Nursing Reflection - Essay

Running head: NURSING REFLECTION ESSAY
Nursing reflection essay
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
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1NURSING REFLECTION ESSAY
Description:
For this assignment I will be focusing on the clinical placement I had in the respiratory
ward. I had been a student nurse, practicing under the supervision of a registered and an enrolled
nurses taking care of patient suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder. In this
context I would like to mention that the patient was a 50 year old woman who presented to the
healthcare facilities with the complications of shortness of breath, high respiratory rate, extreme
wheezing and crackles, and rhinorrhea. Upon arrival, the primary assessment carried out for the
patient revealed that she had extreme bronchoconstriction due to respiratory airway blockages
and a extreme rate of sputum production due to her infections. The nursing supervisors guided
me to perform airway clearance and provide external oxygen therapy to the patient to relieve the
symptoms of dyspnea. However, as the patient was being prepared for the clearance, suddenly
the patient experienced exacerbation of shortness of breath and her vital signs deteriorated
quickly. As a result, the patient was immediately shifted to the ICU and was given necessary life
sustaining support to revive her condition. However as the nurses prepared to shift the patient to
the ICU I became very nervous and stressed by experiencing the sudden change in the patient
condition and the rapid deterioration.
Feelings:
First of all, I would like to mention that this experience has been turning point in my
career and I had been very excited during the placement in the respiratory ward. When I was
given the chance for the first time to handle a patient in the respiratory ward I had felt ecstatic at
my achievements till now. I had been interacting with the patient as I prepared her for respiratory
clearance and I was feeling extremely helpful because I was actively engaged in therapeutic

2NURSING REFLECTION ESSAY
relationship with a patient, which is a key requirement for any nursing personnel (Manzano
García, Calvo & Carlos, 2012). I feel everything was going excellently until suddenly the patient
experienced acute shortness of breath. I would like to mention in this context that this has been
my first experience handling a patient with acute problem and the sudden deterioration left me
stunned and clueless, and the stress overwhelmed my better clinical judgment. However, the
doctor and the rest of my supervisors where shooting orders at each other to prepare the patient
and take her to ICU immediately, the urgency of the situation somehow helped me get my senses
back and I invested all my resilience strategies to help cope with the stress and be able to
contribute my hundred percent to the scenario and helping the patient get better.
Evaluation:
Evaluation can be considered as the next step of the Gibbs reflection cycle which
provides the nursing profession with the opportunity to understand the good and bad parts about
the experience (Davies, 2012). It has to be mentioned that in my case the good part about the
experience was I was able to engage in therapeutic conversation with the patient and relax her
while preparing her for the airway clearance. The bad part about the experience includes the
sudden and rapid deterioration of the patient and acute stress it brought forward, and lastly how I
handle the stressful situation. I would like to mention in this context that on reflection I
understand that the unexpected deterioration of the first patient that I was given the chance to
care for had been extremely stressful impact on my confidence. Along with that extreme pain
and discomfort that the patient was under had also a significant impact on me, making me feel
helpless and incompetent to help the patient. Both of these stressors were acting on my
competency and quick thinking while I was being instructed to prepare for the patient to be taken