Preventing Falls and Improving Patient Care: A Reflective Essay on the Experience of Mr. William Taylor

This essay discusses the experience of Mr. William Taylor, who underwent a fall and the care that was given to him throughout his management. It focuses on preventing falls and improving patient care through nursing practices and partnering in care. The essay uses Gibbs reflective cycle and emphasizes the importance of patient-centered care, professional competency, and prevention of falls. It also recommends that healthcare workers focus on the patient as an individual and partner with them and their families throughout their care.

Nursing
Student’s name:
Institutional:

This essay aims to discuss the experience of Mr. William Taylor a 75 years old man, who
underwent a fall and the care that was given to him throughout his management. The essay will
tend to focus on preventing falls and the harms that are associated to it and about my health
record. Gibbs (1988) reflective cycle will be used for this essay. It contains six stages which
include; description, feelings and thoughts, values and beliefs, analysis, conclusion and action
plan (Bulman, & Schutz, 2013). Moreover, it will relate and be able to show nursing practices
can be integrated to help improve care of patient and their families.
I was working under supervision of Natasha Reedy who is an examiner for this course. We
cared for Mr. William Taylor, who had undergone a severe injury after a fall. He immediately
lost the function of his right arm. He felt near his home where nobody was around but he
managed to reach the house where her wife and visitors were there. Dionyssiotis (2012) argued
that there is an higher risk of falls and harms from falls for those people under some medications,
having low bone density and impaired vision. He however refused to be taken to the public
hospital due to his previous experience whereby he had to wait for 11 hours to be attended to yet
he was in severe pain. The next day at the clinic the doctor only requested for x-ray and blood
tests were never called for. He experienced another fall four weeks thereafter. When blood tests
were done, it revealed that he was anemic. Endoscopy and colonoscopy fail to show reason for
anemia and it was decided that a pill cam will be used
I was saddened by the fact that the doctor only requested for an x-ray and never even called
for blood tests. I was not happy with this fact since the doctor could not try to figure out what
might have made William to fall. I felt that this was not right, since as a nurse, I understand that
it is important for a patient to undergo a diagnostic procedure so that proper management can be
administered according to his condition. I felt that it was not fair for the doctor to act in such a

way since if he had diagnosed him in the first incident then William could not have experienced
another fall four weeks later because proper treatment could have been initiated.
Professional competency and prevention of infection are some of the values that guide health
care working. This is the reason why I was not happy with the doctor for not trying to diagnose
Mr. William so as to prevent future falls and even treat the prevailing condition. Professional
competency to some extent were not achieved by the doctor concerning this case. The national
safety and quality health care also emphasizes on prevention of falls. This is because falls have
been found to be one of the largest cause of injuries in health care. This guideline is therefore
important since it guides the nurse and what to do and will save the patient from further injuries.
I was glad that this were done on the second visit.
Mr. William experience initially was not patient centered. Patient centered care approached
is emphasized much on the National safety and quality health care. It involves caring for the
patient as an individual and not merely just focusing on the condition (Ekman, et.al, 2011). In
nursing holistic care has been define as taking “mind-body-spirit-environment” approach in
taking care of the patient (Gray,2016). When Taylor visited the doctors ‘s clinic it was sad that
the doctor focused only on the body part. That is why he only asked for the x-ray and no further
test or guidance were done. The surgeon also never gave him a chance to make a choice but he
straight away send him to a physiotherapist whom was the best according to his opinion.
William’s experience and care by the physiotherapist and after the second fall was however
more personalized. Mr. William confirmed that his experienced with the physiotherapist was
good since, the physiotherapist managed to teach him how to use his arm with the assistance of
the other arm and other aids such as, sticks. During her second visits, his blood test was done and
that is when they found out that he has anemia. He was given iron supplements and later

colonoscopy and endoscopy were done to figure out why he was anemic. These test however
failed and Taylor said that he is going to swallow a pill camera a week to come. This is an
advanced technology to check for the lower bowel an”/d small intestines. This camera will take
two photos every second which is captured by an apparatus connected to his body. This advances
being made to establish the cause of anemia shows that he is under a patient centered care.
Taylor is also very aware with procedure that will take place meaning he had been taught and
had a choice to make.
Looking back to Taylor’s incident, it can be clearly seen that if his GP had acted
appropriately and do proper diagnosis after the first fall, then, the second fall could likely not
have occurred. This is because anemia could have been found and treated promptly. The GP also
failed to involve Taylor’s relatives and family for his care. The doctor could have taken time to
explain to his family more about falls, that is, the causes and what can be done to prevent it from
occurring in future. This could have increase the safety of William and his wife could have been
cautious so that he can safe him from harm should he fall. Patient care and experience can also
be improved through the use of my health records. This is an online database that keep record of
the patient information and diagnosis. The patient controls it and therefore can be useful in
management of a client.
The physiotherapist provided sufficient care for Mr. Taylor which made him even felt
satisfied. It is also evident that he is very happy with the fact that the health workers are trying to
find out the cause of his anemia. The advance technology being used shows that health workers
are fully committed to caring and partnering in care for their patients. This is also of important
since it will encourage William and his family to continue seeking for health care even in future.
In case the pill camera becomes effective in letting the physician know what caused the anemia,

then it will enhance trust among his family and even motivate them to always seek medical
services. William will also continue trusting his doctor and always cooperate throughout his
management.
In future, I recommend that health care workers focus their care not only on the condition
presented but also on the patient as an individual, that is, a human being. This will enable them
to consider various aspect of the patient that are likely to be contributing to his condition. This
will also help to treat the patient and prevent further occurrence of the disease or harm associated
with the condition. The doctors should also partner with the patient and their families throughout
the patient care (Carman et.al, 2013). This is usually done by educating them concerning the
condition and also supporting them emotionally. This will make them understand the condition
and also relieve their anxieties hence enhancing cooperation. The doctor and nurse can also
engage the patient by explaining each and every procedure that is to be done (Koh, Brach,
Harris, & Parchman, 2013). This makes the client understand the procedures well and be able to
make appropriate decision on which procedure to be done.
In conclusion, this reflective essay teaches on how falls and harms associated with it can be
prevented. I have also learnt from the case scenario that how nursing practices and partnering in
care can be used to care for a patient to be satisfied with his experience. I have also learnt that it
is crucial to consider the patient as an individual and all aspect of human being taken into
account. The national health and safety guidelines should also be applied in every aspect of
health care since patient satisfaction and safety are important (Carayon et.al, 2014).

References
Bulman, C., & Schutz, S. (Eds.). (2013). Reflective practice in nursing. John Wiley & Sons, 7(1)
1983-1984
Carayon, P., Wetterneck, T. B., Rivera-Rodriguez, A. J., Hundt, A. S., Hoonakker, P., Holden,
R., & Gurses, A. P. (2014). Human factors systems approach to healthcare quality and
patient safety. Applied ergonomics, 45(1), 14-25.
Carman, K. L., Dardess, P., Maurer, M., Sofaer, S., Adams, K., Bechtel, C., & Sweeney, J.
(2013). Patient and family engagement: a framework for understanding the elements and
developing interventions and policies. Health Affairs, 32(2), 223-231.
Dionyssiotis, Y. (2012). Analyzing the problem of falls among older people. International
journal of general medicine, 5, 805.
Ekman, I., Swedberg, K., Taft, C., Lindseth, A., Norberg, A., Brink, E., ... & Lidén, E. (2011).
Person-centered care—Ready for prime time. European journal of cardiovascular
nursing, 10(4), 248-251.
Gray, D. R. (2016). THE CREATIVE WARRIOR: A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO HEALTH
AND LONGEVITY. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/302 accessed on October 19,
2018
Koh, H. K., Brach, C., Harris, L. M., & Parchman, M. L. (2013). A proposed ‘health literate care
model’would constitute a systems approach to improving patients’ engagement in
care. Health Affairs, 32(2), 357-367.