NSB103 Health Assessment: Reflective Analysis of Clinical Skills

This report presents a student's reflection on a health assessment practice conducted on a scholar colleague in a clinical laboratory. The assessment involved measuring vital signs such as blood pressure, pulse, temperature, oxygen saturation, and respirations. The student reflects on the clinical reasoning cycle and its importance in healthcare, particularly phase 3, which involves processing gathered information. The student identifies weaknesses in their practice, including inadequate patient communication, and highlights the importance of effective communication in building therapeutic relationships and preventing errors. Key learnings include the significance of detailed patient history, thorough examination of vital signs, and the overall impact of health assessment on patient care. References to relevant academic sources are included to support the reflection.

Running head: WRITTEN REFLECTION (HEALTH ASSESSMENT)
WRITTEN REFLECTION (HEALTH ASSESSMENT)
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1WRITTEN REFLECTION (HEALTH ASSESSMENT)
Situation:
The health assessment practice was conducted up on a scholar colleague in a clinical
laboratory.
Task:
It was conducted to commence a pretended health assessment
Action:
The practice was performed to assess vital signs such as Blood Pressure, Pulse, Temperature,
Oxygen Saturation and Respirations on a scholar colleague.
Result:
Health assessment of the patients comes under the supervision of both the physicians
and nursing staffs. There is some nursing practice in stretched roles where as others are found
to maintain an added old role in the field of acute health care setting. Health care Assessment
of the patients are seen to be varying based on both the role and health care setting (Palmer &
Harmell, 2016).
After assessment, I found out vital signs from the patients which involved Blood
Pressure ranging 128/70, Respiratory Rate which rang 16 per minute, Oxygen Saturation rate
ranging 99%, Heart Beat rate around 86 beats per minute and Body Temperature was around
36.5 Celsius, and I assessed that all the signs that was examined were ranging normal.
The clinical reasoning cycle is found to control all health care specialized and this
especially involves the physicians and the nursing staffs by means of various systematic steps
which is found to involve rational considerations (Hunter & Arthur, 2016). Taking the
clinical reasoning cycle in account simplifies the mind set behind the management plan for

2WRITTEN REFLECTION (HEALTH ASSESSMENT)
the patient which allows the health care expert to perform a series of orderly phases, which
thus ultimately leads to a concluding decision which is found to be consider what is
beneficial for the patient’s health in a specific situation (Nightingale, 2016).
The clinical reason cycle phase 3 states, Processing gathered information: it is an
acute stage and also the essential part of the clinical reasoning cycle (Carrier, Levasseur,
Bédard & Desrosiers, 2015). It involves the processing the information regarding the
patient’s present health condition in association to the patients pathophysiological and
pharmacological outlines (Koivisto et al., 2016). Thus it is important to know every details
which are relevant and regulate the potential results from the assessment for promising health
care decisions a health care professional make (Pennaforte et al., 2016). The phase guides the
nursing staffs to assess their patients is an error free and detailed manner (Schuman,
Glidewell & Roehl, 2016). By focusing on the phase, I was able to assess my patients in a
much detailed and accurate way.
During this assessment I found out that there were several weaknesses in my practice
which I needed to improve in order to develop in my field of work and to provide a better
health care service to the patients in need. I didn’t present myself appropriately to the patient
I was assessing which created a communication gap among us and also kept me deprived of
various details that were related to the patient’s health care. Also I need to connect more to
the patients and the health care staffs and I require to be additionally active and increase my
confidence level and skills when responsibility is about assessing the vital signs of a patient.
Learnt:
After practicing the assessment, I have gained a lot of skills and knowledge regarding
my nursing practice and also about an effective health assessment of the patients. I have
learnt the importance of communication in nursing practice in order to provide a better health

3WRITTEN REFLECTION (HEALTH ASSESSMENT)
care and treatment to the patients. Communication helps in building an effective therapeutic
relationship among the nurse and the patient in order to understand and assess the patient in a
much better manner so that he nurse can develop an effective health care and treatment plan
for the patient (Boissy et al., 2016). I have also gained knowledge regarding the effectiveness
of communication skill in a health care setting to deliver an error free treatment to the patient,
as effective communication among the nursing and health care staffs will reduce the chances
of miscommunication and the occurrence of error in the health care providing (Lewis, Collier
& Heitkemper, 2017). After the session I also understood the importance of health care
assessment, it helps the nursing team to better assess the disease condition of the patient. A
heath assessment involves various components such as physical examination, vaccination,
medication, therapy, risk assessment and various screening process. It has helped me in
assessing details regarding my patient and providing them accurate therapy and medications.
I have also gained knowledge regarding the practice of health assessment. The basic steps
and procedures for witnessing an effective treatment (Giger, 2016). it is the most important
factor which a nursing staff needs to practice. The assessment techniques that were used are
detailed patient report formation which would include the patients’ medical history and
present health condition (Tsoh et al., 2016). The other is effective communication in order to
understand the patient situation in a much better and detailed manner (Moore et al., 2018). I
also learnt that every single vital signs of a patient’s health needs to be examined very
carefully because every detail is important in providing health improvement.

4WRITTEN REFLECTION (HEALTH ASSESSMENT)
References:
Boissy, A., Windover, A. K., Bokar, D., Karafa, M., Neuendorf, K., Frankel, R. M., ... &
Rothberg, M. B. (2016). Communication skills training for physicians improves
patient satisfaction. Journal of general internal medicine, 31(7), 755-761.
Carrier, A., Levasseur, M., Bédard, D., & Desrosiers, J. (2015). Clinical reasoning process:
Cornerstone of effective occupational therapy practice. In International Handbook of
Occupational Therapy Interventions (pp. 73-82). Springer, Cham.
Giger, J. N. (2016). Transcultural Nursing-E-Book: Assessment and Intervention. Elsevier
Health Sciences.
Hunter, S., & Arthur, C. (2016). Clinical reasoning of nursing students on clinical placement:
Clinical educators' perceptions. Nurse education in practice, 18, 73-79.
Koivisto, J. M., Multisilta, J., Niemi, H., Katajisto, J., & Eriksson, E. (2016). Learning by
playing: A cross-sectional descriptive study of nursing students' experiences of
learning clinical reasoning. Nurse education today, 45, 22-28.
Lewis, S. M., Collier, I. C., & Heitkemper, M. M. (2017). Medical-surgical nursing:
assessment and management of clinical problems. Elsevier, Incorporated.
Moore, P. M., Rivera, S., Bravo‐Soto, G. A., Olivares, C., & Lawrie, T. A. (2018).
Communication skills training for healthcare professionals working with people who
have cancer. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (7).
Nightingale, K. E. (2016). Embedding simulation-based learning in a capstone undergraduate
nursing subject to develop clinical reasoning skills.

5WRITTEN REFLECTION (HEALTH ASSESSMENT)
Palmer, B. W., & Harmell, A. L. (2016). Assessment of healthcare decision-making capacity.
Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 31(6), 530-540.
Pennaforte, T., Moussa, A., Loye, N., Charlin, B., & Audétat, M. C. (2016). Exploring a new
simulation approach to improve clinical reasoning teaching and assessment:
randomized trial protocol. JMIR research protocols, 5(1), e26.
Schuman, R. J., Glidewell, P. A., & Roehl, E. E. (2016). U.S. Patent No. 9,517,035.
Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Tsoh, J. Y., Sentell, T., Gildengorin, G., Le, G. M., Chan, E., Fung, L. C., ... & Burke, A.
(2016). Healthcare communication barriers and self-rated health in older Chinese
American immigrants. Journal of community health, 41(4), 741-752.