Practical Aspects of Patient Care - Assignment Example

Reporting: This patient’s blood sugar level was at 16mmol and he was on an insulin infusion with an hourly observation for his blood sugar levels. He also had a nasogastric tube in place with blood pressure under a two-hourly observation routine and he was due for an x-ray on that specific day at 2 p.m. When dealing with the patient he was not feeling and in pain, his nasogastric tube was not in place. As a result, we should have attended the patient immediately as instructed by the doctor which unfortunately we did not.

Responding: Our first duty was to respond to the patient's needs and I being in charge of the other nurses should have advocated for a response to be undertaken immediately. We should have administered the normal saline dose immediately and stayed with the patient and give support to reduce anxiety. Anxiety is usually known for heightening pain and staying with the patient while relieving and stroking him would assist in relieving the pain since distraction assists in reducing pain (McGuire 86).

Relating: Due to my experience as a healthcare professional, I should have been able to relate pain and psychological experience caused by anxiety. I would have applied a stop-gap measure for the pain. Apart from administering drugs, I would have made the patient comfortable and re-assured him that the pain would go away soon. Since these non-pharmacological interventions are effective in relieving pain compared to the use of drugs (Lester 89).Reasoning: Based on this situation, the ultimate goal was for us to relieve pain and prepare the patient for an x-ray.

Therefore, the best practice would have been to make use of painkillers and administer insulin and monitor his vital signs. In this case, monitoring blood sugar level and pressure while at the same time checking on the patient’s pain tolerance. Making use of medical interventions is more effective compared to soothing and reassuring the patient. Reconstructing: Finally, analyzing the whole situation we could have managed the situation better by taking all necessary precautions and better planning.

We could have looked into the cause of pain to the patient while contacting a nasogastric specialist. Moreover, we could have used more of non-drug interventions such as soothing and reassuring the patient that everything would be alright. This would have been done by giving support and relieving pain while at the same time making the patient comfortable (Lester 104). Drawing from this experience, I have learned that I need to understand more on nasogastric ailments and study more on patients and pain management based on different ailments.