First Day in the Hospital Placement Program - Research Paper Example

Reflective Journal Reflective Journal Journal Entry Today is my first day in the hospital placement program and I have to admit that I was very excited about this as I had never worked in a hospital before. Even though this was not my first placement, I was a little nervous at what awaited me and had no idea what to expect especially from my supervisor and the patients that I would interact with. My two other experiences were in community health which I believe held more of a challenge as compared to the current one I was undertaking as the people there proved more of a complication with the variety of problems that I faced while I was there. Nonetheless, I was pleased at being able to widen my area of experience and I had a positive outlook at joining the hospital. The use of the fieldwork learning framework helped me a lot in the previous placements that I had undergone so I used it to set my goals and the targets I would achieve while undergoing this hospital placement. I find this framework is especially useful in setting ones goals as it helps one apply both personal and professional resources that are available in order to continually develop a persons skills in the work place (Larkin & Hamilton, 2010). The continuous cycle allows one to go back reevaluate the progress that they have made as well as examine the different aspects that have room for improvement. The main goals I set for myself were to improve my manual hand skills as well as my documentation and interviewing skills. I spent the first day familiarizing myself with my surroundings and getting to know the other members of the staff and I got the opportunity to meet with my supervisor and formally introduce myself. I was formed on what my role as an Occupational therapist in the hospital would be and that we would mainly be focusing on the Oncology and General Surgery areas although there were many other areas that Occupational therapists could be involved in. I was a bit nervous as my knowledge on Oncology was not as thorough as I would have liked it to be and I hoped that things would go well but as the fieldwork learning framework suggests, learning is a continuous process that happens over time (Larkin & Hamilton, 2010). Once we began working, I was amazed at how busy the hospital was and the number of patients that we met on just the first day. I now believe that this placement will be harder than my previous ones but all in all I truly enjoyed my first day at the hospital. Journal Entry 2 I have now finished my first week in the hospital and I have found it to be continually challenging. I have had to deal with a number of issues such as trying to read other peoples handwriting which can be quite frustrating at times as I had previously only dealt with printed documents in my last placements. As such reading patients’ files proved to be stressful sometimes and there were also a lot of new abbreviations that I had not yet familiarized myself with and were frequently used in the files. Resorting to the fieldwork learning framework however, proved to be a big help as I sought advice from my supervisor, and continually reflected on my practice (Larkin & Hamilton, 2010). This helped me improve my learning skills and I gradually got a hang of the various abbreviations. A positive point of this week is that I began to achieve my goals as I got the chance to practice my manual handling skills with a patient who will need the help of an Occupational therapist once she is discharged. The patient is a 69 year old lady, who was suffering from Shortness of Breath (SOB), productive cough and lethargy with a background of Ovarian Cancer. She has one supportive daughter though she lives alone and was previously independent in performing her day to day activities until a decline in her health Post - Chemotherapy made it difficult to complete these tasks. She has also experienced a few falls in the past as a result of fatigue and imbalance. In order to discharge the patient, an occupational therapist will need to educate her on energy conservation as well as provide her with a fact sheet on managing fatigue so as to help her get back on her feet once again. The occupational therapist will also have to re-manage her home and add a few equipments such as a bedside commode and include services such as meal deliveries and domestic help for activities such as cleaning. A home visit was also recommended in order to address the fall risks that are present in her house. The home visit went well and it was recommended that all mats be removed as well as a reduction in the furniture to reduce the risk of falls. She was also educated on how to use the bedside commode safely and I found that the use of the international classification of functioning (ICF) in these activities were very useful. This model allowed us to measure the patient’s ability based on her health and how these two factors affected her functioning (Radomski, 2008). The manual handling I got to practice had to do with helping her into a wheelchair and transporting her to the exit. I was a bit nervous doing this and I found it a little challenging. I can say that my thoughts on manual handling have changed and it is not something that can be traditionally taught but requires practice in order to improve it. I got my midway report from my supervisor at the end of the week and it upset me a little as it was not beaming with praise. It mainly had to do with my language abilities and he mentioned that my clinical reasoning and understanding was good but I needed to improve on my communication skills that patients could understand me better. Though I was hurt by this assessment it allowed me to evaluate my personal attributes and take the required action as par the fieldwork learning framework model. Journal Entry 3 I am in the final week of my placement and its unbelievable how fast time has flown. The hospital is still as busy as ever and though I know that I am doing best, I cannot shake the fear that I might fail this placement exercise which has become quite annoying to an extent. I am always using the fieldwork learning framework model and seeking advice from my supervisor on the correct action to take (Larkin & Hamilton, 2010). I have decided to shake off this fear of failure and concentrate on working hard and learning as much as I can, after all that is what I came here to do. I am now concentrating on achieving the goals I had set out for myself and continue to practice on my documentation and taking the feedback I receive from my supervisor into consideration, be it positive or negative. The supervisor has been very kind and patient with me and as a result I am now aware of my weaknesses and the areas I will need to work on. I am also practicing my interviewing skills with a few patients and it has continued to get gradually easier since my first interview. I was a bit nervous when my supervisor asked to perform the initial assessment with a patient as I was unsure of how to act and what question I should start with. The Person-environment-occupation (PEO) model helped with this process as I took into consideration both the individual and the environment they were in (Kember etal, 2008). I used these factors to asses how they will affect the individual’s occupation and thus I was able to decide on what questions were relevant to the patient. The PEO model ensures that one is able to relate the factors that affect the patient in their particular surroundings and thus determine the best way to deal with their condition (Kember etal, 2008). I was nervous at the beginning of the interview but I gradually got comfortable with my abilities and future interviews after this were easier to conduct as I learnt from my past experiences. I still have to improve as I sometimes find it hard to understand what a patient is saying especially if English is their native language but I believe I will improve and get better with time. All in all, the placement was a great experience and one of the hardest I have undergone but despite the challenges I have gained a lot of knowledge and experience. The placement has helped me realize that occupational therapy is different in their various settings and has also changed my mind on hospitals as I now believe they are definitely more challenging than I initially imagined. I have also learnt that every patient is different and thus one cannot use the same criteria to evaluate them if one is to be successful in their final assessment. One needs to take the time to learn about the patient and collect as much information that they can so as to give an accurate assessment. Critical Incident One memorable incident that I experienced was on my first day when my supervisor sent me to watch a shower assessment of a 79 year old patient who was in hospital due to a lap/open gastrectomy. The patient lives alone and previously led an independent lifestyle but due to his condition was not sure whether he was still capable of performing personal care functions anymore. The occupational therapist thus recommended a shower assessment to ensure his safety before being discharged. This was another example of the international classification of functioning in action. At first I was a bit hesitant as my culture does not promote such interaction with men that an individual is not related to and I was doubtful whether I would be able to go through with the session. Finally I had to think about the goals I had set for myself with one of them being increasing confidentiality when dealing with patients especially men so I steeled my nerves and continued through the process. The supervisor was very considerate with my position and she allowed me to not directly watch the patient while explaining the issues that were involved with this process. In all honesty I was not comfortable with seeing the patient undressing so I concentrated on what my supervisor was saying instead. This experience helped me learn the various circumstances I may find myself in as an occupational therapist and taught me that I would have to reconsider my position on certain beliefs if I was to be successful in this career path. It also taught me to be considerate of others as my supervisor was with me and showed me that some issues will have to be dealt with in time and I cannot grasp every aspect of an occupational therapist immediately as it does not just involve educational factors that can be taught but a development of an individual’s personal attributes and attitude as well. References Kember, D., McKay, J., Sinclair, K. & Wong, F.K.Y (2008). A four-category scheme for coding and assessing the level of reflection in written work. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 33(4), 369 - 379 Larkin H. & Hamilton A. (2010). Making the most of your fieldwork learning opportunity. In K. Stagmitti, A. Schoo & D. Welch (Eds), Clinical and fieldwork placement in the health professions (pp 159 – 170) Melbourne: Oxford Press Radomski, M.V. (2008). Occupational Therapy for Physical Dysfunction (6 ed.). Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Read More