Real-life Incident in Critical Care Unit: A Registered Nurse's Experience

The Incident

Hello, the structure is in the rubric and it is clear, and the references should be exactly according to the rubric (APA format).

The current study aims to describe my experience based on a real-life incident that I faced as a registered nurse within the critical care unit (CCU). I will provide the details of the events and the stakeholders, who are involved in the same. I will also describe the internal and external factors that are involved in the incidents. As I recollect my experience, it will be possible to identify the loopholes in the existing scenario.

            As I started to work as registered nurse, after one year of experience I was allocated my duty within the CCU. This was indeed a challenge for me, as I had to deal with patients with high level of distress. I would recollect one incidence, where a young boy of 9 years met with a road accident. His right leg was injured very poorly and needed urgent operations to deal with the high levels of injury. There was no surgeon present during that time and I was responsible for providing the first aid along with two of my other colleagues. One of them was the senior most and had nearly ten years of experience in the given field. Nevertheless, the CCU during the situation was facing issues due to lack of sterilized materials. Hence, we had to clear the wound of the boy with materials that were not adequately disinfected. Moreover, the treatment of pain in the children needs to intervene with unique strategy. The ethical principle within the same involves measuring and identifying the behavior of the children (James et al., 2014). There are additional parameters that include measuring the blood pressure and change in the pulse along with the levels of palm sweating. 

            The surgeon on that day arrived much late, which has resulted in the rise of complications. After the surgery was conducted, the wound site of the patient did not heal rapidly thereby resulting in post-surgery infection. Hence, there were loopholes in the intervention strategies resulted in rising in the complications. This case has identified the lack of experience and expertise from my side. My senior colleague was also not able to act properly according to the ethical principles of the registered nurse. I do believe that certain external factors prevented in the process of decision making. 

Loopholes in Intervention Strategies

            It is essential to identify the external factors that have resulted in the poor decision making capability. With the advancement of the healthcare technology and innovative interceptive strategies, the RN has to deal with high levels of complex situations (Jack et al., 2015). It is also important to focus on the cognitive elements of the nurse and the patients. This will ensure that there are no forms of unethical intervention strategies that are implemented.

            I do believe that in the given case, we have failed to provide the optimal pain care for the young boy. This has very much affected within the level of patient satisfaction. There are special ethical principles that need to be implemented for the young child. These include more effective communication skills. In most of the critical cases, the young patient may not be able to communicate properly with the nurse; thereby the healthcare workers have to face challenges while identifying the symptoms (Kourkouta & Papathanasiou, 2014).  In the given cases, due to lack of proper diagnostic tools, it is not possible to implement the timely intervention strategies. This firstly occurred due to the lack of sterilisation equipment. As initially the wound of the young boy was not cleaned properly, the chance of post-surgical infection was high.

            From the experience of the above incident and the loopholes caused, I have been able to improve upon my skills and decision making capability as a registered nurse in the CCU. Procuring the resources and healthcare equipment for the CCU is essential. This can be achieved by regular auditing of the healthcare resources within individual department. The ethical principles for the pediatric unit include the capability of swift decision making and understanding the diagnostics issues faced by patients. In the matter of pain management, certain strict ethical principles need to be followed. The pain killers including the morphine and Oxycontin need to be used in limited amount depending upon the body weight of the patients (Bandin & Vimonsut, 2016). As a nurse of the CCU, it will be my duty to work efficiently with my colleagues during the time of emergency. Proper preventive measures also need to be implemented after the period of surgery that is aimed to minimize the risks of post-surgical infections. 

References

Bandin, A., & Vimonsut, E. (2016). Evidence-Based Practice: Pain Killers: Creating Effective Communication Among Registered Nurses to Increase Compliance of Pain Documentation and Improving Quality Care Outcomes. Journal of Pediatric Nursing: Nursing Care of Children and Families, vol. 31, issue 5, pp. 559. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedn.2016.06.010

Jack, C. L., Singh, Y., & Ncama, B. P. (2015). A South African perspective to medical law and ethics in nursing: getting basic principles right. Africa Journal of Nursing and Midwifery, vol. 17, issue. 2, pp. 120-131. DOI: 10.25159/2520-5293/378

James, S. R., Nelson, K., & Ashwill, J. (2014). Nursing care of children-E-book: principles and practice. 4^th Edn, pp. 123-145, Elsevier Health Sciences. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=AER1BAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=James,+S.+R.,+Nelson,+K.,+%26+Ashwill,+J.+(2014).+Nursing+care+of+children-E-book:+principles+and+practice.+Elsevier+Health+Sciences.&ots=gahgYcs1Ia&sig=faowlG9qR_VN0il9SWqhvOaM24M

Kourkouta, L., & Papathanasiou, I. V. (2014). Communication in nursing practice. Materia socio-medica, Vol. 26, issue. 1, pp. 65. DOI no.: 10.5455/msm.2014.26.65-67