Reflective Essay: Personal Perspectives on Healthcare and Patient Care

This reflective essay, written by a nursing student, explores the personal and professional perspectives on health, illness, dying, and death. The essay uses the 5 R's of reflection—Reporting, Responding, Relating, Reasoning, and Restructuring—to analyze a case study involving a patient named Maggie who experienced a severe car accident. The student reflects on the compassionate care provided by the healthcare team, highlighting the importance of empathy, effective communication, and the implementation of the 6Cs of nursing care. The essay discusses the patient's recovery journey, the ethical considerations involved, and the impact of the experience on the student's understanding of patient care and future practice. The student also incorporates external references to support their arguments and demonstrates an understanding of the challenges and rewards of nursing in critical situations. The essay concludes with a restructuring phase, suggesting improvements in the timing of interventions and the importance of the multidisciplinary team approach.

Running Head: Reflection
Assessment
Reflective Essay
Article: Maggie's story of Hope, Recovery & Healing
Student Name:
Student ID:
University:

Reflection 2
Reporting & Responding
Maggie met a dreadful car accident in which her left acetabulum and neck was
broken, she got a sacral shear, had two spine fractures, had broken T1 and C5 ribs in
lungs. Her pelvis broke at two places, she had diffused axonal brain injury and
swelling in left lobe. For more than a month, she was in medical coma and had
undergone tracheotomy. However, the compassionate care and efforts of the staff in
Kingston University Hospital helped her recover and heal. She got full support from
her family. Everyone in the care provider staff was very compassionate,
understanding, caring and friendly with her.
Such emergency situations are often unbelievable for the patients and their families.
The multidisciplinary team of staff involved physiotherapist, OT, Speech pathology,
KG Agent and pain management by Dr. Henry. All this involved informed consent.
The patient recognised the compassionate care. The care provided involved 6Cs-
Care, compassion, competence, effective caring relationships, courage in providing
care and commitment in delivering quality treatment (NHS England, 2013).
Relating
I have observed that the patients who are treated with compassion and empathy heal
faster and in a positive way. Maggie, (even after being injured so devastatingly) could
develop trust and hope with the nursing staff. I feel, as a nursing professional we need
to implement the 6Cs more effectively in care. I have faced such situations few times
at emergency unit where the patients were so heavily injured that their chances of
recovery were nominal. In such situations, a considerate staff, better communication
and more information along with effectively managed nursing interventions gives

Reflection 3
confidence to the patients. I have just acted as a subordinate to my Senior Nursing
staff and followed his instructions only. I feel that I need to develop more experience,
knowledge and patience to treat such cases in future. I have good leadership qualities,
listen the patients, communicate effectively and hold a positive and caring attitude
towards them. These skills will definitely be helpful in addressing the issue.
Reasoning
The patient had lost hope to recover. She was devastated with the critical pain and
broken bones in her body. The condition was difficult for her and her family. It was
hard to see her in a situation where she had never been earlier. Timely access to the
needed care reduces the mortality rate in emergency cases (Doctors of the World UK
[DOTW], 2015). The lack of availability of services in many areas acts as a barrier to
healthcare services. It was good that all the care Maggie required was available in
Kingston hospital only. Everyone in the nursing staff was very compassionate and
empathetic. Her condition of critical pain was addressed smoothly. After healing of
the bones she was transferred to Rehabilitation centre where the staff was equally
caring and compassionate. For pain, she was no more given powerful medications.
She could stand off her wheel chair. After discharge she became an outpatient at the
pain clinic.
It was incredible that after recovery she completed her high school and graduation.
She was lucky to survive and to overcome the confinement of a wheel chair. She
never believed that she would be able to be normal again. I feel that the efforts of all
the people involved in the care process could make it possible. The case was ethically
and morally encouraging for the patient and for the staff for the brilliant outcomes.

Reflection 4
Restructuring
The patient had been experiencing critical pain for a lot of time, which could be
reduced by consulting the pain specialist earlier. I think it took more time in spotting
her first time and taking to the hospital. From there she was taken to Kingston General
Hospital through helicopter where she was diagnosed with severe bone fractures and
injuries. I feel that the time between the first spotting and the beginning of the
treatment could be reduced.
However the care provided involved multidisciplinary team which would be a very
good practice in future as well for such cases. I think, the compassion and empathy
encouraged the morale of the patient towards positive outcomes. In future, we would
like to include 6Cs in the nursing care practice. As stated by the patient, the care
provided and the outcomes could have been no better than the achieved.
References
Doctors of the World UK [DOTW], (2015). Access to Healthcare in the UK.
Retrieved from
https://mdmeuroblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/leaflet_access-to-
healthcare_mdmuk_bd_pages.pdf
NHS England (2013). Compassion in Practice. Retrieved from
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/cip-one-year-
on.pdf

Reflection 5