Question

Caitlyn Smart is a 2nd year nursing student on a 4-week Professional Experience Placement. She has been placed in a large metropolitan public hospital on a medical ward specialising in patients with respiratory conditions. On the 3rd. week, she has adapted to the ward well feeling comfortable as well as confident being there. It is now Wednesday, and she has just entered the ward on an early shift. As always, she arrives about 10 minutes early. During handover Caitlyn is allocated 4 patients and she will be supervised by Registered Nurse Kylie Scott. She is told by the Team Leader Adam Vronsky that “Kylie won’t be here until 9am but I am sure you will be OK, just come and get me if you have any problems.” Caitlyn proceeds to go to and greet her 4 patients who are: • Mrs Maria Giannopoulos – an 87yo Greek woman who does not speak very much English and her daughter in law is present with her. She has come in with an exacerbation of her COAD • Mr James Smith – a 54yo businessman who has pneumonia • Ms Helen March - 65yo woman with pneumonia and asthma, who has just arrived from ICU after being treated for respiratory failure. • Mrs Vera Yardley – a 77yo woman with emphysema and who is non-compliant with her medication regime and smoking. When she approached Mrs Giannopoulos, her daughter-in-law tells her that her mother-in-law has pain and she needs something for it. She checks her medication orders and find there is no pain relief ordered for her. She then approached Adam who says “Just give her 2 Panadol and I’ll fix it up later with the Dr.” She proceeded to dispense 2 Panadol and take it to Adam to check who says “Just go and give it to her will you, for goodness sake, you don’t have to get every little thing checked!” She goes to administer the Paracetamol to Mrs Giannopoulos who looks at her blankly and says, “No No!”. Her daughter –in-law takes the medication from her and speaks strongly to Mrs Giannopoulos in Greek and gives Mrs Giannopoulos the medication, who then swallows the paracetamol. She then goes to document the medication administration but there isn’t a medication order. Page 1 of 2 College of Nursing and Health Sciences Bachelor of Nursing NURS2002 Professionalism in Action Assignment 4 Case-Study Analysis The Assignment (1,200 words) Read through the above scenario and isolate any incident that is about • Clinical governance • Professional self-care strategies • Law and ethics • Cultural safety Choose 2 separate incidents which cover 2 of the above areas and discuss why you believe that there has been a breach in the principles behind the area above. Further outline what actions that you would undertake to counteract the breach and any other relevant actions. You should research widely in the 2 areas and utilise state and national government policies as necessary. Finally discuss how this would influence your practice as a nursing student. Structure of Assignment • Introduction (100-150 words) • Incident 1 (450words) • Incident 2 (450words) • Conclusion - Influence on own practice as a nursing student (200 words)

Answer 1

Answer:

The essay should be written in the following ways described briefly below. The ideas should be elaborated to the required words asked for each section.

Introduction

The primary goal of nursing is the care for the patients. In a medical institute, there should be closed coordination between the health workers for a common goal. Lack of collaboration would lead to risks for patience.

Incidence 1: Clinical governance

Clinical governance is the shared responsibility of health workers ensuring the best care for all patients. All health workers share a common goal. The risk to the patient should be minimized. Everyone from frontline health workers to the managers should deliver health services that are safe and effective. In this case, in my view, Caitlyn Smart is good in nursing. She is punctual and well-mannered. She is obedient to the Team leader. Caitlyn Smart is a student and has not passed the nursing training completely. Therefore, Registered Nurse Kylie Scott should have directly talked with Caitlyn Smart of her being late and should have given some experienced advice to her. This would have caused Caitlyn Smart to least bother the Team Leader. The care for the patients is the shared responsibility of all health workers.    

Incidence 2: Law and ethics

Team leader Adam Vronsky should be more responsible in the care for the patients. His statement, ‘…you don’t have to get every little checked!’ is not ethically accepted in medical practice. Nurses are many times afraid to take risks in making decisions for treating patients, even though they are entitled and capable of doing so. Caitlyn Smart should be more self-reliable. She should grow and enhance herself through self-learning and self-training.   

Conclusion

This case provides me with the experience of being knowledgeable and self-dependent. All my activities should ensure the patient’s health improvement. I should try to be more professional in my training. I should always follow the laws and ethics of nursing.