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Reflection Essay. The nursing skill I will be discussing is bed bathing a male patient.

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Introduction

The aim of this assignment is to discuss and indentify a nursing skill whilst on placement. The nursing skill I will be discussing is bed bathing a male patient. A bed bath in this incident was necessary as the patient was unable to mobilise himself to the bathroom due to suffering from a recent stroke which had caused greatly reduced mobility. To adhere to the Nursing and Midwifery code of professional conduct (NMC 2008), I will maintain my patient?s autonomy, to respect his right to confidentiality. Therefore no names will be used. Clear verbal consent was gained from my patient as the NMC states (NMC 2008a), to enable myself to reflect on this experience. I am going to use Driscoll?s (2000) model of reflection, What? So what? What next? To reflect upon this experience and too gain knowledge and understanding of how the skill has to be adapted between males and females. It is also to enhance my personal and professional learning which will assist in developing my nursing knowledge. What? As a female student, going out for the first time onto a ward with mixed sex patients was very nerve racking for me. I was comfortable with bed bathing females, but the thought of having to bed bath male patients really worried me. ...read more.

Middle

I felt very nervous, but continued to wash the patients face. With consent we then removed his clothes, ensuring at all times he was covered using towels to maintain his privacy, dignity and (NMC 2008b, C). I could see he had his own body wash so I placed some in the water. I made a comment to my patient of how nice the wash smelt and how nice he would smell all day, he laughed and joked with me which helped to break the ice and for me to relax. Once I had washed and dried the upper half I covered him with clean towels and moved onto change his pad. I made the patient aware of what I was about to do. Before I began I applied a pair of disposable gloves as I would be coming into contact with bodily fluids (WHO 2009). I removed the pad and started to clean around the genitals, my associate could see I was hesitant and supported a confused face, as I was unsure of what and how to clean the penis. So he promptly stepped in and guided me how to clean the foreskin to maintain cleanliness. We then continued to communicate with the patient as we rolled him to remove the pad and replace with a clean one. ...read more.

Conclusion

Reference List Boyd, E. M. & Fales, A. W. (1983) Reflective learning: key to learning from experience. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 23, 99?117. cited in Reflective Practice, Vol. 5, No. 3, October 2004 Reflective learning journals: from concept to practice Karran Thorpe Dh.gov.uk (2006) The importance of hand hygiene: Department of Health - Publications. [online] Available at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Lettersandcirculars/Dearcolleagueletters/DH_063673 [Accessed: 18 Apr 2012]. Dh.gov.uk (2010) Essence of Care 2010: Department of Health - Publications. [online] Available at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_119969 [Accessed: 21 Apr 2012]. Driscoll, J. (2000) Practicing Clinical Supervision: A Reflective Approach. London: Elsevier Health Sciences. Legislation.gov.uk (1992) The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992. [online] Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/2793/regulation/4/made [Accessed: 19 Apr 2012]. Leonard, M. et al. (2004) The human factor: the critical importance of effective teamwork and communication in providing safe care. The international journal of healthcare improvement, 13 (1), p.85-90. Nursing and Midwifery Council, (2008) The NMC code of professional conduct: standards for conduct, performance and ethics. London: Nursing and Midwifery Council. Peate, I. and lawson, L. (2009) Essential Nursing Care: A Workbook for Clinical Practice. West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons, p.229-231. Pegram, A. et al. (2007) Clinical skills: bed bathing and personal hygiene needs of patients. British Journal of Nursing, 16 (6), p.356-358 World Health Organization (2012) Patient Safety; Save Lives, Clean Your Hands. [online] Available at: http://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/Glove_Use_Information_Leaflet.pdf [Accessed: 19 April 2012]. ...read more.

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