Report of Personal Reflection on Nursing

Question:

Answer:

Description

I was working in the emergency department and there was a case where an accident patient was brought in. It was a serious car accident and the patient was a 23 years old female. She was shattered by the accident and she lost her physical and mental strength. My first objective was to establish a good rapport with the patient. Once I established the rapport, the next step for me was to bring the patient into confidence. I tried to take the patient into confidence. However, she was horrified with the accident and she was not listening to me. It was difficult to put antiseptic on her body or give her medicine, as she was not willing to listen to anybody in the hospital. We called her father but her father was out of the city. That was the time when I gave her the false hope that she would be fine soon. The accident was serious and I knew that it would take weeks for her to walk again. However, I was not able to console her and as a result the treatment was difficult. Therefore, I told her that she would be fine soon.

Reflection

I have a nursing philosophy to give my best while treating the patients. I believe that the truth should be told to patients and their ‘informed consent’ is necessary before making any treatment. However, the case of emergency and accident could be different and difficult to handle because the patients are not in best of their mental condition when they enter the hospital (Boxerman, 2003). In these cases, I always talk to the family members of patients. However, in the above scenario, the father of the patient was not available. I told the lady that she would be fine only because her condition was critical and it was important to start her treatment. I was not feeling good in lying to her. However, that was the only available option. I was feeling like an action maker with lot of stress. In fact, I was under lot of stress because I do not usually lie to patients. The ethical theories suggest that the lie is fine if it is said to save the life of people (Miller, 2006). With this feeling, I continue to establish rapport with the patients. Initially, it was difficult for me, but eventually I was glad that I was able to help her.

Evaluation

A person is the entity that is supposed to live a moral and ethical life. People would have to get the support of other attributes like environment and they have to support other attributes also. The environment would include physical environment or person, social environment, biological and chemical environment. The environment surrounds people and helps people to sustain. Health is the ultimate goal of nursing and nurses and doctors have the objective to provide quality health care to patients and society (McCalman, 2012). Nursing is described as a ministry of compassionate care for the whole person. Nursing is a support function that supports all the stakeholders to create an effective healthcare system. If a look back at the scenario, I feel that I made the right decision. Eventually, I was able to save the life of the patient and that what matters most. Therefore, I can justify my decision. I believe that the patient would be thankful to me for my action. The steps and action taken by me helped the patient to get a speedy recovery.

References

Austin, C. J. & Boxerman, S. B. (2003). Information systems for healthcare management (6^th ed.). Chicago, IL: AUPHA/Health Administration Press.

Kim, D., McCalman, D., & Fisher, D. (2012). The sacred/secular divide and the Christian worldview. Journal of business ethics, 109(2), 203-208.

Shelly, J. A., & Miller, A. B. (2006). Called to care: A Christian worldview for nursing (2nd ed.). Downers Grove, IL.: IVP Academic.