Alternate Area of Nursing: Learning Disability

Main Body 

The Rationale for the Relevance of Reflection

Young student nurses on hospital placement often face issues that require necessary safeguarding training to protect themselves and other patients (Richardson, Percy, and Hughes, 2015.). Patients can get violent and behave inappropriately in front of other patients, doctors and nurses, usually, it falls on the nurses to pacify and look after such patients (Northway and Jenkins, 2017). Working as a student nurse exposed me to such situations where I was handed the responsibility of solving the issues of multiple patients simultaneously. I came out of the situation successfully, but the issue of safeguarding needs to be looked into. I aim to explain the necessity of safeguarding in this reflection, the reflection will add value to the issue of safeguarding from a specific event that befallen me. 
Innovative Techniques to Enhance Patient Safety 

Furthermore, people can act inappropriately in front of a person with a learning disability, their actions can even be disturbing if they succumb to impatience (Department of Health, 2009). In the event I wish to discuss, people acted inappropriately due to the actions of an individual with a learning disability. People need to accept that individuals with such disabilities are not at fault thus people should not lose patience when such individuals become violent (Department of Health, 2009). 

Driscoll Reflective Model

I intend to describe my event using the Driscoll reflective model, the model is used for experiential learning. Driscoll's reflective model divides an event into three stages: What? So what? And now what? The stages of the Driscoll model help individuals reflect on an important event and make future commitments based on the analysis of the reflection (Snowdon, 2018). Following are the Driscoll reflective model stages of the event that occurred to me  

What?

The event that occurred to me was due to my inexperience in handling violent patients. Many student nurses face or might face such issues, thus the issue must be highlighted. I am taking the responsibility of spreading awareness regarding such issues that needs attention by using my experience as a platform. The event occurred during my time working as a student nurse in the gastroenterology ward, the ward consisted of adult patients needing different treatments regarding the liver, abdomen, stomach, and kidney. One such patient had a learning disability and did not have sufficient cognitive skills to act as a regular individual. The patient was suffering from severe abdominal pain and was having trouble enduring it. I was placed to cater to his needs along with a few others. The patient started acting irrationally and demanded I soothe his pain instantly, he was receiving painkillers through a tube but the dose needed time to take effect. After a moment, he got violent and started wriggling on his bed. Other patients were disturbed by his behavior, they were mostly old people who additionally had diabetes and blood pressure, and were demonstrating their irritation because of the disturbance with inappropriate suggestions regarding solving the situation. Other patients wanted him to be removed from the ward or not to have been admitted to the hospital in the first place, they suggested that his family should have taken him to a different hospital that only caters to individuals with learning disabilities. 

Review Adult Community Nursing: Public Health in Action

The patient came with his family, his mother seemed to be a strong woman and was trying to control his behavior with gentleness. As I was in charge of him and other nearby patients, I had to take action and control the situation. However, I was momentarily frozen on the spot and did not know what to do as I had never seen such violent behavior or catered to a person with a learning disability before. After taking control of my emotions and realizing my responsibility, I started helping his mother, but nothing was working from our end and my hope was for the medicine to take effect and soothe his pain. Simultaneously, I was also worried about other patients in the ward, I did not take a look at them but I could imagine what they were going through as I, being a nurse, was struggling to keep myself under control.

Nearly 5 minutes had passed since he started wriggling and a nurse injected him with a small dose of anaesthetic, he then started to calm down and the situation came under control. He was then transferred to a private ward and her mother went along with him after apologizing to everyone in the ward. 

So What?

When the patient was taken into his private ward, everyone sighed in relief and went about doing their usual tasks, however, I was worried about my inaction and had the feeling of powerlessness since I failed to influence his behavior. I was also feeling angry because of the behavior of other patients, I believed that their reaction was inappropriate as the patient had a learning disability and could not act rationally compared to them or me. I was momentarily in an existential crisis and started having pessimistic thoughts about my future as a nurse. After the event, I thought from the perspective of other patients and realized that my anger towards them was unfair considering the possibility that they might not have known that the patient had a learning disability. Furthermore, the event changed the way I look at things: Before I used to think of nursing as a medium to help individuals in need, however, after the event, I realized the issues I might face in the future during nursing. I am currently worried about all the stressful situations that could occur in my future and I am frightened of the consequences that could arise if I did not act timely.

After the event, I was impressed by the calm manner other nurses and staff members acted during and after the event. They went about their daily task as if nothing different had happened, whereas, I was perplexed after what I had experienced. When I think of the event, there was not much difference in my actions and the actions of other nurses, the event, though it seemed to have lasted hours, lasted 5 minutes, and not much could have been done by other nurses at that time frame. I have realized that my inexperience in working in such situations had caused me to act differently compared to other nurses, they acted indifferently because they were used to such situations, and as time goes by and I face such situations on a daily basis, I might also overcome my anxiety like they might have done in past during their training period as stated by. 
The Significant learning experience in healthcare has taught me valuable lessons; I now know what to expect in my career as a nurse. With all that went through during and after those 5 minutes, I learned a great deal about myself, I now have a deeper understanding of my strengths and weaknesses than ever. Furthermore, I have started conducting self-reflection on my actions and thoughts since a nurse must remain calm under all circumstances for the benefit of her/his patient. The role of leadership is crucial in enhancing nursing job satisfaction. A supportive and effective leadership style fosters a positive work environment, promotes collaboration, and empowers nursing staff, contributing significantly to their overall job satisfaction and well-being.

Impact of Leadership Styles on the Job Satisfaction of Nurses

Now What?

A nurse is responsible for safeguarding her/his patient and must ensure that the patients face no incontinence because of her/him or because of events that could have been prevented with timely actions from the nurse (Nursing and Midwifery Council (Great Britain), 2015). I acted senselessly during the event and was more concerned about my feelings than the feelings of my patients after the event. As a nurse, I must learn to control my emotions to be able to take timely actions when facing similar situations. In my field, I am required to look after adults. Adults are admitted into hospitals for different reasons, furthermore, different adults require different care as per their specific needs, patients are admitted into hospitals when they get injured, have diseases, or require check-ups (Burns, 2018). I will look after different patients with different diseases in the future, some patients will require extra care as per their age while others as per the seriousness of their illness. 

I get anxious when I recall the event or imagine what will happen if I do not control my emotions, the lives of individuals could be at risk if I repeated my behavior and stood motionless in a similar situation. After the event, I analyzed my actions and realized what I could have done to avoid the situation from occurring at all. At first, when the patient with a learning disability asked me to end his pain, I could have distracted his mind by asking different questions and preventing the event from happening. Furthermore, during the event, things would not have gotten out of hand if I had timely and given him a small but sufficient dose of anaesthetic, he would have been awake but would not have been feeling pain with such severity. 

I have accepted what occurred to me and have learned from the experience. For my future as a nurse, I plan to act like other nurses. I have read and researched about controlling emotions and having a calm head during stressful situations. I further plan to spread awareness about safeguarding patients and other individuals, I will contact authorities responsible for the healthcare sector and advise them to conduct safeguarding training for future nurses like me. I want other nurses and myself to be trained when we enter our profession thus in similar situations appropriate actions are taken.