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Reflective Journal Med Surg, Ridge Meadows, Maple Ridge.

Student Name Dermot Connolly Stenberg College April 8th 2013

Monday April 8th 2013 This was the first week where I really felt comfortable on the ward. I remember Don telling us on our first day that we will really start hitting our stride after just a few weeks and I felt that I hit that stride this week. It helped that it seemed to be much quieter on the unit this week compared to last week. Im really starting to enjoy this clinical, I like that fact that we always have to think on our feet. Concentration is equally as important as we are caring for many patients who are largely immobile and in constant need of attention. Im enjoying the challenge so far and I feel that I am getting some really good and worthwhile experience. I decided last week to use Ms Berndt as my case study for my medical / surgical theory assignment so I was excited that I was assigned to her again this week. As I mentioned, I felt a lot more comfortable on the ward this week and I think this manifested itself through more competency in my interactions with other ward staff, reporting on patients progress, explaining patients medication uses and side effects and through my charting. It was also nice to use Ms Berndts condition last week as a baseline to gage against her progress to date. Compared to last week, she was no longer on IV antibiotics and had switched from 2litres of O2 to room air. In fact, she had being making such good progress that she was about to be discharged. I learnt some additional competencies this week also, Ms Berndt was my second discharge patient so I got to experience the differences between discharging a patient to Hospice (Mr. Jones) and discharging a patient back to her home (Ms Berndt). The biggest difference I noted was in the communication of the discharge process. For Mr. Jones, this involved issuing a report to the receiving Hospice, whereas for Ms Berndt, the communication centered on her next

steps following discharge such as follow up appointments with the hospital for her echocardiograph and booking her appointment for her chest X ray. I also had to ensure Ms Berndt understood her discharge prescriptions which meant answering any questions she had about her prescribed medications. I also experienced the handling of a deceased body this week as it was being prepared for post mortem. The process was quick yet extremely interesting, where the body was cleaned and changed before being tagged and placed in a body bag. I also experienced transporting the body down to the morgue where I helped place it in the storage fridge. While I have being used to handling dead bodies from my hospice experience, it was still very humbling and an honor to play such a part in another persons final moments.

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