Reflection on my placement as a student Nurse

This article is a reflection on a student nurse's placement, including experiences, feelings, evaluation, and action plan. The author discusses the importance of accountable professionalism and the significance of good communication and explanatory skills in the healthcare sector. Desklib is an online library for study material with solved assignments, essays, and dissertations.

Reflection on my
placement as a student
Nurse

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
REFLECTION ................................................................................................................................3
Description.............................................................................................................................3
Feelings...................................................................................................................................4
Evaluation ..............................................................................................................................4
Analysis..................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion .............................................................................................................................6
Action Plan ............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
“Practice makes perfect, and you will learn and find solutions in ways you never
imagined possible”
 Jo Bradford
The proficiency I have been selected in nursing practice is quality of being an
“accountable professional”. Registered nurses should prefer to put their patients in priority and
must have a feeling of providing them best and efficient nursing care that is safe, person-centred
and compassionate. Individuals associated with nursing professionalism work in best interest of
people, use their experience and knowledge and act professionally as they are important assets in
healthcare services (Bjerkvik and Hilli, 2019). The reason of using this proficiency is that as a
professional part of nursing staff I understand the responsibility of taking judgement on one's
life, defining actions and omissions as these all aspects associated to provide a lesson for life-
long, maintaining competency and sustaining both that is, standards and quality patient care
outcomes. And I think that when we are answerable to someone for our activities it become a big
responsibility for us on taking actions on the behalf. I understand that actions taken might be
right or wrong in journey of professionalism but giving explanations and answers on our own
action taken for the benefit of someone definitely helps to develop the confidence. NMC code of
conduct outlines to prioritise people under service, suggests to maintain confidentiality and
privacy of the patient by serving then best possible service, ensure their safety and promotion of
trust and professionalism (Swift, Henderson and Wu, 2022).
REFLECTION
Description
I have developed this confidence during my training sessions only. We have been taught
different principles and ethics of nursing profession that we supposed to be follow while working
in a professional environment of healthcare sector. Once when was I dealing with a patient, the
patient has suddenly developed a complicated situation while admitted for diabetic condition. He
was suddenly seems to have uncomfortable and uneasy due to diabetic complications of nerve
damage or neuropathy (Conard, 2019). I was there to take care of the patient and provide him
medications timely, document the symptoms exhibited by the patient, support him for routine

activities, monitor blood glucose level, etc. I observed him to become uneasy and checked for
body temperature. He reflected so strangely due to developing sensitivity to touch, and his
temperature was very high at the moment (Summers and East, 2022). He stated that he is feeling
too much weak and suffering from sharp cramps and pain, developed tingling and burning
sensation on feet or hands. Through all these symptoms I got sure about appearing complications
of neuropathy on that case. The doctor was on the round and I called for the doctor immediately
and tried to manage the pain by eliciting relaxation response, and call for senior pharmacist
(Doctorate of pharmacy), who is authorised to dispense appropriate medicines after monitor all
the symptoms. I have reported all the symptoms and name , regimen and time of administration
of drug to the patient (Crowe, Ewart and Derman, 2018). The step taken at the emergency
situation by me was proved to be effective and calm the patient effectively and provide him
quick relief form the pain. When doctor reached; he asked me about the situation in detail and I
was answerable for the situation. So I explain complete scenario with the documented proof of
prescription given by the senior pharmacist and monitor outcomes of the patient written in
report. The doctor at the point really appreciated for the practice of accountable professionalism
shown by me. I have learnt and understood from my training the importance of accountability
ion professionalism and gained a confidence within me of doing my job greatly. Since then I
always preferred to practice accountable professionalism in healthcare setting (SWest, 2020).
Feelings
Many times I do not feel confident about my decision and not clear enough about my
answer about the situation to which I supposed to be answerable. First of all I try not to follow
such practices for which I do not feel clear and confident enough (Drach‐Zahavy and Srulovici,
2019). But I try to follow alternative practice to control the situation in a manner allowed by
code of ethics. In order to give my best I prefer to go through the reports of the patient under my
care in detail and look for all the possible aspect to protect and provide efficient care to the
patient. When I am not sure, I seek help for the care of the patient and not try to do anything for
which I am not sure about. Because I understand that when I supposed to be answerable to
something, it is important that my answer must be correct and must have an appropriate reason
of adopting a particular option.

Evaluation
The good thing I have observed about following the proficiency is primarily that I have
learnt the behaviour and attitude to answer the issues appropriately. Second one is that I have
developed the habit of mentioning an appropriate and satisfactorily answer of every practice I
used to perform (Duffy, Culp and Padrutt, 2018). Now whenever I supposed to do anything it
become an habit of mentioning a column of my perspective. It gives me an opportunity to
explain my view regarding the step/ action taken by me and help me to gain much knowledge
about other options like; what could I do apart from the action taken which might proved to be
more effective for the betterment of patient.
The bad I feel about following the practice of accountable professional is that; sometimes
situation arise when an individual from nursing staff might not feel confident and clear enough
and that is why unable to explain the step taken by them. At that times it might cause some
challenging situation for the particular person to express their point. Another one is that
sometimes a professional may miss or forget to write the information in documents due to any
reason. At that time it become very difficult to prove the point made by an professional and
answer the questions put up by the doctor or supervisor (Flott and et. al., 2020).
Analysis
If I need to prove my positive thinking regarding the proficiency of accountable
professional I would like to evident through one case I have experienced recently in my staff.
One of the staff member from nursing department got a thyroid case to handle and take care of;
back three years from now. After three years same patient arrived at the hospital facility when
situation reappeared with the patient. The patient's husband was claiming that developed
complications in thyroid condition of her wife is due to the mistake of nurse which has been
appointed to look out for her wife. He claimed to the hospital and demanded the money back he
paid at that time for the treatment (Palmer and et. al., 2021). Hospital management decided to go
through old records and report of the patient also remanded and questioned the nurse about the
case under the principle of “accountability of professional”. As we all know within a year
thousands of patients used to arrive in hospital facility with similar disease or case. The nurse
was not sure about the case and she asked the management to access the file of the patient and
thoroughly remind the actions taken by her. Then she reminded the whole case and able to
mentioned the complete scenario in front of management team and counsellors. In the meeting, it

has been proved that the patient had a big misunderstanding and the nurse proved innocent and
clean by the counsellors. And this case added up to confidence and trust at particular proficiency
(Powers, Herron and Pagel, 2019).
If I need to prove my negative point about the proficiency then I would like to explain a
case that I witnessed in the hospital services once. One of the member from nursing staff was
eliminated from the hospital when he was not able to provide an complete and clear explanation
for the case handled by him due to lack of communication skills and confidence in front of
supervisors and family members of the patient. This explains the importance and significance of
good communication and explanatory skills in the healthcare sector.
Conclusion
I like to improve my skills and knowledge every day for personal development and with
the intention to perform my job effectively and efficiently without any error (Rubio-Navarro and
et. al., 2020). The thinking that I have developed and mentioned above as positive and negative
aspect regarding the particular proficiency is through the experience and lessons I have gained
through my journey. I have learnt from positive aspect the importance of carrying out the
practices mentioned in code of ethics and practice of accountable professionalism developed a
feeling of self-belief within me. I only able to answer and explain the situation with full
confidence because I have developed a sense of believe in myself that whatever I preferred to do
is just because I felt that as most effective and suitable option to carry out during the situation
(Sator, 2020).
Action Plan
I always believe to the thinking of continuos development and regular improvement and
this can be achieved by following some ways that I believe can help me to build up the
confidence and competence in my professional life like asking for questions without any
hesitation, I have to stop myself from comparing with others, be confident to ask for feedback
and accept them, build self confidence, etc. Asking for questions is supposed to be the most
critical skills for nursing. Sometimes I feel hesitate while asking for questions to my supervisor
which leads to missing out an information, clarification many times. So I will definitely seek to
add this on my action plan and try my best to work on it. Comparison nature in profession of
nursing is such a pitfall as nature of comparison aleays tends to work against you. So either of

developing competing nature I should learn to reach next level by myself to perform my best
(Sherwood and et. al., 2022).
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bjerkvik, L.K. and Hilli, Y., 2019. Reflective writing in undergraduate clinical nursing
education: A literature review. Nurse Education in Practice, 35, pp.32-41.
Conard, S., 2019. Best practices in digital health literacy. International journal of
cardiology, 292, pp.277-279.
Crowe, S., Ewart, L. and Derman, S., 2018. The impact of simulation based education on nursing
confidence, knowledge and patient outcomes on general medicine units. Nurse Education
in Practice, 29, pp.70-75.
Drach‐Zahavy, A. and Srulovici, E., 2019. The personality profile of the accountable nurse and
missed nursing care. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 75(2), pp.368-379.
Duffy, J.R., Culp, S. and Padrutt, T., 2018. Description and factors associated with missed
nursing care in an acute care community hospital. JONA: The Journal of Nursing
Administration, 48(7/8), pp.361-367.
Flott, E., Young, C., Ball, S.J. and Hercinger, M., 2020. Enhancing Confidence and
Communication for Clinical Practice. Nurse Educator, 45(6), p.351.
Palmer, T.J., Chisholm, L.J., Rolf, C.G. and Morris, C.R., 2021. Deliberate practice and self-
recorded demonstration of skill proficiency: One baccalaureate nursing school’s response
to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurse Education in Practice, 53, p.103071.
Powers, K., Herron, E.K. and Pagel, J., 2019. Nurse preceptor role in new graduate nurses'
transition to practice. Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, 38(3), pp.131-136.
Rubio-Navarro, A., García-Capilla, D.J., Torralba-Madrid, M.J. and Rutty, J., 2020. Decision-
making in an emergency department: A nursing accountability model. Nursing
ethics, 27(2), pp.567-586.
Sator, P., 2020. Patient’s confidentiality policy breach among nursing students. Malaysian
Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 16(105).
Sherwood, G., Cherian, U.K., Horton-Deutsch, S., Kitzmiller, R. and Smith-Miller, C., 2022.
Reflective practices: meaningful recognition for healthy work environments. Nursing
Management, 29(4).
Summers, R.E. and East, L., 2022. Nurse prescribing: developing confidence, autonomy and
collaboration. Primary Health Care, 32(3).
Swift, L., Henderson, A. and Wu, C.J.J., 2022. Self-confidence in clinical skill: A descriptive
study of the perspective of first-year nursing students. Nurse Education in Practice, 58,
p.103270.

West, E., 2020. Ethics and integrity in nursing research. Handbook of research ethics and
scientific integrity, pp.1051-1069.