In this week at clinical I saw the role of the RN when I witnessed my nurse that I was with review medications with each patient and obtain an assessment about each patient. she was very knowledgeable over each medication and educated the patients about each one; some patients knew all about there medications and others had no idea what the medication did or its' side effects. The RN was very calm and used therapeutic communication with each patient. I also had the ability to assist the nurse when she had to change a wound dressing on one of the patients before they were discharged that day. The wound was not very big, it was a small wound on the lateral side of her right wrist. The process was very simple because the wound had already healed a lot and there was practically no drainage coming from the wound.
Changing the dressing on the wound was not a big deal for me, I have done it multiple times before at the other hospital with more severe wounds. I was calm and confident throughout the process. I was thinking about each step I was taking in the process as I was doing it, I wanted to know what I was doing before i actually did it so I could adjust my actions accordingly.
When looking back I recognize that changing the dressing on the wound was a simple yet important step before discharging the patient. The patient was going to leave and you do not want to leave them with an old dressing that could become infected. This could lead to another hospital visit for the patient that would be completely unnecessary. I assessed the wound and the dressing before touching it. Then I diagnosed the patient with a need for a dressing change. After that I planned my actions and prepared the materials I would be using. I implemented the strategy set in place to change the dressing. After it was done I evaluated the new dressing, which looked good, as well as the patient who was feeling well and ready to be discharged.
Looking to the future I will use what I learned about different medications related to psychiatric health in other settings. Also the nursing process will always be used no matter what field of nursing I go into. Using the nursing process in different situations whether simple or complicated it will help decision making and effectiveness of care.