Post Practicum Paper NSP 202
Breanna Olivieri
20120094
Post Practicum Reflective Paper NSP 201
As my clinical practicum on the Orthopaedic Surgical ward and Theatre is coming to an end, I feel extremely satisfied with the experiences I encountered and the amount that I have learnt. I feel much more confident in my nursing skills as I was able to practice them more frequently in the surgical setting and gained constructive feedback from the nurses and my supervisor. I also feel very satisfied with how I handled the theatre environment, as it was an area I was quite apprehensive about entering.
During this practicum I was able to work and build on all the skills learnt during the university semester, especially medications and post-operative assessments and care, as this is a huge area of the nurse’s job. During orthopaedics, I was able to learn and practice the specific post-operative care of patients following the major orthopaedic procedures, in particular hip and knee replacements. During my theatre rotation, I was able to practice all the different nursing roles in the theatre setting and the different duties that come with each of those roles. I was particularly able to practice my surgical scrub, surgical count and the principles of asepsis in order to enhance patient safety and maintain my surgical conscience.
I learnt a whole range of things on this practicum and gained lots of new knowledge in the specialty areas I was in. In orthopaedics, I learnt efficient time management by accepting a patient load and fulfilling my duty of care to them. In Theatre, I learnt about many different surgical procedures, the equipment needed for them, anaesthetic used and how to then hand the appropriate information over to staff to ensure a continuity of care of the patient.
Professional Practice
In my Orthopaedic Surgical practicum I feel that my professional practice developed greatly from my last practicum. My main objective for professional...