These reflections have been provided from the academic work undertaken from part 1

Your work is well structured, and you have followed the recommended guidance. You do need to work on your paraphrasing skills. You have written your assignment in an appropriate style for level 4. Your work is descriptive, you will need to move to a more critical style of writing for level 5. At times your writing style is too conversation, this will need to be addressed moving forward. Avoid ‘They, Then, We. Who are you referring to?

I will ensure that by year 2 I will use critical analysis when I am writing my assignments.

You have demonstrated a good level of knowledge and understanding on the two professional values you selected. You have also demonstrated a good understanding into the importance of professional values in nursing.

You have provided examples, linking theory to practice to help support your knowledge and understanding and you have also considered values as they align with The Code. You have also thought about how nurses can display the values which have been discussed. Continue this in future assignments.

A good assignment overall. You have demonstrated your knowledge and understanding well but you will need to develop your academic skills such as referencing and sentence structure to develop your work further.

these are reflections on my two practice placement in part 1

I learnt that working in transitional care with the transitional nurses there are newborn babies with a health condition called jaundice. Jaundice is caused by a built-up of a substance called bilirubin in the blood. Babies have too much bilirubin in their first two weeks also, it is a harmless condition in newborn babies that causes the skin and the whites of the eyes to turn yellow. Furthermore, phototherapy is used to cure jaundice in babies and they must an eye mask to protect their eyes and a TBC reading is used to identify jaundice. To improve my knowledge of jaundice I have been asked by the nurse to do a presentation on jaundice so that I can share this information with other students on my placement. The skills that I gained on this placement is critical thinking and communication skills in nursing because I was able to demonstrate observations by knowing the normal vital signs for babies and to be alert if something happens for example, if baby is asleep their vital signs will be lower such as their heart rate and respiratory rate but it will not be a concern. Another example, if a patient asks me to do the task such as getting a bottle or milk to feed the baby this shows that I am compassionate towards the patient. The attitudes and values that I have demonstrated in my second placement is respect, empathy and professionalism for instance I showed respect towards healthcare professionals such as doctors, nurses and midwives also, to patients because I wan to ensure that everyone feels valued as an individual and this can provide a professional working environment. The values that I think that is important in nursing are the 6Cs and they are care, compassion, competence, communication, courage and commitment.

I gained knowledge in my health visiting placement for example, in the child developmental clinics I worked with the health visitor and they do developmental review to ensure that the child is meet the development needs such as cognitive development, gross and fine motor skills. The red book is utilised to check for the weight and height of the new born baby or child in addition, this is plotted on the centile chart. I learnt that it is very important to ask parents about the child’s 1 year immunisation and there are leaflets on immunisation for new-borns. In the first section of the red book it includes the child’s name, NHS number, date of birth and other personal information in addition, there are many components such as birth details and local information sources for example, getting discharged from the hospital. Secondly, there are immunisations that are documented and information about the vaccinations with a vaccination time plan as a nurse will record the jab that the child has been given. Screening and routine reviews is utilised for screening tests and other health checks, the checks are hearing tests and to check the baby’s eyes. In this section the health visitor will do one and two yearly reviews to monitor the progress of the child. Finally, at the last section of the red book there details about growth and development and growth charts is used to record the height, weight and head circumference.

When I did health visiting in the community with practice supervisor she told me about a health condition that new born babies which is called the umbilical granuloma and this is an overgrowth of scar tissue during the healing process of the belly button (‘umbilicus’). It normally looks like a soft pink or red lump. It can be wet or leak small amounts of clear or yellow fluid. It is most common in the first few weeks of a baby’s life. I researched that cognitive and motor development can be investigated in young children using the Bayley Developmental Scales. Tasks are given to babies and toddlers, and their parents are interviewed. Two scores result : one for cognitive development and one for motor development.

Psychologists, neuropsychologists, or development paediatricians are the ones who commonly administer the Bayley scale. It is dangerous to take an arbitrary figure such as the 2nd centile and to declare that anything below that is abnormal. Not only does this label 2% of the population as ‘abnormal’ but some causes of abnormality will be missed. What matters is not the isolated value because it changes over time. Furthermore, I have learnt that the mother’s mental health is important because parents they may get postnatal depression and this is a type of depression that parents may experience after having a a baby. The symptoms of postnatal depression are constant sadness, low energy levels and having difficulties bonding with the baby. However, there are treatments to overcome postnatal depression such as cognitive behavioural therapy and GP will be able to make a referral for parents to have therapy and another treatment is antidepressants. Postnatal depression can occur during pregnancy and parents may have a lack of interest because of sleepless nights and this can trigger the individual.

There many clinical skills that I learnt during this placement such as plotting the centile chart in the red book and I managed to measure the height and weight for a child. In addition , my colleague who is a health visitor showed me how to document a developmental review on a emis system furthermore, I learnt how to carry out an assessment on a child to check if they have a communication delay and this is fundamental for my nursing career in the future because it allowed me to improve on my critical thinking skills and now I feel confident using these skills when I am on my 5 week placement. Another clinical skill that I gained in my placement was that I worked with a nurse at a learning disability school and she showed me the gastronomy and tracheostomy training equipment for paediatric nursing and this was very helpful because I gained a lot of confidence and I demonstrated these skills by practicing it on a mannequin and this can allow me to have more experience as a children’s nurse and I will be able to assess children in the wards that have respiratory conditions.

Attitudes and values is important as a student nurse because it can ensure that you have a professional behaviour in the healthcare settings and to underpin the standards of care. During my placement I gained values such as empathy and this is important in nursing because it can help me to build a positive relationship with the patient and it can form a trusting relationship. I am respectful towards patients and colleagues as this is fundamental in nursing because I may have the opportunity to work with other healthcare professionals in my nursing career and this can ensure that there is a healthy working environment. I have a good attitude as a student nurse because I am eager to learn new things as as a nurse I was able to demonstrate initiative in my placement by asking other healthcare professionals to shadow them and to participate in the care that they provide for the service users.