Critical Reflection on Nursing Professional Experience

Running head: CRITICAL REFLECTION
CRITICAL REFLECTION
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1CRITICAL REFLECTION
Description:
This paper would essentially deal with my experience in handling a patient who had
health issues related to appendix. This paper would delve deeper into critically evaluating the
manner in which the patient was examined and the treatment intervention was carried out.
The patient examined by me was a 75 year old man who complained of abdominal pain. The
pain score was evaluated to be 7/10. The patient was scheduled for an appendectomy the next
day. A thorough abdominal evaluation was carried out by me. This paper would elaborate the
critical reflection associated with the nursing professional experience of assessing a client
with high risk abdominal complications. The further sections of the paper would essentially
highlight the nursing care priority and the care plan devised in order to deliver positive
patient outcomes.
Feelings:
In order to carry out the abdominal assessment, I had to perform four vital steps that
incorporated inspection, palpation, percussion and auscultation. The patient was extremely
anxious and was seen to feel intense pain. On palpating the abdomen appeared to be soft and
tender at the McBurney’s point and the patient reported extreme sensation of pain at the
lower right quadrant of the abdomen (Bhangu, Søreide, Di Saverio, Assarsson & Drake
2015,p.1280). This can be considered as the positive result of Roving’s examination. The
further examination was done on the basis of patient positioning. The patient was comfortable
placed ‘L’ lateral decubitus position. The patient was asked to extend the right leg towards
the side of the hip. The patient was seen experiencing pain and thus, the condition clearly
presented the presence of an inflamed appendix. Based, on the examination routine it can be
said that the placement of the appendix was at the Psoas muscle. The patient quivered with
pain and complained of feeling nauseated throughout the day. After conducting the
abdominal assessment I felt that the patient needed to be administered immediate pain relief

2CRITICAL REFLECTION
measures. I felt that my prime responsibility would be to alleviate the pain sensation of the
patient and accordingly design a care plan to address the critical condition of the patient.
Evaluation:
The patient was seen to experience intense pain and was seen to be extremely
anxious. The patient was repulsive and was seen not to cooperate during the abdominal
assessment procedure. Most of the times, the patient was seen placing his hands across the
abdomen and did not allow me to smoothly carry out the evaluation procedure. The
assessment particularly involved me to palpate the lower abdomen area but the patient was
seen to be hesitant in letting me conduct the procedure. It seemed to me as if the patient felt
his privacy was being breeched and he was behaving in an uncontrolled manner. I felt that the
patient was not comfortable in letting me carry out the evaluation procedure and that could be
considered as a major reason why the patient kept hesitating throughout. In order to deliver
an effective treatment care plan, it is mandatory to ensure a patient centred intervention plan.
Analysis:
In relation to the evaluation procedure it can be said that the prime issues that could
be detected in association with the patient involved issues related to ‘patient-safety’ and
‘improper communication’ strategy. Scientific evidences have revealed that effective care
relies upon the providence of a holistic treatment care plan (Ferguson, Ward, Card, Sheppard
& McMurtry, 2013, p.285). Moreover, in relation to the ethical standard of nursing
framework it can be said that prior to involving in the treatment care plan it is mandatory to
involve actively in educating the patient about the manner in which the assessment would be
carried out (Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au, 2018). Educating the patient about the disease
condition and providing a rationale about the assessment procedure would have helped in
controlling the behaviour of the patient and effectively address the anxiety conditions
(Zaretzky,2013, p.308). Further, it can also be said that the family members of the patient