Writing about one’s personal experience encourages self-reflection and improves self-awareness. In this activitystudents are invited to reflect, in writing, on their experiences related to managing clinical risks for patients. Students to write about an event they observed or were involved in during their nursing profession that they feel might have placed a patient at risk. Alternatively, students may want to write about an event that occurred to them as recipients of healthcare, or as an observer to their friends’ or family members’ experiences. The event may be one that they feel related to any of anticipation, recognition, or management of a patient safety risk. Safe patient care and reducing medical-legal risk requires nurse practitioners to be aware of potential risks and how to avoid them.
The narrative should include:
- a description of the event
- an explanation of how this event placed a patient at risk
- the student’s reflections on the event including:
- if and how the event was recognized
- why and how the event occurred, for example, was the event due to
- action or inaction by an individual healthcare provider
- system failure(s)
- a combination of systems failure(s) and individual provider performance issues
- what changes or improvements they would make, if any
- how they felt at the time
- how they currently feel about the even
- Were you personally involved in the event? Discuss.
- What, if any, workplace factors contributed to the event? (e.g., Was it during a handover? Did it involve a medication?)
- How aware was the healthcare provider(s) of what was going on around them? (situational awareness)
- How did the health care provider(s) recognize the safety problem, and how did they respond?
- How did this event affect you?
- What did you take away that you will use in the future?
- I would do something differently next time because
Expert Solution Preview
Introduction: Reflecting on personal experiences related to managing clinical risks for patients is an essential part of developing safe patient care skills for nurse practitioners. In this activity, students are tasked with writing about an event during their nursing profession that they feel might have placed a patient at risk. They are also invited to write about an event that occurred to them as recipients of healthcare, or as an observer to their friends’ or family members’ experiences. The following are answers to the content provided.
Answer: The narrative should include a detailed description of the event, explaining how it placed the patient at risk and the student’s reflections on the event. The student should reflect on if and how the event was recognized, why the event occurred, and what changes or improvements they would make if any. They should also highlight their emotions during the event and currently, if they were personally involved, and what workplace factors contributed to the incident. Additionally, students need to address the healthcare providers’ situational awareness and how they recognized and responded to the safety problem. The student should reflect on how the event affected them personally and what they will take away from the event to use in the future. Finally, the student should address if they would do anything differently next time and provide reasons for their decision.
