Child health nursing and general ward

Child health nursing and general ward

Introduction

The reflective journal consists of the clinical learning experience while presenting three issues that have experience in child health nursing and the general ward. Child health nurse offers regular health check-ups for a baby, advice parents for child care, supports, and cares for a baby (Cooper, 2017). The significant issues that are faced as a child health nurse and care in the general ward are hygiene practices in childcare, communication problems, and ethical dilemmas. The clinical learning experience is addressed in the reflective journal while considering the issues, knowledge, and identifying the learning points in clinical practice. Clinical objectives that are to be achieved include understanding an advanced level of nursing practice in child health and general ward. These clinical objectives ensure a higher level of standard to be made while focusing on patient-centered care. The goals are met while practicing child health nursing. Therefore, the experience of child health nursing is mentioned with positive and negative aspects in a reflective journal. Following the Gibbs model, the issues are described, analyzed, evaluated, and action plan was taken on the basis of child health nursing.

Based on nursing experience, three main issues were experienced by me in the child health nursing and general department. The problems are hygiene practices in childcare, communication problems, and ethical dilemmas in nursing. These are described in detail while considering the positive and negative aspects of nursing experience. As per the clinical experience, I have addressed several problems in the health care service where I was working. The issues are listed below to have a significant impact on positive learning and essential points that I will ensure in child health nursing.

Hygiene practices in childcare

I have been working in a child health care unit to which I experienced a significant issue such as hygiene and hygiene policy that was not adopted in the health care center. Working as a pediatric nurse, my role was to diagnose a child, provide medication, and ensure effective treatment for the child. On one such day, I observed that necessary personal hygiene was not followed in the child care unit. Describing good personal health means washing hands and keeping the surroundings clean in the child care unit (Hockenberry & Wilson, 2013). A child was born with a cesarean section, to which I noticed that the nurses did not pay attention to personal hygiene and child care. Continuous treatment for child and mother was provided but keeping the facts aside about health hygiene; the surrounding was not clean. This was the primary aspect that hindered my growth perspective.

While analyzing the situation, I addressed that doctors who were continuously in charge, lack a hygiene level that was to be maintained. The issue was considered a significant matter to be focused on in the future. I have developed understanding and knowledge about child health as I was aware and confident about my learning practices. This incident was an experience to which I learned to provide health care in surgery and medicine. I evaluated the whole scenario of the health care unit, to which I concluded that the child health unit should be managed appropriately with effective control over the health care policies to be introduced in the health care unit. There are several aspects that I learned in terms of assessing the information and gaining knowledge in health care. There is a particular risk that is associated with nursing, which should be considered by health care units to perform and monitor health care services in a multi-disciplinary team and discuss the best treatments to be provided (Ward, 2012). The duty of care was addressed with the health care policy that was prepared for doctors and nurses in the child health care unit. This will help and guarantee the health of a child while providing specific disciplines to be followed by registered nurses and doctors in the health care unit. Doctors and nurses should be aware of the clinical practices that should be followed to which quality care services will be improved in the future.

Ethical dilemmas

The problem of ethical dilemmas was experienced in a health care unit. As a registered nurse, I take care of patients in the emergency and general ward. One such incident occurred when the patients’ right was ignored. The ethical dilemma includes principles of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice; it was essential to making the right decision in a difficult time. I was confused in the situation when one patient who was recently diagnosed with cancer was informed in the wrong way. The patient was already suffering from diabetes and was reported of cancerous disease. The doctors and nurses in the general ward do not consider the privacy to maintain the information and to communicate such information in the most polite manner (Altun, 2012). In this situation, it was essential to focus on ethical dilemmas and to consider the family’s opinion before informing it to the patient. There are real-life challenges that the patient feels when moral dilemmas are not found in the health care industry (Gunninngberg, 2012). The bad news about the cancerous disease was a significant shock for the patient and family, which would have been handled with care and moral imperatives.

I analyzed the situation and came through the conclusion that it is essential to maintain the norms, interests, and code of practice in a healthcare center. Working as a registered nurse, I have learned from the incident that good judgment and the right decisions should be taken based on the right time. Healthcare practices can be improved while maintaining ethical standards and ensuring that challenging situations in healthcare do not affect patients’ lives (Gül, 2013). I must focus on my responsibilities as a nurse and would instruct the news to the family members in a polite manner and provide them the information that is true and with no logical confusion. Providing awareness of the disease and ensuring the right way of communication are the significant experiences that can be learned in nursing with a health care team support (Yıldırım, 2014). I have learned about positive changes to be adopted in the health care providers to which there are moral duties and responsibilities of a nurse. I will take care of the cultural norms that are important and include ethical standards for nurses and doctors. In most of the problematic situations, I have understood how to react and to make sure that the challenging situation is controlled without any conflicts.

Communication problems

Another problem that I faced in a health care unit was a communication problem. I was assigned one such case in a general ward to take care of cardiac patients who were recently shifted in a general neighborhood. There was a situation in the nursing care to which communication was difficult with family and friends of a patient. Due to a lack of translation service in the health care service, there are major conflicts and misunderstandings with the patient’s family (Franklin & Lee, 2014). At that very moment, it was essential to resolve the issue of taking care of the patient. The patient’s family is concerned about the health issue, which creates a major misunderstanding (Grant & Jenkins, 2015). It was then essential to talk with my senior and resolve the matter as soon as possible. This incident was a lifetime incident that I faced; if I had known the regional language, there would have been no such incident.

On the contrary, my supervisor was rude but quickly managed the situation. While analyzing the case, I feel that the only problematic thing was the healthcare team that did not support me when I needed help. I would take care of and focus on patient-oriented care services to avoid any misconceptions and conflicts. Assessing the overall scenario, I realized that the hospital should have a translator to which nurses and doctors would not face any such problems. With the negative experience, I learned that I should have known the regional language, which was influential in the health care unit. Communication would have been useful if there was no problem regarding communication issues (Ardakani, 2019). I would have understood the gestures of the patient’s family and would have directly communicated in such language. This would have been the best way to communicate with the family and to communicate information about the patient in a written format (Chan, 2019). From this experience in the general ward, I learned about the communication style that plays a vital role in health care centers.

Conclusion

From the reflective journal, I have addressed that experience makes a better person. I had faced three significant issues while working in a child health care and general ward. I have learned from the experience and have gained positive aspects about how to focus on ethical standards and work on principles to become a better person. I have gained knowledge and interest in health care with the experiences that I have recently faced in the health care unit as a registered nurse. The problems that I had faced are communication problems, ethical dilemmas, and hygiene practices in childcare. I have achieved clinical objectives while analyzing, evaluating, and taking action steps for the future.