Nursing Reflection Report: Ethical Considerations in Patient Care

This report is a nursing reflection focusing on responsibility, patient safety, and ethical dilemmas encountered during a practice placement community program. The student discusses the importance of accountability in patient care, particularly when expanding the scope of practice, and the nee...Read More

Running head: REFLECTION
Nursing reflection
Student Name
University Name
Author Note

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Nursing
Answer to Question 1:
Responsibility is disclosed as the commitment to perform obligations, errands or jobs
utilizing sound proficient judgment and being responsible for the choices made in doing this.
A medical attendant or maternity specialist who is thinking about extending their extent of
training ought to understand that this will include more noteworthy obligation. Responsibility
is comprehended as having the option to give a record of one's nursing and maternity care
decisions, activities and oversights. Responsibility is tied in with keeping up competency and
shielding quality patient consideration results and models of the calling, while at the same
time being liable to the individuals who are influenced by one's nursing or maternity care
practice. According to the guidance document by Health Information and Quality Authority,
it was crucial for the workers to abide by the rules and regulation such as respecting the
patient, maintaining confidentiality of the information shared by the patient and functioning
and maintaining autonomy (Hiqa.ie 2020). During my practice placement community
program in social care, I had been part of a multi-disciplinary care team who were conducting
a cancer care program for the local people. Over there, one of the patients was diagnosed
from last stage lung cancer. He was experiencing severe breathing problems and was on a
portable oxygen support the whole time with constant vital parameters. During my study, we
had known about the practice placement program as an arena where we could display our
practice skills, theoretical knowledge and self-awareness techniques of the standards under
the scope of practice. As a part of the obligation, it was my responsibility to perform the duty
of providing the appropriate and best care such that an effective health outcome could be
established for the patient. There were medical professionals like physicians who had
undertaken the case of the patient and explained him about the effects of medicines that are
being prescribed for the betterment of the patient.

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However, because I was just new to the program and did not have much of
professional exposure, I was nervous to take care of the critical patient with full autonomy
and appropriate level of supervision from my senior medical professionals. In spite of this, it
was crucial of me too as the condition of the patient kept on deteriorating and no such
interventions would be working. Upon evaluating the feeling that I had felt during the
placement program, made me realise that I could have reacted well to the situation if I would
have been provided with little more guidance from my seniors and a friendly environment to
work. Hence, it can be concluded that the balance between autonomy, responsibility and
professional experience of an individual is critical such that the healthcare that is being
delivered to the patient is enhanced. However, if a situation like this arises for me in the
future, it will be my responsibility to inform the senior health professional for the inclusion of
a safe and friendly working environment. In addition, it is also crucial for a balance to be
achieved between the scope of practice and providing supervision.
Answer to Question 2:
Keeping up a sheltered situation mirrors a degree of sympathy and vigilance for
tolerant welfare that is as significant as some other part of skilful medicinal services. During
my practice placement program, I was deployed as a social care practitioner in whom I was
assigned to conduct a safety and quality check on the practices that had been undertaken by
the medical professionals in the community setting. For the appropriate quality and safety
check on the quality of care provided to the consumers, self-rating checklists and routine
checks by quality supervisors are required. However, because of me being new to the social
care setting for the first time, it felt new to me to conduct a checklist to keep a check on the
patient harm and elimination of medication errors. It was one of the most prevalent ideas to
use the checklist as a form to check on the safety and quality conduct in the community

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setting for healthcare. However, during the conduct, it was observed that the social care
workers were not very compliant with their scope of practice and conducted random errors in
administering medication to their patients because of the increasing number of patients in the
camps and fewer team members. Some of them even approached and told to not include the
incidence of medication error in the checklist such that a positive result out of the checklist is
achieved. However, it felt unnatural to me that a medical professional who is liable to provide
the best care to the patient was not complying with their standards and did not held
themselves accountable for the mistake conducted. It was an ethical dilemma for me to not to
include the information and generate a wrong result. From the situation, it could be evaluated
that it was not right for me, as a social care practitioner to conduct a mistake on the checklist
which would analyze the outcomes for patient safety and quality. In addition, it could also be
evaluated about the non-compliance probability of the social care practitioners for the
generation of positive health outcome for their patient. Hence, it would be ideal if different
forms of the checklist are handed over to senior quality supervisors for whom it would be
difficult to ignore the mishaps that had been conducted while providing the best care to the
patient. It was critical for the social care workers to be given proper training before they are
being selected for the community care program such that patient health outcome is
established. In addition to the compliance rate, it is also crucial to conduct assessments in the
form of checklists in community care programs in frequent numbers such that the prevalence
of medication error and quality of the healthcare that is being provided to the patient is
evaluated and improved further.

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References
Hiqa.ie. 2020. Supporting people’s autonomy: a guidance document. Available at:
https://www.hiqa.ie/sites/default/files/2017-01/Supporting-Peoples-Autonomy.pdf [Accessed
7 Feb. 2020].