Interaction With Other Nurses

As an inexperienced nurse and university student, I have learned to ask other nursing students for help in any situation that is beyond my scope. I am only a year 1 nursing student however I have read many articles, and researched many theorists to understand the social fabric of nursing knowledge.

It is impossible to clarify all the relevant scientific, technical, clinical and human concerns in clinical situations. As new graduates in 2012, we will become aware that we can’t find everything we must need to know for clinical practice from text books and scientific articles. Even if we could as nurses, there would not be time to find the information as quickly to respond. “As beginner, due to inexperience you may not always know what to do in certain situations. You must therefore rely on other practitioners to recognize what’s significant” (Benner, Tanner, Chesla, 1997).

Clinical judgment is enhanced by discussing your observations and data with more experienced nurses. Even as an experienced nurse you would still consult with your colleagues, draw upon other’s perspectives and benefit from the pooled experience of other nurses.

Knowledge is nothing without practical SKILL

A good reason to be observant as a nurse can apply to this example of an inexperienced nurse and an experienced nurse.

A premature infant has an endotracheal tube taped in her mouth, but she’s extubated. But she looks like she was intubated. Her belly is big and her pulse oximetry reading is 60, and her CO2 is 80, and she is going AHH AHH AHHH, the ventilator is just going along 10 breaths a minute.

An older nurse with more experience just walks in. She sees the CO2 going up and the oxygen saturation going down and she thinks, “she needs to be suctioned”! So the experienced nurse start to hand ventilate her and the less experienced nurse comes over and says, “ I think she is extubated and the older nurse says YOU DO ?! The inexperienced nurse said that it has been going on for hours. The experienced nurse says “ get out your face mask please, im going to take out the endotracheal tube and we are going to intubate this infant”(Benner et al. 1997).

The inexperienced nurse, who let a critical situation go unattended for two hours, was counselled and given more development through clinical instruction. This is a prime example of not being socially aware. If the other nurse did not show up the infant would most likely died.

A well functioning team requires effective communication of experiential learning and a social climate that supports care. Complex knowledge, and shared clinical judgment and strong relational skills.

Even when changing shifts in the hospital, you rely on clinical and caring knowledge that you’ve gained taking care of your patient to the next nurse taking care of the patient. If you fail to notice an important clinical sign or symptom, your mistake can be corrected by others with more experiential wisdom and observation skill.

So to all the nurses out there! We are all on the same team making sure the client is being taken care of!

Reference

Benner, P., Tanner, C., & Chesla, C. (1997). The social fabric of nursing knowledge. American Journal of Nursing, 97 (7), 16BBB-16DDD

Stressed for nursing EXAMS?

Anatomy, health and healing, and praxis exams are on their way....

Stress is your reaction to any change that requires you to adjust or respond. It's important to remember that you can learn to control stress, because stress comes from how you respond to stressful events.

What can I do to reduce stress?

• Keep a positive attitude.
• Accept that there are events that you cannot control.
• Be assertive instead of aggressive. "Assert" your feelings, opinions, or beliefs instead of becoming angry, combative, or passive.
• Learn to relax.
• Exercise regularly. Your body can fight stress better when it is fit.
• Eat well-balanced meals.
• Rest and sleep. Your body needs time to recover from stressful events.
• Don't rely on alcohol or drugs to reduce stress
  
  

How can I learn to relax?

There are a number of exercises that you can do to relax. These exercises include breathing, muscle and mind relaxation, relaxation to music, and biofeedback. A few that you can try are listed below. First, be sure that you have:

• A quiet location that is free of distractions.
• A comfortable body position. Sit or recline on a chair or sofa.
• A good state of mind. Try to block out worries and distracting thoughts.

Relaxation exercises

2-minute relaxation--

Concentrate your thoughts on yourself and your breathing.
Take a few deep breaths, exhaling slowly. Mentally scan your body.
Notice areas that feel tense or cramped.
Quickly loosen up these areas. Let go of as much tension as you can.
Rotate your head in a smooth, circular motion once or twice. (Stop any movements that cause pain.)
Roll your shoulders forward and backward several times. Let all of your muscles completely relax.
Recall a pleasant thought for a few seconds. Take another deep breath and exhale slowly. You should feel more relaxed.

Mind relaxation--

Close your eyes. Breathe normally through your nose.
As you exhale, silently say to yourself the word "one," a short word such as "peaceful", continue for 10 minutes. If your mind wanders, gently remind yourself to think about your breathing and your chosen word or phrase.
Let your breathing become slow and steady.

Deep breathing relaxation- -

Imagine a spot just below your navel. Breathe into that spot and fill your abdomen with air.
Let the air fill you from the abdomen up, then let it out, like deflating a balloon.
With every long, slow breath out, you should feel more relaxed

Keep yourselves healthy students! The first semester is almost finished and Christmas is on its way. I tried doing these exercises and they actually work!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTFMUufEcrw

Culturally Sensitive in Nursing

What is meant by culturally sensitive nursing care and how does it apply to nursing? In order to understand culturally sensitive nursing care you must first understand culture and cultural diversity. Culture guides our thinking, doing and being, and becomes patterned expressions of who we are (Canadian Nurses Association, 2004). Knowledge of cultural diversity is important in all areas of nursing because it comes through communication and education between clients and nurses. Culturally sensitive nursing care recognizes the need for respect and acknowledgement of the wholeness of all human beings, regardless of culture, race, ethnicity, heritage, religion – everyone has a unique background. Culturally sensitive nursing care is a required factor that must be practiced. It is significant in order to care and understand importance to the patient, resulting in comfort for the family as well as the patient. Providing the necessary care is not the only value to a strong outcome, but communication and developing a strong client, nurse relationship. Here are just a few things to remember when in the hospital setting and you get a certain patient with a different religion.

First Nations

· They are very spiritual

· They believe in 4 sacred medicines: tobacco, sage, cedar, sweet grass and the natives “smudge” together for cleansing.

· Calming stones

· Healing wheel symbolizes The four parts of a person: mental (mind), physical (body), spiritual and emotional

Jehova Witness

· They don’t celebrate birthdays, halloween, christmas, easter

· They do not accept blood transfusion

· New concept of bloodless transfusion available

Caribbean Culture

· They give marijuana to their babies for disease prevention

· Respect their practices, lower class people of this culture may not be used to hospitals.

· Always ask if they are on herbal medicine, they can refuse any medication prescribed.

Hinduism

· They believe to heal ones self by herbs

· Tradional medicine, prayer and herbs are their healing beliefs

· Some will not eat eggs and refuse garlic and onion

· They do not watch tv or talk to someone while they eat!

Latin Americans

· Religion and tradition plays a large part on their medical choices

· Food defines their health – well balanced meals, never avoid food

· Shamon- natural healing

Greek

· Dancing is very important in Greek culture

· They never eat fish or dairy on Wednesdays or Fridays

· When they are ill they withhold from fish and dairy

· “blessing oil” is used to detox and cleanse body

· Priest visits and large families will come to the hospital

Muslim

· Some reject modern medicine

· The nurse must allow for Muslims to pray 5 times a day at certain times

· If a Muslim dies in a hospital the nurse cannot touch the body until the family comes , patient must be wrapped in white clothe, head must be turned toward the right shoulder

· They cannot eat alcohol, pork, animals that have died from natural causes, blood or carnivores

Reference

Canadian Nurses Association. (2004). Promoting culturally competent care. Ottawa, ON: Author.

Technology helping the way through communication

Technology is helping the way health care professionals communicate.

There are many increasing trends that are on the rise to better the nurse and the patient.

• Increased reliance on virtual teams- Rural hospitals do not have many staff members. By going online, the nurses belong to virtual teams and work with specialists that are not offered.
• Improved mobile healthcare- Allowing nurses to get into different cities and patient groups that can be restricted. It’s very easy to pick up technology and transfer it anywhere.
• Online Education- With a nurse’s busy schedule he or she can still learn on their own time.
• Patient Self Diagnosis- The patient retrieves education and treatment off the internet which leads to increased independence and no waiting!