NUR1299 Foundations Of Nursing Practice
Question:
While longer lives are a positive outcome of advances in improved nutrition, healthcare and medications. Increasing longevity and the health care needs of the ageing population can have implications at both the national and individual level. This has implications to the economy, retirement planning, and the availability of health and aged care services. There is a diversity of clinical placements that provide care to our ageing population. This may include; aged and residential care; high and low care in the aged care setting, dementia care, rehabilitation and/or placement within a hospital or multipurpose health service. This semester you will be attending clinical placement, for many of you this may be your first experience into aged care.
Task:
This assignment is a two part assignment, it involves (1) clinical preparation and (2) personal reflection. Students are strongly encouraged to complete clinical preparation prior to clinical placement and personal reflection upon completion.
(1) Clinical preparation should be completed prior to any clinical placement. Learning needs identified may be used to inform the smart goals utilised on clinical placement. Therefore aim to complete this component prior to clinical placement.
This assignment requires you to explore the facility you will be attending. As a large number of students will be attending, please do not directly contact the facility. Information can be found by conducting web searches of the facilities and health services. Information may include:
- Background information of the facility
- Types of residents
- Models of care and staffing
Ageing is associated with a decline in health and functioning, with many health conditions and associated impairments. Many students find these clinical conditions and associated end-of life treatments confronting and this may be present a significant barrier to learning and clinical engagement.
In preparation for clinical placement, we are asking you to develop a greater understanding of a degenerative clinical condition you may encounter (some of these may be discussed, in the information relating to the facility/health service).
These conditions may include;
- Parkinson’s disease
- dementia
- acute delirium
- osteoarthritis
- osteoporosis
- hearing/vision impairments
- chronic cardiac failure
- chronic respiratory failure.
Please provide an explanation of these conditions and treatments (palliative care/end of life cares). Consider care requirements relating to the condition/treatment. Relate these cares to how they will pertain to your role as a student nurses completing duties with an Assistant in Nursing (AIN), Personal Care Worker (PCW) and Registered Nurse (RN).
(2) Reflection is a personal response to your clinical experiences and for this assignment will not be graded, however marks will be deducted for non-inclusion. Students are encouraged to review the Gibbs Reflective Cycle (below), to inform writing for future assessment pieces.
Answer:
Introduction
Registered nurses play a critical role in care delivery. However, before becoming registered nurses, nursing students go through thorough training to equip themselves with the necessary skills of delivering quality care (Amiribesheli & Bouchachia, 2018). For example, as part of the nursing student’s learning process, all nursing students must go on Placement in different healthcare facilities to get practical experience of handling the needs of different patients effectively. In this paper, I will describe the health facility I have been attached as a nursing student and the degenerative condition that I was handling with the help of RN. I will also outline the care requirements for dementia patients and my duties in providing these requirements.
Part 1
Description of the facility
Blue care-Flinders view Nowlanvil aged care facility is a healthcare facility that is located in Queensland Australia. The organization is believed to have started in 1953 with only one nurse who used to visit and attend to patients in their homes (Chenoweth et al. , 2015). Currently, the facility serves more than 3 million people across Queensland. The mission statement of the hospital stipulates that the hospital exists to improve the health of communities, individuals and families of people in Queensland and the surroundings by reaching out to them directly and offer compassionate care (Carder , 2017). Blue care-Flinders view facility is majorly an old people’s homes because the facility provides aged care. The models of care provided in this facility include in-home care, disability services, and supported retirement living. Currently, the facility has more than 8 000 staff which comprises personal carers, nurses, administrators, and volunteers.
Description of degenerative condition
Dementia is a degenerative condition that is characterized by declined mentality ability that causes memory loss, thinking problems and poor concentration as well as problem-solving (Lee et al., 2017). Dementia results when the part of the brain that deals with the thought process is damaged. Currently, it’s estimated that 7% of all adults aged above 60 years of age are suffering from dementia (Smythe et al., 2017). The symptoms of dementia have largely influenced care delivery to dementia patients. For example, as a result of declined mental ability that affects memory and problem solving, healthcare providers cannot obtain informed consent from these patients since the patient cannot make the right decisions about their health (Samson et al., 2015).
Descriptions of the care requirements of the condition
One of the care requirements for dementia patients is the availability of support groups. Caring for dementia patients is not an easy task, and more often, a caregiver may need help and support from other caregivers to deliver effective care (Carder , 2017). Another care requirement is the provision of a safe environment. The safe functional environment for dementia patients can be provided by minimizing noise and confusing stimuli. The third care requirement is advanced staff training on the current practices of dementia care to keep the nurses up to date.
Description of my duties
Based on the care requirements above, my duties as a nursing student on placement will involve first, offering support to the registered nurse whenever the need arises. For example, I will be offering medication to dementia patients upon the approval of the registered nurse. Also, I will be responsible for the provision of a safe environment for dementia patients in the hospital by removing objects that cause unnecessary noise and confusion stimuli to patients in the hospital. Further to this, I will be joining the RN in attending seminars on current practices of dementia care to advance my skills in dementia care.
Conclusion
Nursing students will become RNs after completing their studies. Since registered nurses play a critical role in delivering quality care that meets the needs in the hospital, nursing students need to undergo thorough training to equip themselves with the necessary skills of delivering quality care. Going on placement is one of the ways that nursing students can be equipped with practical experience that will make them robust in their roles as RNs in the future.
Part 2
Description: During my placement, I was working under a registered nurse in delivering quality care for dementia patients. However, my experience with one dementia patient is what I will never forget. This patient by the name Joseph refused to take drugs despite my efforts to make him take the drugs. As a nursing student on placement, I had to consult the RN for the next course action.
Feelings: This was a very unique experience for me. This is so because the patients I was handling before were responsive to treatment very well. Therefore, I hand no skills and knowledge of handling unresponsive patients. That is why I had to consult the RN.
Evaluation: Since some patients can be unresponsive to care, nursing students need to be equipped with skills of handling different types of patients during care delivery.
Analysis: The needs of patients are unique. That is why the care requirements for dementia patients are different from those suffering from other conditions. It’s therefore, important for nursing students to get the experience of meeting different needs of patients.
Conclusion and plan of action: The experience with this patient has greatly influenced my future nursing practice. This is so because when such a scenario arises in the future, I will be able to handle it effectively by collaborating with other nurses to deliver quality care.
References
Amiribesheli, M., & Bouchachia, H. (2018). A tailored smart home for dementia care. Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing, 9(6), 1755-1782.
Chenoweth, L., Jeon, Y. H., Stein-Parbury, J., Forbes, I., Fleming, R., Cook, J., … & Tinslay, L. (2015). PerCEN trial participant perspectives on the implementation and outcomes of person-centered dementia care and environments. International Psychogeriatrics, 27(12), 2045-2057.
Carder, P. C. (2017). State regulatory approaches for dementia care in residential care and assisted living. The Gerontologist, 57(4), 776-786.
Lee, R. P., Bamford, C., Poole, M., McLellan, E., Exley, C., & Robinson, L. (2017). End of life care for people with dementia: The views of health professionals, social care service managers and frontline staff on key requirements for good practice. PloS one, 12(6), e0179355.
Smythe, A., Jenkins, C., Galant-Miecznikowska, M., Bentham, P., & Oyebode, J. (2017). A qualitative study investigating training requirements of nurses working with people with dementia in nursing homes. Nurse education today, 50, 119-123.
Samson, S., Clément, S., Narme, P., Schiaratura, L., & Ehrlé, N. (2015). Efficacy of musical interventions in dementia: methodological requirements of nonpharmacological trials. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1337(1), 249-255.
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