The Professional Practice Experience Reflection

How did the course of action meet my patient’s needs? Were outcomes achieved? What were my strengths today? What areas could I work on? What did I learn from my patient today? What did I learn about myself?

When reflecting on my first clinical experience, many moments of strength, improvement and learning come to mind. I am confident that I built a professional, yet therapeutic relationship with my patient as he was comfortable to share many of his emotions, fears and expectations with me (as well as a few laughs). I made the effort to complete as many tasks as I could concurrently to limit the amount of times I needed to go into the patient’s room, thus disturbing his rest or time with family. However, if something had to be done, i.e. pre-cardiac medication vitals, I prioritized the completion of that task.

Moreover, I believe I was sufficient in gathering the pertinent information from my assessments for documentation/charting, but in the future, I will aim to manage my time more efficiently to ensure that the majority of my charting is completed before I break for lunch, thus minimizing any delay or rush at the end of the shift. Another area that I plan to improve on is taking initiative. It is inherent to my meeker personality to allow others (especially those who appear more eager) to engage in post-conference discussion or volunteer when asked to assist with a task/skill. It is important that I vocalize my thoughts and take the initiative to engage in as many clinical experiences as I can in order to enhance my learning. This is something I hope to develop over the entire course of this clinical experience. In spending time with my patient, I was able to witness the vast array of factors that influence one’s hospital stay and overall recovery: family support system, physician-patient relationship, nurse-patient relationship, age, pre-existing conditions, patient expectations, healthcare team expectations etc. These multiple determinants must be coordinated harmoniously if recovery is to be expected. Furthermore, my experience with my patient taught me that it is not expected of us to have all the right answers, simply acknowledging the gravity of their plights, feelings and frustrations can built mutual understanding and trust.

Conclusively, this clinical experience taught me that despite my desire and passion to work in pediatrics, much can be learned from caring for adult/elderly clients. I thoroughly enjoy the unit we are on and can understand and appreciate its merit in developing essential nursing skills.