Question

Personal reflection on meaningful experiences is a learning strategy that helps students connect classroom concepts to real situations. Reflection requires the student to critically think about thier experience and explore areas of strengths, weaknessess, and ultimately help to improve future nursing skills.

Followng your experience bathing and feeding a patient in the lab, type a 1 page reflection on your experience. The reflection should include your perspective as the patient and the nurse's point of view.

Answer 1

NOT ALL PATIENTS ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL NEED BED BATH AND FEEDING...THE PATIENTS WHO ARE BEDRIDDEN COMPLETELY OR PARTIALLY,SMALL CHILDREN,POST OP PATIENTS,AND THOSE WHOSE ABILITY TO PERFORM ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING (ADL) IS DISTURBED ETC NEED BED BATH...PATIENTS WHO ARE UNCONSCIOUS,WHO HAVE THROAT RELATED PROBLEMS AND ARE PUT ON NASOGASTRIC FEED,NEWBORNS AND INFANTS ETC DEPEND ON NURSES FOR THEIR FEED

EXPERIENCE AS A NURSE REGARDING BATHING AND FEEDING A PATIENT

During my experience as a nurse I have given bed bath to many patients.my experience was good.

while giving bath a nurse will have satisfaction that she helped a person who was in need of her

if it is a unconscious patient even we do not get any guilt feeling especially for a female nurse giving bath to a male patient

we alone cannot give bath to an adult patient and hence we need a help

when we have nursing aid and supportive family...giving bed bath does not seem hectic

in case of elderly conscious person or a post op pt after we finish our procedure the gratitude shown by pt for satisfying their needs is inexpressive.this keeps us motivated to provide nursing services.

while providing bath.......

BE GENTLE

FOLLOW THE PROCEDURE RULES

KEEP THE PATIENT COMFORTABLE

EXPLAIN THE PROCEDURE IF PATIENT CAN UNDERSTAND

TAKE HELP OF NURSING AID TO MAKE SURE THAT NO HARM IS DONE TO PATIENT WHILE HANDLING ALONE

USE WATER AT RIGHT TEMPERATURE

DO NOT GIVE ANY UNWANTED GESTURES WHILE DOING PROCEDURE

DO NOT TALK ABOUT OTHER PATIENTS IN FRONT OF THIS Pt

PERFORM THE PROCEDURE AND REPLACE ALL THE EQUIPMENT PROPERLY

All this would give a positive drive to work towards fulfilling pt's needs.

when you do something good you would receive a good response

i personally experienced satisfaction,happiness whenever i gave bed bath.the eyes of patients and their family says everything.we become a family member to them.trust is developed.they will open up with us and share details with out any hesitation

when you give bath to a newborn baby ,the experience is something out of the world.we feel happy,excited and satisfied from with in because baby is actually dependent on mother for everything but here we are taking up A PART OF mother's responsibility and fulfilling a baby's needs.that satisfaction is really soothing to our hearts.

even while treating or caring the young patients we do not feel shy or guilt because of the fact that the patient is dependent on us for his daily needs and it is our responsibility to treat them under humanitarian grounds

a conscious patient might feel uneasy and might hesitate..but our good communication skills will help us to get out of this situation

nurses life is usually stressful,job is with overload of work but we are the ones who respond to patients in time when they need or help.

while feeding the person also we feel the same thing because here the you are feeding a person and it is true that we are doing a great job and helping out needy people.

it is only nursing profession where we get opportunity to do humanitarian work along with our job.

----we carry home a bag of blessings for the good work we do.a satisfied patient is ultimate goal.patient does not get satisfied only with medical,pharmacological treatments but majority of recovery and satisfaction is because of nursing care i feel because all my patients used to give me great feed back and it all does not happen just like that. loads of effort,love and care goes into it.

major parts of nursing care are bathing and feeding which means that the person receiving this is completely dependable.

helping patient in this tough time will build a strong nurse-patient relationship.

i have seen many post op patients recovering fast with such king of nursing approaches.i feel myself very blessed to be a nurse and that i have got opportunity to serve the needy

EXPERIENCE AS A PATIENT

I was admitted in the hospital for my delivery and as i was a dependent patient i would like to share my experience as a patient

first day after my surgery i was shifted to ward.i was semi conscious.i partially remember that a staff nurse came in with all the necessary equipment to provide bath...as and when she told me that, i said NOO..i do not want a bed bath...she was very polite that she did not mind me and made me comfortable.

she gave me bed bath and because i was a postnatal mother it must have been very difficult for her to do that....i appreciate her care and concern and i so tried to make myself comfortable that she can perform her duty

i realized that when we put in our sincere and dedicated efforts even the patient will try to help us and make our job easier for us

the next day when i was allowed to eat,she walked in and asked me my choice to order the food...it was so sweet of her...because everything was going good i was happy and comfortable with the overall experience

but my experience the other time for other reason was not good because the staff assigned to me was really rude....when asked was any kind of help she did not care and that really pissed me off....

On discharge patients give feedback keeping in mind the overall experience with the organisation especially the nurses behavior...so in view of patient's perspective i feel bed bath and feeding experience totally depends on the person who provides us that care

  STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESS

STRENGTH----NURSES ARE WELL EDUCATED.

THEY KNOW ABOUT THE PROCEDURES CORRECTLY WITH RATIONALE

THEY ARE ACCOUNTABLE AND RESPONSIBLE

GOOD COMMUNICATION SKILLS BUILD UP STRONG NURSE-PT RELATIONSHIP

USE OF EQUIPMENT IS BETTER KNOWN TO NURSES

WEAKNESS----WORK OVERLOAD example:high nurse patient ratio

LESS HELPING STAFF LIKE NURSING AID

IMPROPER FUNCTIONING OF EQUIPMENT

LOW QUALITY MATERIAL EXAMPLE: NASO GASTRIC TUBE

LESS CLINICAL EXPERIENCE OF FEW NURSES

SUGGESTIONS

--SWOT (STRENGTH,WEAKNESS,OPPORTUNITY,AND THREATS) analysis should be done correctly and strictly

--Strong distribution network should be followed

--Highly skilled work force through successful training and learning program

--Reliable supplies should be supplied

--Successful track record of integrating complimentary firms and through merges and acquisition

eg.the place where i work had a merge with other health care company in supplying specially trained staff and special equipment for treating bedsore patients of our hospital.

--Automation of activities

--Raising pay levels--this would help the care givers also to do the work satisfactorily

--Introducing strict rules in the nursing colleges to train up the student nurses regarding practical aspect

--Encouraging nurses to move to clinical areas

--Having a senior,well experienced nursing supervisors in the hospital

--Providing in-service education to all the nurses and keeping them updated regarding the new reforms