Sample Assignment on Nursing PDF

Running head: REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Reflective essay
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

REFLECTIVE ESSAY1
A nursing associate can be defined as a designation within the nursing work force which
represents a highly trained official in a supportive role to deliver effective safe and responsive
nursing care to the patients. There are various dimensions to the professional role and
responsibility of a nursing associate and each relates to the safety and well being of the patients
that are being cared for in the facility. Nursing Associates work independently within defined
parameters so that the delivery of care is in line with agreed and pre determined plan
(Haso.skillsforhealth.org.uk 2018). There are set standards of practice for the nursing associate
apprenticeship and there are 15 standards that have been set out belonging to different domains
of practice. It has to be mentioned that the nursing associates have to ensure quality patient
centred care across different health and social care settings. As this is meant to be given when
collaborating with different professionals and the family of the patient at the same time, a
thorough understanding of each and every care and standards of practice is needed to be
increased in each and every nursing associate (Rathert et al. 2015). This essay will represent a
reflective account on my personal experience in the placement that relates to domain 2, person
centred approaches to care, of the nursing associate apprenticeship standards.
What:
While in placement I had the opportunity to assist in taking care of a mentally unstable
woman who was 45 years old and had been visiting the facility after an episode of schizophrenia
attack. Previous medical records revealed that she had been suffering from schizophrenia for the
past 3 years and she had encountered many psychotic episodes resulting in harming her own self
and others inflicting injuries as well. I had been given the opportunity of performing preliminary
assessment on the patient and to take note of the behavioural characteristics that the patient
exhibited. I had been ecstatic to have the opportunity to engage in a formal conversation with a
patient for the first time and perform preliminary mental state assessment. Although I had also
been very nervous to come into contact with patient’s severe schizophrenia and psychotic
episodes. Although as discussed by Monaghan (2015), the theoretical understanding of the
transitioning nursing students often leads to gaps in knowledge and skills that are more relevant
to practical application which in turn can lead to nervousness and anxiety when actually having
to perform clinical tasks. As per my best understanding, the gap between the theoretical and
practical knowledge had been the contributing factor leading to the anxiety that I had been
feeling while addressing to the patient.

REFLECTIVE ESSAY2
I knocked before entering and approached the patient to start the assessment procedure
and attempted to engage actively with the patient so that she can share her wishes, preferences,
choices and her exact condition. I formally introduced myself to the patient and asked her a set
of questions about environmental health assessment checklist to understand the trigger that
provoked psychotic episode and the present mental health condition pertaining to her
schizophrenia diagnosis 3 years ago. Although I had been very humble to the patient she did not
respond to my questions and continued to stare at the distance without even acknowledging my
presence in the room. It had been an extremely terrifying situation where I had no idea how to
proceed further and kept trying to engage to the patient as respectfully as possible which was
yielding no results. I initially thought that she had not noticed me coming inside the room and
had been in a trance so I touched her shoulder in the last attempt to capture her attention which
further aggravated the situation and the patient became very agitated and started screaming at
me. My supervisor had to intervene and she effectively calmed the patient with a few gestures
before actually addressing and the patient slowly and steadily calmed the patient down.
Needless to say I had been extremely mortified by the event, although by my supervisor’s
directions I was successful in completing the assessment procedure
So what?
On my encounter and interaction with the patient suffering from schizophrenia I can say
that there were some aspects that went well. Although there are more serious aspects in the
experience that went wrong, this overshadows the few positive factors associated with this
scenario. Considering how I felt about the entire experience I would like to comment that there
had been a few mistakes in approaching and engaging with the patient that has led to the incident
that I had to encounter in the first day of my placement. With respect to the positive aspects of
the scenario, I would like to mention that I have been extremely formal and professional in
engagement with the patient and had been abiding the rules of patient assessment criteria along
with following each and every element of the patient examination checklist while approaching
the patient. I had remembered to knock the door before entering the patient room and I had also
formally introduced myself and my purpose of being there and why assessment was being
performed. With respect to domain 2 of nursing associate apprenticeship standards of practice,
providing Holistic person centred care is a very important aspect of mental health nursing
(Haso.skillsforhealth.org.uk 2018). Person centred holistic care encompasses engagement with