Nursing Knowledge



Nursing Knowledge

Narrative

Morning shifts customarily includes showering patients, making beds, medication and breakfast. This is performed every day during the morning shift which helps me to feel like a nurse. I perform all the duties needed to take care of patients. Once these issues get settled after lunch, I take it as a fantastic opportunity to begin writing in my nursing notes. One day, I arrived at the nurses' station and began to write. Approximately five minutes after I had arrived the bell of room 5c started ringing. The nurse, that attends the room had a half-an hour lunch break, so I decided to answer the bell. The ward, I got placed on, had a team nursing environment, therefore, all nursing staff worked together to provide optimal care for all patients and help each in various situations.

As i reached the bedside of room 5c, I read the patient's name pinned up on the board above her head. Instantly I remembered, that she mentioned during handover that morning, and, expected to attend a family meeting at 1550hrs that afternoon. Sons had a dispute as to whether to put their mother in a nursing home or whether to let her stay at her residential home. I went and sat beside her bed and said “are you okay there Mrs Green?”. It took some time for her to reply, when she did she simply said, “No, I am in pain. I would like some Morphine.” At this point, I conducted a pain assessment on Mrs Green. According to the pain assessment, Mrs Green appeared to be in moderate pain when asked to regard the location of the pain, she looked slightly confused and said, “everywhere”. Once I finished conducting a pain assessment, I went and checked Mrs Greens chart to see her next appointment for the assessment of a pain relief. According to Mrs Greens chart, she last received pain relief at 1150hrs and was not due for another three hours. Once checking Mrs Greens drug chart, I also went through her files to read her nursing notes and health history to gain a better understanding of her situation. This got done in order to provide her an optimal nursing care to alleviate pain. Mrs Green's file stated that she has a history of chronic pain in her left leg due to a previous fractured Neck of Femur, and, she repeatedly complained of pain in her left leg because of the injury. After reading her files, I realised that she did not only complain of her usual pain in her left leg yet complained of pain in the entire body. At that moment, I realized that it was possibly the family meeting that bothered Mrs Green also influenced the pain of Mrs Green which she was experiencing.

At this point, I thought like a nurse. As Mrs Green had already had her pain medication, and, her addition pain, caused due to anxiety I took a, holistic, caring approach towards her pain ...