THE REFLECTIVE ESSAY

Running head: REFLECTIVE ESSAY
REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

REFLECTIVE ESSAY1
The paper aims to discuss a care scenario of a patient with leg ulcer following the
reflective model of Rolfe. A 56-year-old patient reported an aching pain in the lower area of
her left leg. She also stated that her left leg feels heavy all the time, and the wound was not
healing. She is experiencing this problem for two weeks now, and it is really difficult for her
to walk properly now. After medical examination, the doctor found that the area of her leg
was swollen and appeared red in colour. There was also visible ulceration. After examining
her medical history, it was found that she was diagnosed with type two diabetes mellitus six
years ago. She has been taking metformin drugs for her diabetic condition. However, upon
her medical check-up, it was found that her blood pressure is higher than usual. She also has
tachycardia along with her hypertension condition. The patient was a widow, and she had a
grocery store in the market. She only had a nine-year-old granddaughter for family, after
losing her son and daughter-in-law in an accident one year ago. With her medical condition,
it was really difficult for her to keep the shop running. They were already experiencing a
financial problem since the shop was their only source of income. That is why the patient
wanted to get better soon. However, when the doctor informed her that this would take about
two months to heal completely, she became very upset but agreed to follow the advice to get
better soon. After two weeks from then, our healthcare center received a call from the patient,
when she informed us that she could not walk anymore, and her wound has not healed either.
When I reached her home, along with my supervisors and examined her condition, it was
found that the condition has gone through a progression, and the patient is in need of a
surgical intervention now. The following sections will describe a reflection on the entire
scenario from a personal perspective.
The patient was suffering from a chronic leg ulcer condition. The condition results
from the poor activity of the veins in the leg of an individual (Dogra & Sarangal, 2014). The
normal function of the veins involves carrying the blood from various organs, including the

REFLECTIVE ESSAY2
legs to the heart. However, due to high blood pressure conditions or some other condition, the
veins fail to work properly, and as a result, the blood flows in the opposite way through the
veins. The high pressure creates lesions on the skin, and the microbial infection at the site is
the principal reason for the wound formation (Vasudevan, 2014). This condition does not
improve without any treatment and is closely associated with the diabetic condition in the
elderly. One of the effective treatment measures for this condition was the application of the
compression bandage at the area of ulceration to force the blood flow upwards through the
veins (Nair, 2014). However, the treatment procedure requires time for healing the wound
completely. The patient was facing financial problems because she was unable to do her job
as a shopkeeper due to her physical condition. I was a student nurse, and I was a part of the
medical team, who were assigned to look after the patient after her call. I listened to her story
while I was making assessments on her condition. She told me that she is worried about her
granddaughter. She predicted that it would be difficult for her to pay the fees for school
anymore if she cannot open her shop within the week. However, considering her condition, I
informed her that she has to be in complete bed rest for at least two weeks. She seemed very
upset after learning my assessment. She informed me that she had shared the same
information with the doctor about her situation before. However, the doctor only prescribed
her with medications for her hypertension condition and taught her about the application of a
compression bandage. I understood that the doctor did not consider her mental condition and
the financial difficulty she mentioned to be experiencing. The doctor was satisfied when she
agreed to take proper rest and to apply the compression bandage properly. However, I learned
after communicating with the patient that she did not take proper rest as it was advised for
her. She was opening her shop and working with her aching leg. That day she finally called
our healthcare center was the day when she could not stand at all due to the severity of her
pain. I was feeling bad because the situation arose only because the doctor did not remember