Reflection Week 1 Jake Dunbar Nursing Practice IV Laurentian University / St.

Lawrence College

Reflection Week One After the first week of clinical I was starting to create therapeutic relations

with many of the clients on the unit. I was buddied with a nurse and he was showing me the practices they use there, on that unit. as we were doing this many of the patients came up to the window we were sitting at and I was able to introduce myself to all of them and they were very interested and welcoming. I shook all of their hands and got to know many of their names as the shift went on. all of the patients seemed to be having a good day except one, so we spent a few minutes listening to her and letting her express her frustrations with staff, ex-husband, and her situation, she also expressed worries and concerns of what was going to happen while she was here getting help. She did not have to have to worry about have the stuff and we tried to get her calmed down and it seemed to work since we were just listening to her. The nurse then asked if she would like to have a sit down and talk some more, a structured session. It was planned for 1000hrs but I was not able to oversee this session, but hopefully I will be able to sit in on one this up coming week and learn how the nurses deal with this kind of thing, and maybe be able to run one by week three. Literature from the CNO states that therapeutic communication: Nurses use a wide range of effective communication strategies and interpersonal skills to appropriately establish, maintain, re-establish and terminate the nurse-client relationship (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2006), I did this by talking and introducing myself to the clients as well as identifying that I am a nursing student. Client-centred care: Nurses work with the client to ensure that all professional behaviours and actions meet the therapeutic needs of the client (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2006), this client needed to talk in order to avoid her going into crisis.

Maintaining boundaries: Nurses are responsible for effectively establishing and maintaining the limits or boundaries in the therapeutic nurse-client relationship (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2006), the nurse and I used this time to get to know the client as well as getting her to open up but yet maintain the boundaries needed to provide care and support in a professional way. Protecting the client from abuse : Nurses protect the client from harm by ensuring that abuse is prevented, or stopped and reported (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2006), the client was noticing the staff talking about other staff behind their backs and it worried the patient and caused her distress that maybe they were talking about her as well, it also reminded her of the situation she was when she was at home with her ex-husband, these kinds of actions should not be happening on mental health especially if it causes the clients distress.

References College of Nurses of Ontario (2006). Therapeutic Nurse-Client Relationship, Revised 2006.