Patient Care Reflection

This essay is going to reflect on an event which has happened in my first visit of Patient Care Project by using Gibbs reflective cycle (Gibbs, 1988). The event was about I found that I am not confident enough to interpret the medical terms correctly and communicate with my patient. I will illustrate it more in-depth in the following part and express my feeling towards it. Finally, there is an evaluation on this incident and the action plan for the future.

I went to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital with my group mates for our first PCP’s visit. When we arrived, the ward manager gave us the patient’s records to have a look before meeting the patient. After receiving the file, I paid attention to the patient’s medical history and found

I think this incident had a positive result because I have stood from patient’s angle. I have concerned the feeling of the patient. If I were a patient, I would expect the medical students provide appropriate suggestions for me instead of sharing uncertain information. The most critical outcome is that developing a trust relationship between us. Trust relationship is a kind of interactive process that requires care and concern (Chin, 2001). In this incident, if I told any incorrect information to my patient, she would start to suspect whether I am a medical student or not and start not to believe me. Hence, our relationship would be destroyed. It is important for us to stand from patients’ point of view to think about their thought and ensure the information shared must be accurate before starting any conversation with the

Why did I act as I did? This is because I cannot accept failure. Making mistake was not allowed in medical students because in some cases, we may do harm to patients or even worse lead to patients’ death. Although this incident would not cause any threats to the patient, it would be very embarrassing if I told any things which are inaccurate. I believe that I am not confident to face it. Therefore, I would like to escape from the ward. Apart from low self-esteem, this was also a kind of irresponsibility. My school and this hospital have done a lot to arrange students in order to provide a valuable experience for us to apply our knowledge in the real situation. When I reached some unfamiliar medical terms, I have given up readily. I did not treasure this opportunity and fulfill responsibility of being a medical student. I believe that more complicated and emergency tasks would be happened in the future. Based on this incident, I have learned to try my best to deal with it or seek help from the others. Undoubtedly, as a medical student or professional nurse, we have the responsibility to try our best to deal with all medical related problems which is