REFLECTION #1
| What was the nature of the CPD activity and/or practice-related feedback and/or event or experience in your practice? |
| When I started my first placement this year, I started to feel unwell a lot of times resulting for my attendance to become low. Missing those days has affected my opportunity to expose myself on the theatres as well as learn well. In addition to that, I was also having a hard time completing all the necessary things needed for my epad resulting to stress and increased anxiety. |
| What did you learn from the CPD activity and/or feedback and/or event or experience in your practice? |
| I have learned at this time how important taking care of yourself is at all times. In order to provide care to patients, I must take care of myself first otherwise, I wont be able to give my best. Not only that, critically thinking and focusing would also be difficult due to the fatigue and stress causing more room for mistakes and harm that can affect the patient. |
| How did you change or improve your practice as a result? |
| Because of this experience, I tried to put myself into a routine where I will sleep at 10pm everyday or earlier if possible in order to have enough rest after work, class or even day off. I also made it a habit to drink vitamins to boost my immune system as well as eat healthily as much possible. This in turn has helped me reduce times of calling sick and missing out university as well as helped boost my confidence that I can give my 100%. |
| How is this relevant to the Code
Select one or more themes: Prioritise people – Practise effectively – Preserve safety – Promote professionalism and trust |
| I believe that this experience is relevant to the code of preserving safety to patients as ensuring that you are well and rested is an important part of safeguarding yourself and your patients. |
REFLECTION #2
| What was the nature of the CPD activity and/or practice-related feedback and/or event or experience in your practice? |
| During my insight placement, there was an incident where the patient was having an episode. The patient is known to have episodes where he swears and becomes racist, although he doesn’t physically hurt anyone. When I was on shift, he had an episode and the nurses told us that he has a history of these events and that he would often settle down after a while. However, the patient confronted a security guard and called him racist words. The security guard did not back down and instead, went to the patient and had a stare down with him. The nurses got involved and separated the two, but this incident was unforgettable for me since its the first time I was able to witness a patient under these circumstances. |
| What did you learn from the CPD activity and/or feedback and/or event or experience in your practice? |
| Through this experience, I was able to realise how important professionalism and conflict resolution is as a nurse. If the nurses had not intercepted and de escalated the situation, there could be a risk of violence between the two. Professionalism is also highlighted in this incident because in situations like these, it is important that nurses remind themselves that significance of duty of care. |
| How did you change or improve your practice as a result? |
| Because of this, I focused more on ways how to de escalate situations like this by looking back and reflecting on the incident. I would think to myself, what if I was the only one there and the nurses were busy helping other patients, what would I do? How would I manage the situation and prevent harm from occurring? |
| How is this relevant to the Code?
Select one or more themes: Prioritise people – Practise effectively – Preserve safety – Promote professionalism and trust |
| I believe that practising effectively and preserving safety come hand in hand in this incident as by practising effectively, situations like this can be resolved and if not , observation and assessment skills would be necessary identifying when to back down and ask for help. On the other hand, preserving safety is also important as defusing situations like this could help prevent greater harm from happening. |
REFLECTION #3
| What was the nature of the CPD activity and/or practice-related feedback and/or event or experience in your practice? |
| During one of my shift in the community, we visited an elderly woman who we needed to take bloods for her tests. in the phone, she sounded really agitated and unavailable for visits impromptu as she needed to plan her day causing us to reschedule. Unfortunately, this led us to assume that she might be a patient who will be mean towards nurses and unengaging. When we came to visit her, she was very welcoming and told us that she is experiencing osteoporsis and had difficulty mobilising. She also explained and said sorry as she was not able to accommodate us last time for a visit as she needed to plan her day out because of her conditions and the amount of appointments she needed. Upon taking her blood, she was really engaging and told us that she’s really frustrated about the condition she is in as this has led her to be unable to go to work anymore. She also said that its difficult for her as she is house bound and that often times, she feels that mentally, health care practitioners are unaware of how this impacts patients. While saying that, we can see her almost tearing up and this has made me feel guilty about thinking bad about her and is a great eye opener and lesson for me. |
| What did you learn from the CPD activity and/or feedback and/or event or experience in your practice? |
| I learned during this event how important parity of esteem is for patients and focus on this aspect is paramount. I also learned greatly how assuming about a person can affect your practice and that this should never happen again. Assuming about a patient without seeing them can cause mistakes and wrong impressions about them. Often times, their reactions and attitude are influenced by their condition thus, needing for a greater understanding.
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| How did you change or improve your practice as a result? |
| Since then, I tried my best to not assume about a patient and become much more understanding and open minded to prevent this from occurring again. |
| How is this relevant to the Code?
Select one or more themes: Prioritise people – Practise effectively – Preserve safety – Promote professionalism and trust |
| I believe that this incident is relevant to promoting professionalism and trust as nurses should always keep in mind that their actions are observed by patients and any mistakes can cause mistrust affecting not only the nurses but, health care professionals in general. Not only that, by being professional, mistakes like this can be prevented and duty of care will be promoted.
I also think that prioritising people is in line with this event as sometimes, nurses tend to forget that the patients are in a situation where their emotions are affected by what they are experiencing. During these times, reminding ourselves that empathy and prioritising them is paramount. |
REFLECTION #4
| What was the nature of the CPD activity and/or practice-related feedback and/or event or experience in your practice? |
| During the day, our lecturers introduced a new software that allows us, student nurses, to interact with virtual patients and help them with their acute clinical situations. Using this, we are to press (using the mouse) on different equipments, communicate with patients, take histories and perform different tests. Through these investigations, we are to escalate it, identify a possible diagnosis and provide interventions in order for them to become stable or prevent deterioration. |
| What did you learn from the CPD activity and/or feedback and/or event or experience in your practice? |
| This activity has helped me think critically and apply my theory in situations that resembles the real life. In turn, it allows me to minimise my mistakes if the situation presents itself in placement and reflect on how to improve myself. |
| How did you change or improve your practice as a result? |
| I believe that I can further improve my practice if I read more medications in the BNF and revise on previous modules. |
| How is this relevant to the Code?
Select one or more themes: Prioritise people – Practise effectively – Preserve safety – Promote professionalism and trust |
| I think that this is relevant to preserving safety of patients as using this software, student nurses like me are able to work on applying our theoretical knowledge without putting anyone at risk. This then allows us to provide safer interventions as reflecting our “virtual practice” lets us identify which area we should not have done and what we could have done. It also shows us the limits of what we can do and when we should escalate, handover and call for help. Not only that, because we have done virtual scenarios with real life conditions, it helps us gain more confidence to handle the situation when it presents itself and thus, helping preserve safety. |
REFLECTION # 5
| What was the nature of the CPD activity and/or practice-related feedback and/or event or experience in your practice? |
| During this activity, we watched 2 documentaries regarding individuals living with dementia. They al had different experiences, stories and struggles as well as ways to cope with the condition. In the documentary, we followed the lives of 4 patients including their relatives that cares for them. It showed the various reality that the patients and carers are experiencing and the difficulties they have to face. |
| What did you learn from the CPD activity and/or feedback and/or event or experience in your practice? |
| I learned during this activity the struggles of individuals with dementia and how different each individual is despite experiencing the same condition. It made me realise the importance of personalised care and empathy further as sometimes, we might misjudge people due to their actions however, it is their condition that influences them to act that way. |
| How did you change or improve your practice as a result? |
| I realised how paramount personalised approach is for patients especially with those who has dementia.
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| How is this relevant to the Code?
Select one or more themes: Prioritise people – Practise effectively – Preserve safety – Promote professionalism and trust |
| I believe that this is relevant to the code “prioritising people” as those with dementia, their previous selves seems to be lost due to the condition and by knowing them, understanding them and not judging them, we are able to put them first. In the previous elearning I did, individuals with dementia can be given care using out hearts, head and hand. Hearts by providing compassion and understanding, head by trying to learn mo and gaining awareness about the condition and hand, by supporting them the way that fits them. Therefore, using these, we are able to prioritise them. |
REFLECTION #6
| What was the nature of the CPD activity and/or practice-related feedback and/or event or experience in your practice? |
| During this activity, we were assigned to a group with certain topics to debate about. Our group was given the topic of debating that the covid 19 pandemic has adversely impacted on the development of healthcare. |
| What did you learn from the CPD activity and/or feedback and/or event or experience in your practice? |
| I learned in this activity that I have a fear of speaking publicly and that I lack confidence in doing so. I also felt that as much as I try, it is really difficult for me to work with other people of my group and this experienced reinforced it for me. |
| How did you change or improve your practice as a result? |
| I tried to see how I can try and communicate more confidently in front of other people as well as enhance my communicating skills
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| How is this relevant to the Code?
Select one or more themes: Prioritise people – Practise effectively – Preserve safety – Promote professionalism and trust |
| I believe that this relates to promoting professionalism and trust as being able to be confident about myself can show in my practice and help patients feel security and therefore, develop rapport. |
| Reflective account: |
| What was the nature of the CPD activity and/or practice-related feedback and/or event or experience in your practice? |
| During one of my placements in a recovery ward caring for individuals with mental health condition, taking vital signs were a daily routine in the morning and evening. However, during my time there, I have observed wrong practice in taking the observations causing results to be inaccurate. In the beginning, I thought that this might be caused by wrong information regarding how to take the observations however, as time went on, I realised it is a normal occurrence. During that time, I was pondering how to approach the staff in educating them about how to properly take the vital signs since I was worried that I might offend them, however, when I explained to them how to correctly take the vital signs, they were appreciative of it but, they still continued on taking it the way they were used to taking it. So, just to compromise and reduce inaccurate results, I tried to take all the vital signs myself whenever I am on shift.
Before my placement ends, I tried to escalate this concern to the manager and deputy managers during a meeting with all the staff however, since it was my last day, I am not aware whether any permanent changes happened. |
| What did you learn from the CPD activity and/or feedback and/or event or experience in your practice? |
| I learned from the experience how difficult it is to teach someone especially if they are used to doing the same practice over and over again. I also realised that when it comes to teaching, there are a lot of things to consider. |
| How did you change or improve your practice as a result? |
| Because of this experience, I decided to improve my communication skills as I felt that the reason why I was not able to make a change was because I couldn’t express the concern better. |
| How is this relevant to the Code?
Select one or more themes: Prioritise people – Practise effectively – Preserve safety – Promote professionalism and trust
I believe that this experience is relevant to practising effectively and preserving safety of the patients. Although, taking vital signs is part of the daily routine, it is still a crucial part of the nursing assessment as it allows monitoring and early detection of problems. In addition to that, by practising this effectively, nurses are also able to ensure accuracy of documentation and results reducing misinterpretation of data. |