Reflection on Clinical Placement

Running head: REFLECTION
Reflection on clinical placement
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

REFLECTION1
Introduction- Clinical placement encompass the circumstances where student nurses
are subjected to an environment where they are expected to deliver healthcare and allied
services to the public or patients (Levett-Jones and Bourgeois 2015). Placements most often
occur in secondary, primary and community healthcare settings, and enhances the knowledge
and expertise among the students, while fostering a good learning environment. Reflective
practice creates the provision of reflecting on self-actions, with the aim of engaging in a
procedure of incessant learning. This essay will discuss an event that occurred during clinical
placement, by using the Gibb’s reflective cycle and will critically analyse it, in relation to the
NMC codes of conduct.
Description- During the third week of my clinical placement in the acute stroke unit, a
63 year old female X (pseudonym) had been admitted to the hospital, following a stroke
event. She had feelings of numbness in the left side of her limbs, visual problems, and faced
difficulty in speaking. Following two hours after her admission, I was assigned with the duty
of spending time with her, with the aim of using a clinical stroke assessment scale for
evaluating and documenting the neurological status of the patients. I approached X with
apprehension since I had the prior notion that a patient suffering from stroke can die due to
brain damage. Although I asked the patient to smile and show her teeth for determining her
facial movements, she could not comprehend my messages. Hence, I started using nonverbal
methods of communication in order to make her understand that her concerns will be
adequately addressed. Owing to the fact that she also reported visual disturbance, I had
placed a table clock in her hand, and asked her to name the object. However, failure in
demonstrating the pain and suffering that she had to endure made her irritated and angry and
she threw away the clock that hit my fellow nurse. I immediately applied a wrist and ankle
restraint on the patient in order to restrict her normal movement, until the nurse-in-charge
was sent to call my mentor.

REFLECTION2
Feelings- I was initially anxious and afraid to perform my duties, as advised by my
mentor, owing to my personal perceptions and stereotyped values related to the fact that
strokes are not curable and all stroke patients are likely to die due to deficiency of oxygen in
their brain. I also had the opinion that identification of the severity and impact of stroke by
using FAST approach was a difficult task. In addition, her history of cardiac arrest and
hypertension overwhelmed me, as I had never been subjected to such critical patient care
situations in real-time settings. Although I tried to resolve communication issues with the
patient, her sudden violent behaviour and emotional eruption resulted in spontaneous violent
action that made me use restraint for preventing further damage or injury to self and others. I
was later on ashamed for doing so.
Evaluation- On evaluating it can be suggested that the clinical placement involved
both good and bad experience that resulted in an enhancement in my understanding of my
individual role as a student nurse within the acute stroke unit. Although my role was to
successfully conduct the stroke assessment using the FAST scale for evaluating arm
weakness, facial weakness, and disturbance in speech, I failed to accurately fulfil my
responsibilities. The NMC professional standards of nursing practice places an emphasis on
putting the interests of the patients who require care at the forefront. Nurses are expected to
treat patients with compassion, respect and kindness, and must respect, document and support
the right of the patients to refuse or accept treatment (NMC 2015). Nonetheless, I was able to
demonstrate proficiency in taking steps that are necessary for meeting the communication and
language needs of the patients, where applicable (7.2).
The standard 7.3 focuses on using a plethora of nonverbal and verbal communication
skills for demonstrating cultural sensitivity towards the health and personal needs. Thus, I
was satisfied with my capability of adopting nonverbal communication method, while trying
to understand the information that X was trying to convey. Preservation of safety is another