My 2nd practicum placement is where I give care directly to the patient. I take the patient’s vitals signs, I prepare and administer the medications, I assess the patients for irregularities and I feed and clean them. My first week started with just one patient to take care of, in between those times I try to help out my primary nurse whenever I can. My primary nurse is responsible for 4-6 patients on any given day and so I try to lessen the nurse’s burden by helping out. From my perspective, on some of the ‘routine’ things that needs to be done for the patient, it is just simply done.
There are seven stages throughout a life cycle which are: Birth Infancy (0-3) Childhood (3-12) Adolescence (12-17) Early adulthood (18-40) Late adulthood (40-65) Old age (65+) Stage 1 (Birth) After birth Chloe will have several checks and examinations in the first few hours of her life. The first is the Apgar, which the midwife will do at one minute, then again at five minutes, after birth. The midwife can do this test just by watching your baby's colour, breathing, behaviour, activity and posture. This will tell her whether the baby has any immediate problems that need medical support. Most babies are fine, or may just need to be watched for a while.
Neonatal nurses monitor vital signs such as respiration and tempter, and perform any specialized feeding such as intravenous or tube feeding. They also draw blood for tests and administer medication, and keep detailed notes on charts. The nurses work closely with the parents, showing them how to do tasks, such as changing diapers or feeding bottled formula, for a premature or ill baby. This nursing job requires a high level of team work. A nurse will likely have great interaction with infant’s parents.
All nurses have a scope of practice they must follow but depending on the patient will tell them what procedures to perform. Some roles that RNs are responsible for are developing nursing plans, instructing patients or their family members how to properly take care of the ill, providing direct patient care, and also teaching in nursing programs. The direct patient care is when they examine the patient and record signs, symptoms, temperature, height, weight, and any other problems. (Daily Activities). Most nurses usually work in healthcare facilities unless they are home health care providers such as school nurses or for the elderly.
Policy Location and Procedure Our nursing policy is located on our hospital intranet. Nurses have no trouble finding the policy and are able to verbalize where the policy resides. Once the nurse has signed on to the intranet, they simply click on the policies tab, then click on nursing tab and finally locate the policy in an alphabetical list. In addition to locating the policy, nurses were also able to locate and show additional references for hand washing on the intranet. Policy Deviation Initial observation on the unit showed that most of the nurses follow the policy.
Promoting Professional Nursing with a School Activity Activity Overview The activity selected for review in this investigation was a health education course that was taught by both the school nurse and the physical education teacher. The nurse was consulted on the project to provide students with knowledge in specific subject areas including: nutrition (eating a balanced diet), regular physical activity, healthy body weight and the role of sleep in healthy development. This basic education program was provided to 1st through 5th grade students at a local elementary school. The curriculum for the program was modified based on the student’s grade level and the nurse was responsible for developing content in these instructional areas to provide students with four, 25 minute presentations. The presentations were included as part of the health curriculum which is presented to children each year in the first nine weeks.
Also there has been an increase in same day surgery where the patient goes back home following surgery. Patients need follow through visits which may only be done by Visiting Nurses. This aspect of nursing helps to reduce the cost of medical bills. The Visiting Nurse helps ensure that the patient’s condition is improving and coordinates with other healthcare team members to bring the patient back to a healthy stable condition. Visiting Nurse also provide services to patients with such ailments as heart conditions and high blood pressure by helping to monitor their blood pressure and also by teaching them the activities and nutrition practices that would help to keep their blood pressure under control.
During the assessment phase the nurse will continuously gather data about her patient. For example taking vital signs, observing breathing patterns and monitoring blood glucose will give us internal details about how the patient is doing. During this time the nurse will predict, detect or eliminate health problems. If a problem is identified she will develop a comprehensive plan and clarify expected out comes. For example the nurse notices the patient has an increased respiratory rate, she is unaware of patient’s recent activity but she sees the head of the bed flat and immediately elevates the head of the bed.
Assessment The assessment portion of the nursing process is a way to gather as much information about the patient as possible. The assessment includes a physical examination and collecting the patient’s vital signs such as temperature, pulse, respiration, oxygen saturation levels, blood pressure, and pain level. The purpose of the assessment is to establish the patient’s baseline health levels so there will be a database to refer to. A patient interview is also included in the assessment portion of the nursing process. The interview will help the nurse gather information about the patient that may be helpful in a diagnosis.
A midwife cares for the new-born baby, gives health education and the parents support for the first 28days after birth. They will then be referred to a health visitor. There are three types of midwives: Hospital Midwives they are based in a hospital or consultant unit, birthing centre or midwife led unit and the antenatal clinic, labour wards and postnatal wards. Community Midwives work in teams and they give the woman the consistent. During the pregnancy the community midwives will either see the woman at home or in the clinic.