Reflection for Infection Control - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theReflectionfor Infection Control Hospital Epidemiology. Answer: Assessment is one of the most important procedures in nursing care. Whenever attending to a patient, the nurse should take time to engage in objective assessment. Here, the nurse has a responsibility to examine the patient in entirety to determine the condition before coming up with an appropriate care plan to implement. As a nurse, I have assessments so many patients. However, in this paper, I would like to apply Gibbs Reflection Cycle to resent a critical reflection on an assessment incident in which I was involved. On this day, I was assigned to attend to Jones, a 43-year old diabetes patient who had been admitted to the hospital (Fairman, Rowe, Hassmiller Shalala, 2011). What happened is that while there are procedures which were properly done, there were certain mishaps which occurred during assessment. What I did right is that I made adequate preparations before assessing the patient; I successfully assessed the 5 vital signs; and properly carried out other essential activitie s. However, what I did not do right is that I never cleaned my hand after the assessment; I failed to properly document my findings and availed them to the Primary Care Practitioner (PCP). As a professional, I acknowledge that assessment is a fundamental procedure that should be properly conducted before making any decision to provide an intervention to the patient. I therefore have a feeling that I did a commendable job by making adequate preparations before eventually assessing the patient. It was a sign of competence for me to assemble all my equipments, thoroughly clean and sanitize my hands, and familiarize with the patient right before beginning the assessment. This is a good thing that is supposed to be done at all times because it can psychologically prepare a patient for the assessment (Matatoy, Reddy, Doucet, Zhao Zhang, 2013). Besides, I have a feeling that I did a great job by assessing the five vital signs of the patient. Here, I had to evaluate the patients pain, respiration, blood pressure, pulse, and temperature. Indeed, these are the most basic aspects of the patients condition that had to be thoroughly assessed to determine the normality or abnormali ties. Moreover, I feel that it was good for me to assess the patients level of consciousness and alertness. The negative aspect of my efforts is that I failed to do certain activities that I was expected to perform during my assessment. It was bad for me to ignore the patients skin, thoracic region, and abdomen. These are essential areas that were supposed to be assessed. Last, but not least, it was unpleasant for me not to wash my hands after the procedure and collaborate with my team members. I have a feeling that it hindered me from doing an excellent job. I would like to apply Gibbs Reflection Cycle to analyze this scenario by saying that I tried to do a good job. The fact that I prepared before actually assessing the patient demonstrates that I can be a good nurse. It is incumbent upon a nurse to do a number of activities before assessing the patient. The first thing to do is to avail all the equipments that are to be used during the assessment procedure. Once this is done, it is recommended that the nurse should sanitize the hands before touching or getting exposed to the patient. It is a good thing to do because it can help in preventing the spread of Hospital-Acquired Infections that might be contracted by the nurse (Kappen, et al., 2015). This is why I had to use warm water and detergents to thoroughly clean and sanitize my hands prior to the procedure. I would also like to point out that it was commendable to begin the assessment procedure by examining the patients temperature, blood pressure, respiration, pulse, and pain. These are the most important signs which can be relied upon before making a conclusion regarding the health status of the patient. Despite doing all these, I still did not manage to foster a collaborative approach with my team members especially the PCP who was supposed to be handed a full report on the PCP as per the requirements (Anderson, et al., 2014). The scenario reminds me of a situation that had been experienced in the hospital some months ago when a student-nurse was disciplined for poorly assessing a patient. Assessment is an important exercise which should always be taken seriously. In my evaluation of the case, I would like to express that the assessment procedure for the patient was a fairly successful activity. The efforts made during the assessment are commendable. It made me to learn a lot about assessment. The first lesson I learnt is that assessment is a process that should be properly organized. I realized that assessment requires adequate preparations such as the assembly of all the required materials and equipments which should be used when assessing the patient. I also learnt that it is important for a nurse to clean the hands before and after attending to a patient. From the experiences gained, I came to learn that the cleaning of the hands can benefit both the patient and the nurse since it can be a better way of preventing the Hospital-Acquired Infections that are common in the healthcare settings (DiCenso, Cullum Ciliska, 2011). The fact that I was commended for assessing the patients vital signs enabled me to know that an assessment cannot be co mplete without knowing the vital signs of the body. However, my failure to properly document my findings made me to know that it is a wrong thing to do. As an expert, I need to be a concerned practitioner who provides a clear, simple, and precise documentation for all the activities that I do. All these lessons are important to me because they will prepare me to be a competent practitioner who value my patients and provide them with the high quality care that they deserve. The experiences will prepare me to adequately assess my patients and improve my documentation and collaboration skills (Melnyk, Gallagher?Ford, Long Fineout?Overholt, 2014). I will always strive to foster a good working relationship with my team members. References Anderson, D. J., et al., (2014). Strategies to prevent surgical site infections in acute care hospitals: 2014 update. Infection Control Hospital Epidemiology, 35(06), 605-627. DiCenso, A.; Cullum, N. Ciliska, D. (2011). Implementing evidence-based nursing: some misconceptions. Evidence Based Nursing 1 (2): 3840. doi:10.1136/ebn.1.2.38. Fairman, J. A., Rowe, J. W., Hassmiller, S., Shalala, D. E. (2011). Broadening the scope of nursing practice. New England Journal of Medicine, 364(3), 193-196. DOI: 10.3912/OJIN.Vol19No02Man02 Kappen, T. H., et al., (2015). Impact of adding therapeutic recommendations to risk assessments from a prediction model for postoperative nausea and vomiting. British journal of anaesthesia, 114(2), 252-260. Matatov, T., Reddy, K. N., Doucet, L. D., Zhao, C. X., Zhang, W. W. (2013). Experience with a new negative pressure incision management system in prevention of groin wound infection in vascular surgery patients. Journal of vascular surgery, 57(3), 791-795. Melnyk, B. M., Gallagher?Ford, L., Long, L. E., Fineout?Overholt, E. (2014). The establishment of evidence?based practice competencies for practicing registered nurses and advanced practice nurses in real?world clinical settings: proficiencies to improve healthcare quality, reliability, patient outcomes, and costs. Worldviews on Evidence?Based Nursing, 11(1), 5-15. doi: 10.1111/wvn.12021. Epub 2014 Jan 21.