Professional Behavior for Care of a Patient - Essay Example

Professional behavior On my third week of clinical placement I was assigned the duty of taking care of a patient who is an alcoholic abuse. After thorough examination and talking to the patient i came to understand that she was single and lived alone and the place where she was residing was on the verge of being sold and she did not have any other place to live. On learning this, I understood why was the patient feeling shame, self disgusted, inadequacy and full or remorse. On continued examination of the patient I noticed vital signs which comprised of high temperatures due to the fact that she ought to have been dehydrated or having infections. After in putting and outputting water contents to the patient through oral drinking for 24 hours to act as a fluid balance, the symptoms showed the patient condition of vomiting since she felt nauseated. My buddy nurse then asked me to take close monitoring of the patient as she took charge of preparing for patient medication. I chose to monitor the patient temperature both in the forehead and in the back. To maintain the patient position I laid her in a lower position. A position where it is not easy for her to fall since she was feeling drowsy, I laid the bed rails up and the bell within reach so that if she experienced any difficulty she would press it. I continued monitoring on her respiration whether she continued experiencing shortness of breath. After that, my buddy friend introduced Potassium since it helps in correcting deficits which may be seen in the patient’s reactions (ANMC Competencies 5.2, & 9.3). I reviewed her medical records to find whether she was incompatible to some of the drugs we would have provided. I referred (ANMC Competencies 2.2, 3.3, & 4.2) medical and nursing notes to understand the best prescription for this kind of task. Since the patient exhibited symptoms of drowsiness and confusion I had to stabilize the patient condition. My buddy came with medication and gave her multi vitamins to try and assist her in adding up energy and strength to regain consciousness completely. The patient asked me to stay with her and I admitted since I had much time to try and talk to her especially as I performed Alcohol withdrawal scale while assessing her level of consciousness, her ability to respond to stimuli and commands and her ability of speaking and other behavioral responses. Being a student nurse, I provided her with a quite environment away from noise as I spoke calmly and showing empathy towards her situation especially since she kept saying she was feeling anxious of her situation of being homeless and had nowhere to go to. On the next day in the morning my preceptor and I proceeded to the client bedside where I introduced myself and the reasons we were attending to the patient. Since our client had a little bit sobered, we enquired if she suffers from any allergy when injected allergies (ANMC Competencies 1.1, 5.2, 6.3, 7.2, 8.1 & 9.1). I then checked on the condition of the patient and tried assisting her with checking her hygiene. I found out that she was improving and doing well. I calmed her and expressed optimism that she was to be fine in a short while (ANMC Competency 9.2). This incident has taught me the need to understand what is required before administering any drug or treatment to the patient at any particular time. However, in this task I do not think immediate intravenous infusion of drug would be appropriate without first trying to sober the patient from her state of mind. More so, it was the doctor’s way of administering the drug that gave me appreciation of the whole situation and through taking time to listen and talk to the patient I was able to understand the nature of the physical and mental state of the client. During this process, the team leader came in and offered advise on how to treat and contain the patients within the hospital who are checked in for alcohol and drug related conditions. In particular, I got interested to see how treatments are administered to every patient who is admitted. The things I have I have drawn from this experience are that, it is important to develop a trusting relationship with such patient through keeping frequent contacts. It is also important to help the patient to try decreasing all her burdens in life by trying to relax her and provide positive efforts of uplifting her spirits for instance telling her to be strong as she can go over this situation if she would believe in herself and have a feeling of self worth. In this case, I ought to have been more sensitive in the way I received the client by first establishing rapport and calming the patient. On the other hand, I feel I learnt a lot of valuable experience, lessons and skills on how to treat such cases in the future. I have also, benefited a lot from working as a team with my fellow nurses in areas that may seem challenging to me. In addition, I have also learnt to consult widely before making decisions on my own. More so, I have learnt on acquiring methods of administering understanding efforts of ETOH abuse and nutritional intakes which will help the patient feel well. A clinical learning experience On the fourth day of my shift, the second week of clinical placement, I was assigned four patients to be under my care. One of the patients was having a problem of platelet transfusion and for this reason it was administered rapidly as being tolerated within an hour’s period. On the same, I was given my buddy nurse tasks of close monitoring the progress of the patient in the event adverse reactions occur. Initially, being a student and not a competent nurse I felt scared and nervous since I hadn’t been exposed to such a task. It took me time think if I would handle the situation and this kept on ringing in my mind for this to take in effect it required me to demonstrate competence while providing nursing care as it is specified by the registering authority license practice, standards and codes, relevant registration and context of care (ANMC Competency 1.2). As a student interdependently and dependently I was required to assume accountability and responsibility of their actions and delegations of care. More so, I was to assume that I have enough experience and skills and that I had gathered enough strength of becoming a competent nurse who is ready to demonstrate capability of nursing that particular patient (ANMC Competency). During my attending to other patient’s requirements, it was my duty to check the patient after every 15 minutes, to check whether her bleeding was getting managed after post-transfusion in order to establish the kind of drugs I was supposed to administer regarding her condition (ANMC Competencies 3.1 & 5.4). The patient asked if I could I would provide her with my company since she was feeling numb in her neck and her face was becoming tight an obvious sign of having a red face. Moreover, the patient was complaining of feeling itchy on her palms and on the soles as they became red as well (ANMC Competency). In respect to nursing codes of ethics I rushed to my buddy nurse and informed her about the condition and state of the patient, she told me to get equipments of monitoring vital signs as we went to the patient. After we monitored the patient, my buddy went straight to the doctor to notify him of the patient situation. The doctor then came and asked me to take all signs of the patient as he took comprehensive and systematic review of the conditions of the patient. After thorough examination of the patient by the doctor, he ordered me the duty of taking vital signs observation of the patient after every 15 minutes for a period of two hours to administer the patient conditions and behavior. My buddy nurse then asked me to take close monitoring of the patient as she took charge of preparing for patient medication. I chose to monitor the patient skin since it appeared red and her sole and palms looked much itchy. To maintain the patient position I laid her in a fowler’s position as I continued monitoring on her respiration whether she continued experiencing shortness of breath. When I found out that she had a few difficulties I prepared oxygen therapy if in case she required one to assist her in breathing. After a few minutes my buddy nurse arrived with medication and she asked me to bring in the notes so we could check the five right of administering medication to the patient (ANMC Competencies 2.2, 3.3, & 4.2). In my view as a student I was trained on various ways of understanding practices within the scope of practice which involved various ways of integrating nursing and health care knowledge, attitudes and skills to provide safe and effective nursing care as being established among training facilities to help motivate and train nurses. At the end, I realized that, it would have been proper as a learning student if I could have provided and coordinated care through several ways of assessing the problem, implementing the situation, planning on proper ways of treating the patient through evaluating the real cause and intensity of the cut. For better results and to maintain competence ways of governance in the institution, the head of the departments came up with comprehensive and systematic approaches of conduct of in attendance. A team was established to try and make nurses to learn ways of evaluating care through coming up together in establishing and maintaining a therapeutic relationship which will enable them provide good quality of service to patients in the institutions. The aspects involved being collaborated to interdisciplinary team which will be involved in checking and rectifying the nurse conducts of service in the institution. References Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care and Standards Australia (2003) Open Disclosure Standard: A national standard for open communication in public and private hospitals, following an adverse event in health care, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra. Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council (2006) National Competency Standards for the Registered Nurse, ANMC, Canberra: Available at: www.anmc.org.au. Accessed:19 March 2008. Coady M and Bloch S (eds) (1996) Code of Ethics and the Professions, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne. Department of Health and Family Services (1997) Quality and Outcome Indicators for Acute Health Services, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra Fry S and Johnstone M (2008) Ethics in Nursing Practice: A guide to ethical decision making, 3rd revised edition, Blackwell Science/ International Council of Nurses, London/ Geneva. Holmes C, Thompson F, et al. (2007) Review of the Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses in Australia and the Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia; and the development of a Code of Professional Conduct for Midwives in Australia and a Code of Ethics for Midwives in Australia – Final Report, James Cook University and RMIT University, Townsville. Hopkins, S.C., & Lin, S.X. (2004). Primary care outcomes in patients treated by nurse practitioners or physicians: Two-year follow-up. Medical Care Research Review, 61, 332-351. Kerridge I, Lowe M, et al. (2005) Ethics and Law for the Health Professions, 2nd edition, The Federation Press, Annandale, NSW. Read More