This reflection uses the Gibbs Model of reflection (1998)

Description: I enjoyed my first week of placement in Jacana ward at Darwin

private Hospital (DPH). It was my first placement at DPH that push me little
behind in term of rules, regulation, charts and documentation. I have got
chance to learn about numerous nursing skills like post-operative care,
removal of drain, writing discharge summary discharge, identification of post-
operative complication that is required while working as a surgical nurse. I
have learned to advance my therapeutic communication skill that is most
essential practice while caring surgical patient.

Feelings: In the beginning, I felt hesitant to step forward to provide holistic

nursing care to my patient due to unfamiliar environment. I was nervous and
overwhelmed by the working environment of surgical ward. I personally felt
that the first week was challenging, especially for anyone who had never done
posting in surgical ward before.

Evaluation: I found it very different then my previous clinical placement

experiences. I also need to develop my confidence level in term of therapeutic
communication to build up good rapport with my patient, which could also help
me to understand their problems Therefore, being a surgical nurse I should
always be able to maintain therapeutic communication with the patient and
visitors in order to provide safe, quality and competent nursing care.

Analysis: Through my first week of placement I have realised that Patient-

centred care has been highlighted as an important worldwide issue in health
care but there is still a gap between what is described in regulations and what
is done in clinical practice (Jangland, Larsson & Gunningberg, 2011). For
instance the place where I did my first of placement, the rounds in this
surgical ward are based on the surgeons’ and nurses’ perspective and
competences. What ever discussion occur during round are not available in
written form its only in verbal not in the pt chart. In this case if that nurse failed
to carryout all the task and some of them are left then no one would know the
actual fact what to do next due to lack of documentation on patient chart.
Collaboration between professionals with different competence in a surgical
ward affects the care (Yngman‐ Uhlin, Klingvall, Wilhelmsson & Jangland,
2016). Hence, collaboration with different professionals for e.g.
Physiotherapy, dietician, wound nurses are very essential in term of providing
holistic nursing care to surgical patient.

Conclusion:

Even though my first week of placement was beyond my expectation, I have

learned about the various nursing skills that are most essential in surgical
ward. I also got good support from educator and preceptor. They both
encouraged me to justify how their findings could be implemented in practice
to facilitate evidence-based changes to clinical nursing practice.

Action plan:

For my coming week of placement I will make a plan in order to maintain

confidence level and provide nursing to my patient in time. I will follow the
direction and technique given by my preceptor. I will also continue my self
directed learning about common surgical procedure and their nursing
management.

Reference

Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by Doing: A guide to teaching and learning

methods. Further Education Unit, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford

Yngman‐ Uhlin, P., Klingvall, E., Wilhelmsson, M., & Jangland, E. (2016).
Obstacles and opportunities for achieving good care on the surgical ward:
Nurse and surgeon perspective. Journal of Nursing Management,24(4), 492-
499.doi.10.1111/jonm.12349

Jangland, E., Larsson, J., & Gunningberg, L. (2011). Surgical nurses’ different
understandings of their interactions with patients: A phenomenographic
study.Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 25(3), 533-
541.doi.10.1111/j.1471-6712.2010.00860.x