Nursing Assignment: Self-Reflection on a Clinical Care Experience

This nursing assignment is a reflective report on a student's clinical experience. The student analyzes a specific patient care scenario, focusing on the missed opportunity to establish a therapeutic relationship and the subsequent consequences. The report highlights the importance of critical thinking, evidence-based practice, and self-awareness in nursing. The student identifies areas for improvement, including medication management, communication, and prioritizing patient needs. The assignment references relevant literature, including works by Phelps & Dalton, Morton et al., and others, to support the analysis and recommendations. The student emphasizes the importance of continuous learning and reflection to improve nursing skills and ensure patient safety. The experience underscores the dynamic nature of healthcare and the need for nurses to handle complex situations effectively. The report concludes with a positive outlook on future practice, emphasizing increased confidence and improved clinical decision-making.

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Nursing assignment
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Analysis
According to Phelps & Dalton (2013) patient centered care is central to good medical
practice. It is evident from the communication about the revalidation with the medical
profession. The author argued that a health care professional should work beyond the profession-
centered understanding of the professionalism in the health care. There must be greater
understanding of the patient-centred care. It means the care should be designed as per the patient
needs rather than the provider needs. In my case this is highly applicable as I feel I have failed to
establish the therapeutic relationship with client. If I had build strong rapport then I would have
better interpreted his needs and devised the care plan accordingly. It would have helped me in
understanding the reason for patient’s impulsiveness. It may not have then lead to missing of
antibiotics. This implies further learning needs in my way to become future registered needs.
Critical thinking is the essential skills for nurses. It refers to deciding for an action by
perceiving, synthesizing, analyzing and evaluating the collected information. It also involves
communication, experience and observation (Morton et al., 2017). It also involves distinguishing
the facts and the opinions. Nursing students must have the independence of thought, in the
personal and the social level and interest for research and curiosity (Papathanasiou et al., 2014).
It is the area of improvement for me. I should have well researched the medication being given to
my patient. While taking help from the other buddy nurse instead of whom I was assigned to, I
should have been more curious about the efficacy of Risperidone, before administering it to the
patient. I should have researched about its efficacy in reducing the patient’s agitation. As I had
observed the patient was uncomfortable, I should have immediately notified my buddy nurse
about the incident instead of delaying the conversation for 15 minutes. I must improve my
critical thinking skills to be able to give high quality medical care. I must be more competetnt

2NURSING ASSIGNMENT
with the evidence based practice. There is increasing popularity of the word “Evidence based
practice”. It refers to the systematic approach of decision making in patient care. It is the process
of using the best possible evidence for a clinical situation to ensure best health outcomes
(Schmidt & Brown, 2014). Implementing the evidence based practice will help a nurse to be
more self dependent.
Evidence based practice help in giving a patient with the right and safe environment. As
stated by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia or NMBA professional standards
guidelines, it is the patient right to have a safe environment. It is the responsibility and duty of
the nurses and midwifes to protect the patient in every way. The nurses must engage the patient
in the knowledge based practice and continue with the lifelong learning
(Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au, 2018). If I had delayed the communication with other nurse for
more than 15 minutes my patient would have been at increased risk of injury. Therefore, to
become competent in my field I must identify my learning style. I must reflect on myself to
identify the strength and weakness. It will help with problem solving when it comes to patient
safety issues. Reflection is essential skill for nurses as per Riley (2015), as its improves the self-
awareness. It is the skill that aids in controlling the situation irrespective of its nature in the
clinical setting or in personal life. Therefore, it decreases the vulnerability to the adverse
consequences. Self awareness is considered therapeutic tool for nurses. Therapeutic environment
can be easily developed by a nurse with high self awareness as one involves in self-evaluation. It
is the based on the idea of having string knowledge of personal, values, ideas, attitude, and
behaviour. By exploding oneself in differ contexts and analysing the other’s responses. It gives
satisfaction to a person as he/she may perceive others in better way.

3NURSING ASSIGNMENT
The argument by Tsai et al. (2013) aligns with that of Papathanasiou et al. (2014). The
former argued that the nurses should have an experience of the communication conflict to
develop understanding of the communication education programs. The conflicts can be resolved
by independent thinking where the power differences exist in the setting. It is highly applicable
for my situation. With the help of independent thinking I may overcome the feeling of
intimidation when communicating with my senior nurse. With the help of independent thinking
in future I can better prioritise the nursing care. Prioritising the patient need of care is the
advance skill of a nurse (Arvidsson et al., 2010). Having these skills is the hallmark of the nurse
expert. This skill allows a nurse to act in confidence. My priority was patient safety and I
should not have hesitated in disturbing my buddy nurse when the patient was agitated. Health
care sector is dynamic and nurse deals with complex situations in day-to-day practice.
Prioritising the care process will help in smooth handling of the situations even if emergency.
It can be sad that the overall experience was useful. I would not repeat the same mistake
in my next placement. I would certainly be more confident in regards to medication management
and care planning. Things went well because of my moderate communication skills. The
experience was both good and bad at the same time. It was bad as I realised I was at fault for low
confidence, and poor critical thinking skills. The experience was good as I know the areas of
improvement such as priority of care, improving the self awareness, and ability to seek help in
case of emergency with quick decision making skills. It can be interpreted from this experience
that clinical environment gives a person plenty of opportunities for potential learning
experiences. By engaging increasingly in such practice, the area will become more interesting. It
will eventually make one competent in their field. Gaining competency is necessary as it is the
ability to perform professional duties comprising of the repertoire of the professional practice.

4NURSING ASSIGNMENT
References
Arvidsson, E., André, M., Borgquist, L., & Carlsson, P. (2010). Priority setting in primary health
care-dilemmas and opportunities: a focus group study. BMC family practice, 11(1), 71.
Morton, P. G., Fontaine, D., Hudak, C. M., & Gallo, B. M. (2017). Critical care nursing: a
holistic approach (p. 1056). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au (2018). Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia - Professional
standards. [online] Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au. Available at:
http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Statements/Professional-
standards.aspx [Accessed 25 Jan. 2018].
Papathanasiou, I. V., Kleisiaris, C. F., Fradelos, E. C., Kakou, K., & Kourkouta, L. (2014).
Critical thinking: the development of an essential skill for nursing students. Acta
Informatica Medica, 22(4), 283.
Phelps, G., & Dalton, S. (2013). Demonstrable professionalism: linking patient‐centred care and
revalidation. Internal medicine journal, 43(11), 1254-1256.
Riley, J. B. (2015). Communication in nursing. Elsevier Health Sciences. Retrieved from:
https://books.google.co.in/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=SwndCwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=self+awareness+for+nurses&o
ts=YZom63uoAy&sig=GoTLlMpVIYRkSkROkwRAGo0ax3U#v=onepage&q=self
%20awareness%20for%20nurses&f=false
Schmidt, N. A., & Brown, J. M. (2014). Evidence-based practice for nurses. Jones & Bartlett
Publishers.

5NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Tsai, H. H., Tsai, Y. F., Weng, L. C., & Chou, H. F. (2013). More than communication skills:
experiences of communication conflict in nursing home nurses. Medical
education, 47(10), 990-1000.