REFLECTIVE CYCLE

Reflective Cycle

Reflective cycle

Feelings

On reflection of the incident I felt that I did not act in the best interests of Ann, as the NMC (2002) (clause 1) states that I am answerable for my actions and omissions, regardless of advice or directions from another professional. I felt angry that I was made to leave a patient who was obviously very frightened and anxious, when there was no reason for me not to stay with her. Scrutton (1995) reinforces this by stating that the support of a friendly nurse in stressful situations can greatly reduce the anxiety and fear of the patient. I agree with this and felt that it was a shame that I was not there for her and feel she would have appreciated my company.

I understand that nurses are busy and have to prioritise their work but at this present time there was no urgent situation that required me to leave her.

I felt angry and annoyed that when the family came to view her body, the nurse involved actually started to show some concern for Ann when only a short time earlier he had no time for her at all.

Evaluation

It was a shame that a professional nurse acted in the way that he did, ignoring how anxious and upset she was becoming at not being able to breathe. The nurses` compassion and communication skills seemed to be very much lacking, not listening to her concerns and not showing any feelings towards her. Cooley (2000) acknowledges the requirement of all nurses to use basic interpersonal skills, to appear warm and welcoming to patients whilst allocating time and attention to communication. Fallowfield and Jenkins (1999) discuss how nurses can worry about not knowing what to say or saying the wrong thing when communicating with dying patients and their relatives, which can create barriers in communication. It was this lack of communication that led to a breakdown in the nurse-patient-relationship, with the patient being fearful of the nurses return to the bedside, and begging me not to leave her alone.

Which was also in contravention of the NMC Code of Professional Conduct (2002) clauses, 1 - 2 - 5 and 7. By not listening, reassuring and comforting the patient, all of this added extra stressors to Ann who was already anxious and extremely scared. I feel that I should have reacted differently in this situation and been more confident and assertive and stand up to my mentor and say that I would stay with Ann, as she wanted me to.

I could not see any good points at first in the situation itself, however on reflection of the situation I think it made me take a good look inside myself and think of how I would have handled the situation if I were the staff nurse, again I keep coming up with the same thoughts of how important good communication, compassion and basic nursing skills are, being there to reassure a patient when they are scared or anxious, also being there to hold ...