person
who helps the patient in dealing with the pain by using different methods. This essay will focus
on pain of a 60-year-old patient named Mrs Drew. In this case, the reflective style GIBBS will be
used in order to support the framework and structure of the essay.
Description: I visited Mrs Drew a few times within the month when she was torn by
knowing that she had “lung cancer” and she did not want to take the oral opiates regularly as
recommended. Mrs Drew had taken Chemotherapy for ten months but cancer came again and
spread on her spine area, and this is the area where she felt most pain (Ferrell, 2011). There have
been many bad days and nights when she woke up in the middle of the night haunted by this
chronic illness. She became nauseous several times; she also felt a lot of pain and to lower such
pain she was taking painkillers on a regular basis. While taking these medicines, she becomes
dependent on them, and she realised that her life is not going the way she wanted. After listening
to her issues, I explained to her that these are negative implications of this disease. Mrs Drew
was worried that she would become addictive to the drugs or medicines that she was taking. I
explained to her that people with the disease usually do not get addictive to the medicines to
relax her. Mr Drew was worried that her wife wanted to sleep for the whole day, but he
continued to support her. I helped them out to ensure that they are able to perform their day-to-
day operations while fulfilling Mrs Drew’s requirements.
The major issue which was necessary to be taken care was the spine pain of Mrs Drew.
Her husband used to massage her when she complains about the pain. I assured them that she
would be in charge of the analgesia, and she would be able to decide according to her wish
(Gwyther, 2014). Mrs Drew said that she did not want to use Morphine and rather use the heat
packs during the day so that she spent the day with her husband. I listened to her requests and
assured her that I understand her situation and needs. Mrs Drew was in constant pain, yet she did
not want to rely on the medicines and did not want to stay at home all day doing nothing.
Instead, she wanted to do things normally (Temel, Gallagher, Jackson, & Blinderman, 2010).

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Chronic Illness
Feelings: I remember the mixed feelings which I had during the whole journey with Mrs
Drew. There was anger, surprise and confusion at different times. I was surprised by the way she
explained things that she was experiencing. She was agitated, and at the same time, she was
trying to seek help. Agitation is something which nurses know that might become a part of the
patient’s lifestyle, yet I never expected this in the case of Mrs Drew. While using the heat packs,
she becomes very rigid due to which I had to debate with her to assure her that all the things will
be done according to her needs (Greer, 2011).
I was angry at first when Mrs Drew become rigid with the whole process, and it was at
that time when my initial anger started. Later, when I was reflecting on the whole scenario, I
realised my mistake of being angry at the time (Murray, 2005). I was angry with myself because
of my frustration and the image which I set of Mrs Drew while helping her. I had a process in my
mind regarding how I wanted to proceed with Mrs Drew. I had a fixed agenda, and all I wanted
to do is to comply with the agenda. I told her that I knew the process and convinced her
somehow to follow the same.
During this period, I also felt impotence and confused due to my lack of patience in the
whole process and for the prompt action which I took to make the patient comfortable.
Sometimes I become unaware of my actions due to which Mrs Drew had felt bad.
Evaluation: My experience with Mrs Drew raised various questions in my mind regarding
my nursing skills. I felt many issues while helping the patient to deal with the disease. I also
realised that the assumptions which I had regarding analgesia and the strategies to control pain
were wrong (Haile & Desalegn, 2015). A good experience that I had during this incident was that
patients did not want to feel pain. Therefore, all nurses should focus on reducing the pain of the
patients while dealing with them. This is significant learning which I learned during this process.
Mrs Drew had lots of questions about the analgesia practice and many times I had to look into
my textbook to answer her questions correctly. Overall this was a new learning experience for
me.
Analysis: This incident made me a little uncomfortable because my prior approach with
pain management was theoretical rather than practical (Effiong, 2012). This incident was not
related to the application of heat and morphine; instead, it related to the choices which were

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Chronic Illness
made by the patients regarding the whole process. I realised that all the facts should be given to
the patients and then their preference should be asked to find a solution that works for them. I
also felt bad that I did not listen to the patient carefully. Mrs Drew elaborated her condition and
how she was feeling, and I did not pay much attention to what she had to say. In the end, I
learned that a patient should be heard carefully and clearly so that the patient becomes
comfortable with us (nurses) because then it becomes easy for the nurses to create a bond with
patients based on trust.
Conclusion: There are three conclusions which can be made from the above case. Firstly,
it is not easy for the nurse to take actions as per the requirement of the patient. The nurse must
have the skill of patience and effective listening while dealing with all patients. Secondly, the
nurse should cherish every experience he/she has with each patient because they learn in each
case and every new experience teaches them something new. The real experience is completely
different from the theoretical knowledge collected by nurses by reading textbooks (Glidewell,
2008). Lastly, the nurse should listen to what the patient has to say. The patient is the one who
suffers the pain, therefore, only he/she has the ability to define the pain, and it assists the nurse in
helping them.
Action Plan: It is not right to recommend that the patients are not looking to remove their pain.
Mrs Drew just wanted to remove her pain so that she can enjoy her life like a normal person.
Appropriate support should be given to the patients when they say that they need to remove their
pain in any way possible so that they can die peacefully with dignity (Henry, 2015).

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References
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