Collecting Data, Interpreting Situation, Reflection, and Evaluation of Outcome

Reflective Practice Worksheet
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Reflective practice worksheet
Situation
I had a female patient aged 77-years-old. This patient weighed 300lb. In the morning, she wanted her brief changed, but I could not change her brief by myself since I needed assistance from others to do that considering her heavy weight. I therefore asked one primary nurse for help, who said she was busy at the time and told me to wait for her for a few minutes to come and help me in this task. After waiting for her for about 15 minutes, she never came. I then asked someone else for help, a PSW, who also said that I wait for a few minutes before he can come to help me. After waiting for about 20 minutes more, neither the nurse nor the PSW came to help me change the patient’s brief. When I returned to check the patient again, she refused to be cared by me. She was angered that I had kept her waiting for a long time.
Background
On the day before, which was a Saturday, I had met with the patient’s husband and they both talked to me very nicely. All in all, we had a good relationship. My previous nursing experience with a similar situation is that every week at this hospital, I always change briefs of different clients with my colleagues’ assistance. My beliefs about my role as the nurse in working on the situation are to safely change the patient’s briefs. This task is to be done with the help of a colleague so that I do not cause any harm to the patient such as injury from falling. I will seek to prevent the patient from falling. I felt upset when this patient refused caring by me.
Noticing/collecting data
Initially, what I noticed about the situation is that the patient was very heavy considering that she weighed about 300 pounds and I could not change her alone without help. Moreover, her right hand had been amputated and she was not able to walk by herself. As I talked with patient’s husband, I noticed that her arm was amputated when she was just 16 years old. Also, she is very stressed and depressed sometimes, and has had both knee and shoulder surgery.
Interpreting/assessing situation
What I thought about the situation is that it was caused by my inability to quickly get someone to help me to safely change the patient brief on time. I also did not put the bed rails up to ensure safety of the patient. A potential resolution is that if I cannot find someone to help me, I should quickly notify my supervisor about this. The supervisor will then help me to change the patient without waiting for long. A similar situation which I have encountered previously in practice is that every Sunday, I usually change the briefs of different patients in the hospital with my colleagues together. Previously, the p...