Mental Health Reflection: Nursing Practice and Patient Care

This report presents a nursing student's reflective analysis of their clinical experiences, specifically focusing on the challenges encountered when working with an older adult patient, Rosa Calapari, who presented with psychological disorders and memory loss following a hip fracture. The student utilizes the Gibbs model of reflection to explore their anxieties and reactions to the patient's condition, detailing the difficulties in managing the patient's anger, confusion, and unwillingness to engage with healthcare staff. The report examines the student's initial anticipation of challenges, their emotional responses to the patient's experiences, and the lessons learned from the interactions. It highlights the importance of understanding the patient's background, particularly cultural and linguistic factors, and advocates for personalized care approaches. Furthermore, the report identifies areas for improvement in the student's practice, such as proactive risk assessment and patient education, while emphasizing the need for a multidisciplinary approach to patient care and the development of empathetic and effective communication strategies. The student also reflects on how to modify their perceptions and behaviors to better support future patients.

RUNNING HEAD: MENTAL HEALTH REFLECTION 1
MENTAL HEALTH REFLECTION
NAME:
INSTITUTION:
TUTOR:
DATE:

MENTAL HEALTH REFLECTION 2
MENTAL HEALTH REFLECTION
Reflective practice is an important aspect in the nursing practice because it provides an
avenue to improve on clinical practice and the overall quality of care by exploring as well as
evaluating an individual’s understanding of the health problem than just trying to solve the
problem (Boscarino, Hoffman, Pitcavage, & Urosevich, 2015). In this assignment, I will utilize
the Gibbs model of reflective to reflect on two topics, Psychological disorders and Memory and
behavior change which I anticipate to be very challenging when working with an older adult.
During my clinical placements, I came across a scenario where a patient called Rosa
Calapari slipped while she was going to pick her mail. The husband called Mario then phoned
the ambulance and she was taken to Austin Hospital in Heidelberg where she was admitted after
an assessment by a multidisciplinary team of the allied health professionals. Several tests were
then conducted after she had been admitted and it was established that she had an extracapsular
hip fracture. When she presented at the Emergency Department, she showed signs of extreme
anxiety and was also angry and aggressive with the staff. (Psychological disorders)
After surgery, Rosa attended her local GP together with her husband to get new
prescription for the anticoagulation medication and opioids to relieve pain for the arthritis. Mario
then mentioned to the GP that of late, Rosa become more confused and she is also forgetful
(Ialongo et al., 2015). The GP then educated the two on the links between cognitive declines
after surgery in adults. The GP referred them to a multidisciplinary team to further assess her
cognitive functioning.
I was very anxious since I was anticipating that psychological disorders and memory loss
would be very challenging to me when handling Rosa. I felt very sorry for Rosa especially after

MENTAL HEALTH REFLECTION 3
the slip that led to the hip fracture. This is due to the pain that comes with fractures (Okunna,
Rodriguez-Monguio, Smelson, & Volberg, 2015). About being forgetful, I was also very nervous
since I knew it would be quite difficult for Rosa to continue with her normal activities. Being
forgetful is a very bad habit among patients with mental disorders. I was however eager since I
knew I would learn so much about mental health in adults.
Of all the scenes with Rosa, all of them were actually bad since all the vents were
affecting the patient in one way or another. The only experience that was good was that I got a
chance to get first-hand information on the behavior or the signs and symptoms of a patient with
mental disorders. Another good experience was that Rosa would respond well to all the nursing
interventions that were initiated.
After the whole experience, I carried out an analysis and realized some faults. The
husband to the patient made a mistake by allowing her wife to go pick the email .People with
mental disorders are likely to lose memory as well as fall like in this case (Wang, Kearney, Jia,
& Shang, 2016). The husband could have opted to go and pick on her behalf. To prevent risk of
injury, the husband should remove any hazardous material like the furniture from home. He
should also consider installing railing system in the showers to prevent injuries. Since it was also
quite challenging for the patient to stay at the hospital as she was angry at the staff, I would
advocate for a home based care intervention as this might be more comfortable to her. Another
challenge was that Rosa was unwilling to engage with social workers after the surgery and
became active after realizing one of them was of Italian background .I would therefore try to
establish the background of any patient in future then I would also pretend that am from that
background so that the patient could be free with me.

MENTAL HEALTH REFLECTION 4
Mental disorders is a condition that affects the mental well-being of an individual. It has
several signs and symptoms like loss of memory, changes in behavior and psychological
changes. In this case study of Rosa, there are things that I could have done differently. Another
thing I could have done is to ensure that the patient is calm enough so that she does not become
angry with the staff present.
The whole experience was very educative since I gained valuable experience. In future
when I encounter such a scenario, I would pay more attention to warning signs. I would teach the
patient to learn the risk factors and I would also advise them to get routine medical care. I would
also encourage the patients to take good care of themselves so that injuries like the hip fracture
that occurred in Rosa does not happen again.

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References
Boscarino, J. A., Hoffman, S. N., Pitcavage, J. M., & Urosevich, T. G. (2015). Mental Health
Disorders and Treatment Seeking Among Veterans in Non-VA Facilities: Results and
Implications from the Veterans' Health Study. Military Behavioral Health, 3(4), 244-
254. doi:10.1080/21635781.2015.1077179
Ialongo, N. S., Rogosch, F. A., Cicchetti, D., Toth, S. L., Buckley, J., Petras, H., &
Neiderhiser, J. (2015). A Developmental Psychopathology Approach to the
Prevention of Mental Health Disorders. Developmental Psychopathology, 968-1018.
doi:10.1002/9780470939383.ch24
Okunna, N. C., Rodriguez-Monguio, R., Smelson, D. A., & Volberg, R. A. (2015). An
Evaluation of Substance Abuse, Mental Health Disorders, and Gambling
Correlations: an Opportunity for Early Public Health Interventions. International
Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 14(4), 618-633. doi:10.1007/s11469-015-
9589-3
Wang, J., Kearney, J. A., Jia, H., & Shang, J. (2016). Mental Health Disorders in Elderly
People Receiving Home Care. Nursing Research, 65(2), 107-116.
doi:10.1097/nnr.0000000000000147