Incorporating clinical practice guidelines and course objectives into my clinical experience, I was successful in achieving several course objectives during the clinical unit. This reflection will focus on the goals I achieved during clinical experience. I’ll also discuss how I incorporated course objectives into clinical practice guidelines and give examples of my own experiences.
My Clinical Experience had several objectives. The primary objective was to improve my clinical decision-making skills, including advanced health assessment and clinical diagnosis. I also acquired procedural skills and managed adult-gerontological patients who were acutely and chronically ill. Through various activities, I achieved this goal throughout my clinical experience. One example of this was my daily rounds in the multidisciplinary team. Here I reviewed the patient cases, discussed their management plan and gave recommendations based on what I had learned. Also, I was capable of developing and implementing care plans for seriously ill patients. This included fluid and electrolyte management, pharmacological management and ventilation strategies. These activities allowed me to increase my understanding of the pathophysiology and decision-making abilities of clinical professionals, as well as my skills in managing critically ill patients.
Integration of Clinical Practice Guidelines and Course Objectives. To integrate the clinical guidelines and course objectives into my clinical experience, I used a system framework for managing patients. This approach involved a comprehensive assessment of patients’ physical, emotional, and psychological needs and the development of an evidence-based plan of care. When managing patients with Sepsis I used the Surviving Sepsis Campaign Guidelines. These guidelines provided me with evidence-based suggestions for treating the condition, including fluid resuscitation, antimicrobial therapy, and blood transfusions. To manage chronic obstructive lung disease, heart failure and pneumonia, I used clinical practice guidelines. All cases were based on evidence and made to fit the individual needs of each patient.
Clinical Objectives I aimed to improve my skills and knowledge in the following areas:
- Advanced health assessment: Through daily rounds I was able refine my assessment skills. In these rounds I conducted physical assessments and reviewed the results of diagnostic tests and lab tests. Based on my findings, I made recommendations.
- Pharmacological Management: This was an opportunity to increase my knowledge in pharmacology through the review of medication orders and identification potential drug interactions as well as adverse effects and recommendation for appropriate medication adjustments.
- Management of chronically and acutely ill adults-gerontological patients. I gained skills through daily rounds and the development of care plans.
Illustrations of My Experiences During daily rounds, I performed a comprehensive respiratory assessment and reviewed the patient’s laboratory and diagnostic test results. Based on my assessment findings, I recommended a change in the patient’s ventilation strategy, which resulted in improved oxygenation and decreased work of breathing.
An example to illustrate my experiences with pharmacological management of patients suffering from severe sepsis can be found here. After reviewing the patient’s medication orders, I identified a potential drug interaction between a medication the patient was taking and the antibiotic therapy prescribed for sepsis. My recommendation was to adjust the antibiotic therapy. This resulted not only in the elimination of the drug interaction but also improved the patient outcome.