Patient Experience and Partnering in Care: A Reflection

This reflective essay analyzes the case of Mr. Taylor, a 75-year-old patient, focusing on his experiences with the healthcare system and the quality of care he received. The essay utilizes the Gibbs 6-stage reflection cycle to examine the patient's encounters, including accidental falls, interactions with medical professionals, and the impact of various treatments. It explores the patient's feelings, thoughts, values, and beliefs, while also analyzing the care provided in light of ethical standards and care models like holism, self-care, and interpersonal theories. The essay identifies instances of inadequate care, such as delayed treatment and disrespectful communication, while also acknowledging instances of appropriate care. The conclusion emphasizes the need for improved communication, ethical practice, and patient-centered care, and proposes an action plan to enhance the author's skills in caring for the aged. The essay highlights the importance of family involvement and adherence to professional standards to improve patient outcomes.

Introduction
Partnering in care is very vital to both patients and nurses because it results to better health
outcomes and leads to improved quality of care. It is critical that nurses adhere to the set code of
conduct of nurses. Nurses are also expected to involve patients and families in making decisions
touching on their care(Eng & Pai, 2015). Accidental falls can cause a lot of harm especially
when the incident happens to an aged person. This reflective essay analyzes the case study of Mr
Taylor with the aim of identifying ways in which care for the aged can be improved. The essay
will use the Gibbs 6 stage reflection cycle (adapted version by Burns and Bulman) to reflect on
the 75-year-old Bill’s case scenario of patient experience and partnering in care. The essay will
also reflect on the e-health record of Bill. The following six stages will be used in the reflection;
introduction, description of the experience, feelings and thoughts, values and beliefs, analysis,
conclusion drawn and finally the action plan. The holism theory, the self-care theory the
interpersonal theory which emphasizes on the relationship between nurses and
patient(Algoso,Peters, Ramjan & East, 2016).
Description
About six years ago Mr Taylor had a couple of falls which apparently caused some injuries.
The first incident happened as he was walking back home from his prescribed exercise routine.
Bill accidentally tripped and fell into the gutter. The fall saw him get a couple of skin scratches
and a wrecked right hand shoulder. Bill struggled home in absolute agony to his wife and some
visitors who wanted to rush him into a public hospital but Bill declined due to some past
experience that he had encountered in a public hospital. So bill decided to wait till the next day
in the morning to see his own doctor who referred him for an x ray. When the results of the x-ray

were out he was sent to a surgeon. In the past Bill had had a kidney stone that needed to be
passed, so he went to a public hospital where he had to wait for 11 hours in the waiting room
without getting any attention from a doctor or even a nurse. He was only given some pain killers
after some 3-4 hours that he actually went for on his own. This should not have been the case if
the medical practitioners in that hospital followed the code of ethics for nurses. Bill was operated
on in the hands of a hash surgeon who told him that he could repair his wound but it would be
like sewing on old rag into a new pair of jeans. Bill was then sent to a physiotherapist who taught
him a couple of things and treated him with a lot of care. After some day’s bill had another fall
due to a condition of anemia that caused him some dizziness. Being a type 2 diabetic and having
an allergic rhinitis (hay fever) and having hypertension Bill had a great team of medical
practitioners behind him.
Feelings and thoughts
Before hearing the case from Bill I never realized how important it was actually to be
cautious about falls and the injuries that could result from accidental falls. When I heard Bill’s
case I was shocked to realize that falls could lead to some big health complications. In my
thinking I feel that the nurses at the public hospitals should have been more concerned with the
welfare of their clients as case like the one for Bill could lead to some unpleasant outcomes
including death of patients. The other thing that caught my attention was the statement made by
the surgeon about Bill’s tissues, that statement was so much against the code of conduct by
medical practitioners. The holism theory provides that nurses and other medical practitioners
have an obligation to heal the whole body including the emotional, mind, body and spirit (Lauren
Caldwell, RN, 2013).. The statements like the one made by the surgeon may cause depression to
a patient which may be fatal to their health. My attention was also drawn to the physiotherapist

who tried to show bill how he could use his harm and I thought that I want to be that kind of
nurse. The kind that leaves their clients satisfied with the service they have been provided with.
Values and Beliefs
One of my values is that am compassionate and caring. I understand the feelings of other people
and I sympathize with those who are suffering. I’m always ready to offer support to the weak,
seek and vulnerable. Mr Taylor suffered so much when he was suffering from kidney stones.
This is because the healthcare staff who passed by did not feel any sympathy for him despite the
pain he was undergoing. This value originated from my religion where I was taught to be
compassionate to those who are suffering. I believe that patients should be involved in making
decisions about their healthcare. This belief originated from my professional practice where
nurses are required to involve patients in each and every decision that involves their healthcare
(McCormack, Manley & Titchen, 2013). This helps in improving their health outcomes. I also
believe that nurses’ physicians and nurses should act professionally and ethically at all time and
treat patients with a lot of respect.
Analysis
Mr Taylor suffered very serious injuries when he fell some years ago. It is quite unfortunate that
Mr Taylor could not get someone to get him home despite suffering injuries on the arms. After
suffering from the injury, Mr Taylor did not receive adequate care. This is because he refused to
be taken to hospital on the same day despite suffering injuries that needed immediate treatment.
He insisted that he could not visit the hospital because of a previous bad experience. The
principles of family centered care requires that family members be involved in caring for their
relatives (Asselin, Schwartz‐Barcott & Osterman, 2013). Close family members should advise

patients on their health especially when they appear to be making inappropriate decisions. The
family members of Mr. Taylor should therefore have played a role in convincing Mr Taylor to
seek medical attention in order to avoid the wound getting infected. The decision by Mr. Taylor
to take painkillers instead of visiting the hospital represents inadequate care.
Another incidence that Mr. Taylor failed to get appropriate care is when he visited the hospital
with kidney stones. He was in a lot of pain but he was not given medical attention for more than
ten hours. This was against the standard of Beneficence. This standard indicates that nurses
should do everything in their power to protect patients from harm (Tashiro, Shimpuku, Naruse &
Matsutani, 2013). Mr Taylor spent so many hours without receiving medication and this pain
caused harm to his body. Mr Taylor also received inadequate care when he visited the physician
who was recommended to him by his GP. The surgeon failed to act according to Standard
number four of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. The standard requires that nurses
should respect the dignity, culture, ethnicity and values of the person receiving care(Decker et
al., 2014). Mr. Taylor`s life was at risk when his wife was driving him for the months that he
could not drive. His wife was fearful of driving and hence was at a risk of causing an accident
which could harm both her and Mr Taylor. Another instance in which Mr Taylor received
inadequate care is when Mr Taylor was not given an opportunity to chose his own physio. This is
against the standard of patient centered care where patients are involved in making decisions
concerning their health.
Mr Taylor received appropriate care when he recommended blood tests which indicated that Mr
Taylor had anemia. The nose job done on Mr Taylor also helped in improving his well-being and
health.

Conclusions
From this experience, it is clear that Mr Taylor did not receive the appropriate family-centered
care. This is evidenced by the fact that no one went to assist him when he suffered the accident.
His family did not assist him to visit the clinic and they let him stay alone for long before he
went to see the doctor. Another conclusion is that the surgeon attending to Mr Taylor`s wounds
did not respect his dignity and he caused him pain and humiliation by using inappropriate words
concerning his body. Additionally, Mr Taylor had bad experiences when his father was
amputated by a doctor because he did not give a chance to seek a second opinion. This
emphasizes the need for involving patients in decision making. It is critical for nurses and other
medical practitioner to adhere to the legal and ethical standards of practice. This helps in
improving the health outcomes of patients such as Mr Taylor.
Action plan
In order to deal properly and professionally with situations like that of Mr Taylor, I would go for
further training in order to improve my knowledge and skills on caring for the aged. This is
because, people whose age is a bit advanced are very sensitive, and they require utmost care in
order for them to optimize their health outcomes. I would also try to improve my communication
skills. Developing good communication skills helps in understanding the patient better since I
would be able to obtain a lot of information from the patient which is necessary in offering them
care. Listening and questioning is very important in this regard. I would also spend time with an
experienced nurse caring for the aged so that I can understand their needs and hence respond to
them accordingly.

References
Asselin, M. E., Schwartz‐Barcott, D., & Osterman, P. A. (2013). Exploring reflection as a
process embedded inexperienced nurses' practice: a qualitative study. Journal of advanced
nursing, 69(4), 905-914.
Algoso, M., Peters, K., Ramjan, L., & East, L. (2016). Exploring undergraduate nursing students'
perceptions of working in aged care settings: A review of the literature. Nurse Education
Today, 36, 275-280.
Bulman, C., & Schutz, S. (Eds.). (2013). Reflective practice in nursing. John Wiley & Sons.
Decker, S., Fey, M., Sideras, S., Caballero, S., Boese, T., Franklin, A. E., ... & Borum, J. C.
(2013). Standards of best practice: Simulation standard VI: The debriefing process. Clinical
Simulation in Nursing, 9(6), S26-S29.
Eng, C. J., & Pai, H. C. (2015). Determinants of nursing competence of nursing students in
Taiwan: The role of self-reflection and insight. Nurse Education Today, 35(3), 450-455.
Lauren Caldwell, RN, B. S. N. (2013). The importance of reflective practice in
nursing. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 6(3), 319.
McCormack, B., Manley, K., & Titchen, A. (Eds.). (2013). Practice development in nursing and
healthcare. John Wiley & Sons.
Moon, J. A. (2013). Reflection in learning and professional development: Theory and practice.
Routledge.

Redmond, B. (2017). Reflection in action: Developing reflective practice in health and social
services. Routledge.
Tashiro, J., Shimpuku, Y., Naruse, K., & Matsutani, M. (2013). Concept analysis of reflection in
nursing professional development. Japan Journal of Nursing Science, 10(2), 170-179.