Reflection on Experience With Surgical Wound Care

Reflection on Experience With Surgical Wound Care Reflective Practice is something more than thoughtful practice. It is that form of practice which seeks to problematise many situations of professional performance so that they can become potential learning situations and so the practitioners can continue to learn, grow develop in and through practice (Jarvis 1992). Moon (2004) defines reflection as part of learning and thinking. We reflect in order to learn something, or we learn as a result of reflecting, and the term reflective learning emphasizes the intention to learn from current or prior experience. Using the Gibbs (1988) reflective model for analysis, I will be relaying my thoughts and feelings through this essay which talks about my experience in achieving my learning outcome on surgical wound care. DESCRIPTION As I started my adaptation program in the surgical ward, I am expected to be dealing so much with surgical wound care. To reinforce my knowledge skills on the management of surgical wounds, I studied on the similarities differences that I have observed from our practices back home and from what is practiced here. I noted the different types of dressings cleansing solutions used and the different practices protocols regarding management of wounds. I observed how my mentors changed the dressings, how they removed stitches and staples and how they cleaned the surgical wound. I also observed how complications are prevented by providing patient education and observing the principles of proper hand washing and infection control. During my whole adaptation stay, I was able to develop my skills in the management of surgical wounds. During my previous training back home, we were not given the chance to perform procedures such as changing dressings, cleansing surgical wounds, and removing stitches since it was the surgical resident doctors responsibility to do that. Although I know how to do it due to the numerous times Ive seen them perform these procedures, it still feels different when you do these procedures yourself because you will be able to enhance the skill and gain more confidence when you do it more often. FEELINGS The whole training program gave me the opportunity to apply what I know when performing procedures of managing surgical wounds. Every time I finish performing any procedure, I feel really relieved knowing that I am enhancing my skills in this aspect more more and knowing that I am more self-assured with the experiences Ive had. I also became more confident with providing patient education and focused on principles on wound care hygiene, bathing, and prevention of complications. Aseptic technique was always observed whenever I touched the patients wound to prevent infection. Every time I come in contact with the patients skin, I always kept these principles in mind. EVALUATION The whole experience gave a lot of positive outcomes for me. I understood more about topics such as tissue viability wound healing and I was more familiar with the different dressings commonly used. Another new experience for me was when I was able to witness how to change vacuum dressings for a patient who had a chronic wound in his foot. As defined by Thomas (2001), Vacuum assisted closure (also called vacuum therapy, vacuum sealing or topical negative pressure therapy) is a sophisticated development of a standard surgical procedure, the use of vacuum assisted drainage to remove blood or serous fluid from a wound or operation site. I was amazed with how vacuum could help in wound healing. ANALYSIS According to NHS report, 1998, Wound care has, in the past, not been well managed because of the limited understanding of the healing process and the inadequate range of dressing materials available. Wound management has now come full circle, back to Hippocrates principle and dressings are being developed to provide the ideal environment for nature to do its work. Most surgical wounds are categorised as acute wounds, healing without complication in an expected time frame (Bale and Jones, 1997). However, like all wounds, healing is affected by intrinsic and extrinsic factors that may result in complications (Baxter 2003). Surgical complications include infection, dehiscence, evisceration or bleeding at the surgical site. During the whole of my training, preventing complications was another priority in taking care of surgical patients. The whole experience made me alert at watching out for any sign of complications by making sure that frequent assessment is done, principles of infection control are observed at all times and patient education is being delivered. Looking at the whole experience made me conscious about the great deal of learning I have achieved. I have witnessed how much I have improved with my skills with the help and guidance of my mentor. CONCLUSION Through this experience, I have utilized reflection to aid me in attaining an optimum level of learning by not only focusing on my knowledge but most especially on the positive changes that Ive achieved with my skills. Due to this learning experience, my clinical skill on surgical wound management was further enhanced. If I were to make any changes during my whole learning experience, what I could have done was to grab any opportunity that would come my way. When we had a patient with a vacuum dressing, I was hesitant to change the dressings because I was afraid to make any errors especially that it was quite a complicated procedure. Now Ive realized how much opportunity Ive lost knowing that we did not have many patients who had that type of dressing. This realization makes it clearer to me that I should be more assertive when opportunities on new procedures arise. ACTION PLAN This experience made me promise to myself that whenever I would be faced with more opportunities for learning, I would not hesitate to grab them. I should learn to be more assertive the next time and try my best to find more ways of achieving professional development. In the future, I would want to continue my learning about surgical wound management by keeping myself up-to-date about this topic regularly reading new literature. I would also want to know more about other types of dressings that I am not familiar with and find more avenues of learning through seminars, trainings and knowledge updates. Moon, J. (2004) Reflection and Employability, LTSN http://www.heacademy.ac.uk /assets/York/documents/ourwork /tla/employability/id339 _reflection_and_employability.pdf NHS report on wound care www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk

The Literary Use of Religion by John Smith and William Bradford Essay e

The Literary Use of Religion by John Smith and William Bradford Religion plays a major role in the day to day lives of the early settlers in America. So much so, that early colonial writers use it as a form of literary persuasion. John Smith and William Bradford were two such writers. Smith and Bradford use religion as a literary tool to persuade the reader towards their own interests. There are similarities and differences in the motivation to use religion by these two authors, yet the use is still prevalent in their writings. The reasons for these similarities and differences are found in the greater interest of each individual author. John Smith and William Bradford use divine guidance as an explanation for the reasons of their journeys. Smith uses the providence of God to justify his placement at Jamestown. Smith writes in â€Å"The General History of Virginia†: â€Å"But God the guider of all good actions, forcing them by extreme storm to hull all night, did drive them by his providence to their desired port, beyond all their expectations†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (27). Smith also alludes to the journey to America being a good action in the eyes of God. So much so, that God calls upon his powers and produces a huge storm to place them where God wishes. Bradford uses the necessity of spreading the word of God (Christianity) to explain one of the reasons for his voyage to America. He writes â€Å"Lastly (and which was not least), a great hope and inward zeal they had to laying some good foundation†¦for ...

Celebrity Exploitation

No to Celebrity Exploitation Celebrities have been the eye-candy for mostly all walks of life. Many look up to celebrities whether it’s because of their beauty, talent, and or their accomplishments in life. Because of those reasons, celebrity culture has become one of our national obsessions. We feel the need to know every single thing that happens with all the famous stars, and have no problem invading their personal space. The paparazzi make celebrities feel like they’re a moving target – even when they’re not in public. They shouldn’t need to feel like that.Celebrities should be entitled to live without paparazzi exploitation, because at the end of the day, being a celebrity is just a job. They are people, too, and they are not entitled to entertain us with their private lives. There are many celebrities who have their privacy breached, and one of the recent celebrities to be exploited would be Kate Middleton. The Duchess of Cambridge has always been in the spotlight from the very beginning: to every event she has attended, her wedding, and now, her honeymoon – which was supposed to be personal.Tabloids everywhere published bottomless pictures of Kate Middleton, while she was on her second honeymoon with her husband. I feel the paparazzi have gone TOO far, with breaching one’s privacy. Is it really necessary to take pictures of people naked (yes, celebrities are people, too), without their consent? Kate Middleton has always been a huge role model for many people around the world, and to have the paparazzi try to degrade her image by exposing her personal body parts to the world is not right. Yes, she’s royalty, but she’s still human.I doubt any of you would like to have pictures of you naked leak out all over the internet without your permission. Before the bottomless scandal of Kate Middleton, there was another celebrity, which in my opinion, shouldn’t have been harassed the way she has g otten for her actions. Kristen Stewart, a very well-known actress, who have mostly gotten her fame from being the lead actress in â€Å"The Twilight Series†, had been heavily criticized by society, because she slept with her director – who is married and has children.But for crying out loud, Kristen is how old? 22? Her brain isn’t even fully developed yet, since the human brain fully matures at 25, according to a National Institutes of Health study. Jodie Foster, a well-known actress wrote a critique of Kristen Stewart, defending her. She wrote that, yes, celebrities get huge salaries, but that doesn’t mean that the media has a right to invade their privacy, and destroy someone’s sense of self. Kristen doesn’t deserve all the crap she’s been getting – at the end of the day, she’s only human.All of us make mistakes. So many people have affairs and they’re not being bashed on, what makes Kristen different? Creating tabloids about her mistakes isn’t helping with her well-being, and that’s why so many young celebrities turn out to be ill and do other reckless things. Many young celebrities have been consumed by the media’s judgement, and end up drowning themselves in drugs, sex, and parties to try and get away from it all. A perfect example would be Lindsay Lohan.Lindsay started her career at the age of 3, and now, she is currently 26 years old. Being 26, she has already been arrested several times for reckless driving and possession of drugs. Not to mention, her wild party lifestyle at the clubs. Now, she’s looked down upon many, after each and every mistake she has done. The paparazzi is partly to blame for trying to constantly expose these celebrities and their mistakes, feeling as if they are a moving target, being judge constantly by society to fit a certain standard just because they’re famous.The last celebrity, in my opinion, who is a great example of g etting over-exploited by paparazzi, was Princess Diana. Princess Diana was killed in a car crash, while trying to get away from paparazzi. This is a perfect example of a celebrity who has been harassed by paparazzi to a point of death, just because they wanted to get the new scoop of her and her lover, Dodi Fayed. I don’t think famous people should have to struggle being constantly harassed by paparazzi.It’s hard enough having to fit everyone’s standards of being a celebrity in public -good fashion, pretty face and body, and personality. They shouldn’t feel the need to fit that persona when they’re not in public. In conclusion, celebrities are normal people, too. They shouldn’t get criticized by media if they have been caught by the paparazzi doing things that may be considered scandalous. I’m pretty sure many people do what celebrities do in their private life, in their everyday lives.Yes, celebrities make more money and are generall y far more interesting than normal people, but sometimes, a little too much attention from the media can affect their personal lives. Being a celebrity is a job. And just like any other job, there’s a time and place just to have your personal time. Paparazzi can take pictures of celebrities when they’re in public, but please, they shouldn’t go so far as to invading one’s private life just to gain money. Just try putting yourself in these famous people’s shoes – I bet you wouldn’t want your personal lives be exploited, am I right?

Essay about Drug Use and Abuse by Teens - 504 Words

Drug addiction is becoming a major problem amongst teenagers. Nine out of every ten adults say that teachers should inform students about drug use. USA Today Many people don’t even realize that they use drugs. Alcohol is a drug. It is the most popular drug in America. People also don’t realize that alcohol is addictive until it’s too late. Alcohol is also very dangerous. On September 13, 2000, I witnessed a crash by my house. A guy skidded across the road and ended up on my neighbor’s lawn. The windshield was cracked on the driver’s side. The driver looked at the smoking car and said that it was fine. He just needed to get it off the curb. When the police showed up, he asked the driver if he had hit his head on the windshield. The†¦show more content†¦More people die from D.W.I. (driving while intoxicated) accidents that any other way. Alcohol is also fattening. Why do so many people complain about their weight, and they still drink? What are the consequences of using drugs? Well, your school work will suffer. Many friends wont talk to you anymore, leaving you lonely. You will feel lazy and you will forget a lot of important things, memories. Drugs are also very expensive. Weed goes for about twenty dollars a sack and ecstacy goes for around twenty dollars a hit. If you are caught with drugs, you will either end up in jail or you will be on probation. They might also send you to a drug rehabilitation center. Drugs can also cause many different medical problems. Your brain, heart, liver, of other vital organs can become cancerous or have other malfunctions. Death is also a great chance a person takes when using drugs. It is very easy to accidentally overdose on a drug. People who deal have an even greater risk of death. If they can’t the specific drug a buyer wants, the buyer might take out a gun and shoot the dealer. Suicide is also a problem amongst teenagers that do drugs, Some people run out of money, and can’t buy any more drugs. 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