Episode of Care – Formative
Within your reflection, describe the episode of care and how you assessed, delivered, and evaluated care.
When learning how to help someone with person care with support due to having medical conditions I have discovered it’s not just about washing a patient. It is about making the comfortable and giving them company and someone to talk to. I think you must understand this isn’t nice for some patients as they want to be independent and not rely on others, so they need reassurance and understanding.
We started off by closing the curtains around the bed to ensure privacy and dignity was met as well as keeping a towel over the patient’s genitals when washing.
When we washed this patient, they were non-verbal which means they communicate by blinking in this instance or looking away. So, whilst me and the healthcare assistant were changing and washing, we told the patient exactly what we were going to do and talk throughout. If you wait you will get a reply or a facial gesture which I think is important to make them, feel empowered. Talking throughout our changing and washing is ensuring this is patient-centred care. We made sure the temperature of the water was not too cold or hot to make them comfortable. During the wash and changing we checked the pressure areas and making sure the skin was intact so we could report our findings to the nurse that oversaw this bay. This patient had bed sores on the sacrum area, so barrier cream was applied.
When we changed the bedding, we removed the old ones and put them in the correct bag and disposed of correctly. Then the water we used because it contained bodily fluids, we took this to the sluice room and disposed of this also.
After we had finished the bed was still laid flat as this is key when changing a patient, using the beds electrical system we made sure the patient was sat up and made comfortable. For this specific patient they lean to one side so pillows are put in a cross position to prevent them sliding down the bed. Then we put the patients pressure sore shoes back on they are to keep the pressure from the heels. Adding lip cream to the patient as their lips were very dry this may be because they are peg fed through the stomach.
After we had finished, we asked the patient if they were comfortable.
What did you do well?
Temperature was good for the patient.
We completed a wash and change.
Always communicated between us and the patient and me and the healthcare assistant.
Checked pressure sore areas and skin was intact.
Privacy and dignity were met.
What would you have done differently.
I would have looked into the patient’s condition further to know if there was anything we could of done differently when moving the patient during the wash and changing.
I would like to know how to wash round a peg feed and what precautions to take.
Work with a learning disability nurse to learn more about communication with non-verbal patients.
