Topic Assignment 2022

Running Head: TOPIC
TOPIC
Student Name
University Name
Student Note

TOPIC1
Description of the experience:
While working in a hospital, as a part of my collegial team, I faced a situation where I had to
tend to three patients that were admitted in the emergency ward of the hospital. It was the night
shift on a public holiday and thus, there was a shortage of staff in the hospital. As a registered
nurse, I was placed to take this shift along with two other nurse trainees. At around 2 am, three
patients were admitted in the emergency ward of the hospital. One patient belonging to the age
range of 75-80 years was admitted with a hip fracture. She had suffered a fall while going to the
washroom. When she was admitted, she was extremely agitated and unable to move. She started
screaming in pain when she was being transferred from the stretcher to the bed in the emergency
ward. Another patient that was admitted at the same time showed signs of suffering from a heart
failure, as he was experiencing angina. This patient was a 45 year old man, accompanied by his
family. Upon questioning his family, it was found that he had a medical history of hypertension
and also suffered from two heart attacks in the past two years. He was having trouble breathing
and as a result was also very agitated. This patient was also very nauseous and was seen to sweat
profusely, exhibiting all signs of a heart failure. The third patient had been admitted with
excessive uncontrolled bleeding from his hand. Upon questioning it was found out the he is a
diabetic, suffering from Type 1 diabetes. By the time he was admitted to the hospital and into the
emergency ward, he was losing consciousness because of the amount of blood lost (Hirsch et al.,
2008). Seeing the urgency of all the three cases presented, I was not only intimidated but also
gravely confused about how to proceed. I had a hard time in understanding which patient to tend
to first and what medical procedures to follow.
Student Name: Semester: Unit Code:
Student Number: Year: Unit Number:

TOPIC2
Feelings and thoughts about the experience: I had two trainees under me, and one of the
trainees suggested dividing the tasks. She said she would tend to the angina patient, by first
providing him with an external oxygen support, and then taking his vitals. And if required, also
provide him with some medications like digitalis or diuretics, to help relieve his pain, only upon
my consent (Mebazaa et al., 2015).
The trainee further suggested that the other trainee should tend to the elderly with a hip fracture
and conduct her primary health assessment, especially the pain assessment. After which I nodded
and suggested that I should tend to the diabetic patient.
I felt extremely embarrassed that I couldn’t categorise and separate the tasks myself, considering
my seniority. My poor organisation skills and problem –solving abilities, not only led to
increased patient discomfort, but also could have led to severe health deterioration of any or all
of the patients. My lack of problem-solving skills further caused me trouble in carrying out my
primary assessment and also in understanding and evaluating the assessment of the two other
patients.
The patient suffering from angina, after his primary assessment, was administered a diuretic to
help prevent further deterioration of his heart health. He, according to my evaluation, was
suffering from a heart failure.
For the patient, with the hip fracture, we consulted an on call orthopaedist, to help provide her
with the necessary pain medications and also briefed him about the medical history of the
patient. He suggested that we should conduct an X-ray, to understand how severely, which part
of the hip has been fractured. He further suggested us to give the patient general anaesthesia. He
further told us to carry out the required blood and urine tests (Riemen & Hutchison, 2016).
Student Name: Semester: Unit Code:
Student Number: Year: Unit Number: