This presentation was completed by Avery Lutrzykowski and Mckenna Remillard. We discussed the LGBTQ+ population and the societal and health care discrimination that people who identify within this population face. We also discussed ways to create more inclusion within society and a hospital setting.
Category: Integrating Experience III
When the pandemic hit the United States in early 2020, I remember my parents calling me to expressing their worries and fears for my grandparents. Both sides of my grandparents are older and were at risk of being harmed by COVID. Due to this, they self-isolated for an extremely long during the pandemic, which was a common theme for many individuals across the world. One of my grandmothers struggled a lot because before the pandemic she taught piano to local students. Once the pandemic hit, she was no longer able to have piano lessons. One way we helped her was setting up facetime and zoom meetings with her students so she could continue to teach. Other activities that my grandparents did were facetiming me and other family members, creating book clubs that they wrote messages in the books and sent them to other friends, and having window visiting with neighbors and family members. During the pandemic, I think my grandparents were very stressed, but I expected that because everyone was extremely stressed out.
After listening to the lecture presented by CECE, I was shocked how much it related to my own elderly family and friends. I was shocked to hear that many older adults have anxiety and depression and that older adults have one of the highest rates of suicide within populations. Throughout the presentation, I kept thinking about how I would incorporate all aspects of care to older adult clients when I began my nursing career. I would first want to focus on both their physical wellness but also their mental health well-being. By having the ability to teach my patients how to take care of themselves through exercising, eating healthy, non-pharmacological pain malmanagement, and safety around the house, I will be helping their physical well-being. By explaining treatment thoroughly, creating a trusting and caring relationship through open conversation and spiritual wellness, I hope I will be able to care for the older adult clients’ mental wellness. I plan to focus on both aspects to create the best environment for my patients.
My perspective has changed greatly on aging, I was very naïve to think that older adults did not suffer from anxiety and depression or suicide. I always thought older adults were at the end of their lives and their health was beginning to decrease. However, after watching the lecture I finally understood and created a new perspective for older adults. My new perspective is how strong elderly individuals are. So much of their lives are changing from new health needs, retirement, or family members, these individuals have so much change happening and handle everything that is thrown at them. Due to this, my perspective on aging has changed to view these individuals as strong and independent. I am thankful for this lecture for opening my eyes to a better view and ability to care for older adults.
Prior to the lecture on Telehealth and telemedicine, I was very unaware of what each could do, as well as how versatile they both were. Before the lecture, my honest preconceived notions on telehealth and telemedicine were that they were both the same and neither worked. I did not realize there was a difference between the two. Throughout nursing school, we are taught that the only way you can treat and care for your patient was being able to be hands-on. In my mind, telehealth and telemedicine are not hands-on so they would not be effective in caring for patients. I also felt that from a patient’s viewpoint, the level of care they receive may feel lower due to the lack of presence. During COVID when school was shut down, I struggled to stay engaged in my learning due to the lack of in-person interactions. Due to this, I assumed that telehealth and telemedicine would not be beneficial because the patient would struggle to engage in their healing.
After the lecture, I was shocked to see how progressive and positive telehealth and telemedicine were in the hospital. Telehealth helps employees train and educate, have meetings, and other non-patient services. Telemedicine helps take care of patients and provides them services they need to heal. I was shocked to learn about Tele-ICU because the intensive care unit is one of the most critical units at the hospital. Due to this, I did not expect to learn that telemedicine has become a large part of patient care. Many companies are creating robots to aid in the care of patients to further progress the telemedicine world. These robots allow providers, who live far from the hospital, to provide care quickly to individuals. These new advances in the realm of telehealth and telemedicine were abundantly helpful in the past few years with COVID-19. This form of medicine and communication helps providers and hospital staff engage in patient care without further exposing themselves.
What I have learned in the Telehealth and Telemedicine discussion will greatly benefit me in the future of the nursing practice. Through this lecture, I was able to better understand the need for telehealth and understand what can be used to reach providers and create meetings. I also will use telehealth in my nursing practice through continuing my education and learning because medicine is a field that continues to evolve. I will use telemedicine to monitor my patients without having to see them in person, this will increase the discharges from the hospital and create an environment where nurses and providers can catch a deteriorating situation quicker. I am excited to be able to use this new and progressive form of healthcare in my future practice to provide the best care for my patients.
Prior to the Needle Exchange Program Lecture last Thursday, I did not have any preconceived notions about the program. I did not have any preconceived thoughts because I truly did not realize a program that helped people who are struggling with IV drug use find safe supplies existed. I was surprised and very grateful for the amount of work and care the volunteers and workers at the Needle Exchange did to provide to these individuals. Allowing individuals within this population to have a safe handling of medication, new needles, and Narcan can help resolve many health disparities within this population.
Some patients that use IV drugs may receive Hepatitis B or C and other contractable diseases. They also have a likelihood of overdosing due to too much medication. Through this clinic providing new needles and supplies, as well as Narcan, to individuals within this population the risk of health disparities lowers. Some individuals also struggle with receiving healthcare so receiving education and safe supplies can become very difficult. Through this program, these individuals can receive education and safe supplies that they need to safely handle the medication and needles. These are many useful things that I can apply to my future nursing practice. I will provide the resources of the Needle Exchange Program and education on safe handling and Narcan to my patients so they can safely handle these medications.
Prior to the lecture on Human Trafficking, my pre-existing thoughts were mostly based on sex trafficking. I knew there were different forms other than sex trafficking but through the news and social media, I was more aware of sex trafficking. I also was aware of labor work but very native to it still being super prominent today. I had pre-existing thoughts that traffickers considered the person being trafficked as their “property”, but I thought the individuals being trafficked were being paid. I also had a pre-existing thought that every single person that was being trafficked did not know the person trafficking them. On the news, most of the stories stem from women being captured outside of stores or walking on the streets. I was extremely fortunate to be able to listen to the lecture on human trafficking and learn more.
After listening to the lecture on Human trafficking, a lot of my pre-existing assumptions and thoughts were changed. I was shocked to learn that many individuals know their traffickers before being forced into labor. My pre-existing thought that many did not know their traffickers was changed. It saddened me to hear that oftentimes people are forced into trafficking due to drugs or seeking asylum in the United States. My pre-existing thought that sex trafficking was a huge part of the trafficking ring was correct, but I was surprised to learn that human labor is still a huge problem today. Lastly, I never considered that the trafficked person was not being paid at all. After the lecturer talked about the person barely making $5 and then the price of rent, food, and living plus hospital bills, etc., it occurred to me that some individuals, if not all, would never be able to pay off their debts. Trafficking is a huge scheme that I never realized until listening to the lecture on Thursday. I am grateful for being able to learn more about human trafficking and how to monitor for it in the hospital
In the lecture on Thursday, we discussed ways to help determine if someone in the hospital was being used in the form of trafficking and how to help them. In the future, I will bring this knowledge forward and use it if I am ever in the need to do so. I will also be aware of individuals in my hospital especially if there is an individual trained in caring for patients that have been trafficked. I will also understand that the compassion and care that I will bring to all my patients must be extremely apparent when caring for someone that may be involved in a trafficking situation. I know that my care needs to be very thorough because many individuals struggle to open up to someone. Lastly, I know I must accurately document the situation so other individuals caring for the patient understand the situation and provide more help. I am glad I became more aware of human trafficking through this lecture as well as how to provide the best care for individuals in this situation at the hospital.
When the question of what the nurse’s primary roles are during a disaster comes into question, it can be very hard to reflect on what the nurse should do. It can be difficult because, during a terrible situation, a nurse must decide which patients need more care than others. A nurse’s primary roles include knowing the EOP or Emergency Operations Plan and implementing it during a situation. A nurse must know which patients to care for and which require immediate attention. If the nurse is in the hospital when the disaster occurs, they must know who the medical command and triage officer is, this will help the nurse understand their assignment and help the most patients. Nurses must also be aware of the emergency codes at their hospitals to be fully prepared for any disaster that may happen while they are working. During a mass causality event, a nurse must be able to detect a patient’s problem as red, yellow, green, white, or black. After the nurse understands what each patent is tagged as they can care for the most critical patients first. The priorities in any disaster event are to be fast with your care, assess the patient for a pulse, limit treatment to only what the patient needs to survive, maintain the airway, and control bleeding. As a nurse, the priorities during a disaster are to be fast and provide the best care possible for the greatest number of patients.
In the event of a disaster, nurses may struggle with ethical codes between saving the patient or saving themselves. This topic can be extremely difficult to discuss because the main goal of a nurse is to provide the best care for their patients. I believe that as a nurse, in the event of a natural and man-made disaster, you should prioritize the patients if you are safe and unharmed. If you’re unable to provide the best care to your patients because you have been injured, then it is the nurse’s duty to care for himself or herself. In my opinion, nurses should always prioritize their patients unless they are injured and cannot provide adequate care to their patients.
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