Reflection In Nursing Care

This week I was given the same patient for both Tuesday and Thursday. When I came in on Thursday and saw I had the same patient, I was excited because I really enjoyed caring for her on Tuesday. My patient was assaulted and came to the hospital with a wound on her neck. Once the wound was cared for she was discharged, however, while she was at home her neck began to swell. The swelling in her neck became so severe that it shifted her airway making it difficult to breath. She came back to the hospital where they opened and stabled her airway with an emergency trach. She had a CT scan which showed an abscess, evidence of an infection and cellulites present along her mandible and sublingual space. For treatment a penrose drain was placed in her neck and ordered to be irrigated twice a day to clear out the drainage. She was given an NG tube and put on antibiotics and pain medication.
On Tuesday the majority of my report from the nurse was about how sassy she was so I was a little nervous to have her as a patient but when I went in I found that she was kind and cooperative but very stressed and scared. She was not able to talk but it was easier to communicate than I was …show more content…
Chronically ill patients require continuum of care. A nurse can help facilitate the continuum of care by identifying needs at discharge such as whether they will need PT, OT, a social worker, or need to stay at a rehab center. I was able to see the nurse lead in collaborating with the healthcare team in my clinical on Tuesday. The nurse recognized when it was important to call in the respiratory team to assist her patient. The nurse worked together with the respiratory team in treating the patient. The respiratory nurse made decisions on the interventions needed to treat the patient and suggested follow-up with the healthcare provider to prescribe a PRN breathing