Reflective Essay On Clinical Experience

This was the first week of this clinical experience where I felt that I was challenged with the patient I was assigned. I had to come up with ways to communicate with a client that was unable to voice his concerns and needs. During my second day with this client, I made a “yes” or “no” paper that he could point to in order to answer my questions. It was successful at first but as the day progressed he wasn’t responding to it as well. He was able to nod and shake his head, which allowed me to complete my head to toe and pick out the things that he was experiencing. On the second day he was experiencing chest pain and troubles breathing. This was the first client I have had who has experienced chest pain and to be honest, I wasn’t sure where to go with my assessments. After discussing it with the instructor and the RN on my team, I figured out a plan for what to do next. I recorded his vitals, gave him his prn bronchodilator, put him on 2L of O2 and monitored him every 5 minutes. As the morning went on, his breathing was controlled and his chest pain subsided. This was also the first time I have left a physicians alert in the patients chart. I felt this experience was very beneficial for my learning because I was forced to critically think and was pushed out of my regular routine. I was able to incorporate healing initiatives and see results, …show more content…
It gave me a better understanding of the level of change the patient was going through. I asked his daughter how she felt her father was coping with the change and she explained that he was very independent before this, so it’s a big change for him to be cared for to this level. She felt that he realizes he is 90 and that he may not recovery to the degree she would like. It almost made me feel down the first day working with him because I could see his frustration and a decrease in his