Reflective Essay

Medication Administration

Medication administration includes delivering or offering a prescribed

substance to a patient that is intended for diagnosis, treatment, or prevention
of acquiring illnesses (Encyclopedia Britannica). This reflective essay will
discuss the difficulties I have encountered during my personal experience of
administering medication with my preceptor/RN partner. Also, this paper will
explain the feelings and steps that I have been through that gave me a more
in-depth insight into the said topic. I have adapted and applied school-based
ideas, work experiences and other healthcare resources (references below) to
get my medication administration practice accurate and efficient. I have set a
goal to achieve by the end of my clinical placement and that is to improve and
develop a safe and quality nursing practice which in this case is my
medication administration skill.

Like any other nursing students, I feel the anxiety and fear of the
unknown prior to my scheduled placement. Overcoming the overwhelming
challenges that I will be encountering is definitely one of my biggest fears.
However, I have planned ahead of time and decided to follow Gibbs reflection
model (Gibb 1988). This model will allow myself to analyze, through a series
of steps, the trials that will come across my path as I go through this clinical
placement. By doing this, I am fulfilling the NMBA standards 1.2 which states
that RNs should develop their practice through a reflective process that
involves their experiences, beliefs, feelings, actions and to identify how these
factors could improve their overall practice. (NMBA 2016)

Actual Experience

At the beginning of my clinical, I was introduced to the facility and the

facilitator/preceptor that will teach me and my fellow students for the entire
duration of my placement. While she was accommodating, she told me that
my actions are my own accountability and that she is there only to guide me
and supervise me. Knowing this I quickly referred to the NMBA standards 1.4
“complies with all legislation, regulations, policies, guidelines and other
standards or requirements relevant to the context of practice when making
decisions”. (NMBA 2016) During the first week, I have struggled in
understanding clinical words, abbreviations, medical jargons, handover cues
which hindered me from communicating properly and mainly understanding
the rules and policies of administering medications. Getting it right and precise
at all times is proven to be difficult at first which any entry-level nurse will
always face.
After few days of getting doing things in the workplace, I was told by
my RN buddy that I will be giving medications to my patients. She told me that
she will be there along the way to supervise and teach me. I thought that I
was cruising just fine until I had faced some difficulty in the administration of
medication, mainly with the timing. Timing is a challenge to meet each day in
giving medication to some specific patient due to their other health care
appointments such as early physiotherapy, X-ray and family visitation that
requires them to be somewhere else. This is where my work experiences in
time management skills became vital for my improvement.

Reflecting on Outcomes

I know the fact that my little understanding to some terms or not

communicating properly especially involving medication will be a huge
disadvantage for my future career.
My RN buddy notices this issue and tried to call my attention. This time
she told me that there that they have a system of order according to the
schedules of their patients and so I adhered to the hospital schedules and
policies. This helped me to understand the daily routine of each and every
patient that is allocated under my care and eventually manage to carry on with
medication administration with minimal issues while being guided by my RN
buddy at all times. I also refer myself to the principles of medication part two,
medication management principles (National Safety and Quality Health
Standard). The principles consist of understanding the basic structures of
patient assessment, knowledge of dosage and effects, valid order, safety
checks of 6 R’s, documentation record, and evaluate
(https//www.safetyandquality.gov.au).

Furthermore, knowing the prescribed branded name of the medication

compared to its generic counterpart proved to be a difficulty for me.
Sometimes there are doctors who are prescribing medications with a brand
name that is totally different with the name in the facility stock. Moreover, the
other scenario is when the medication is totally new to me and I have no
insights or information about the medication. I asked my RN buddy and she
showed me a column of my patient’s data. It includes the written details of the
generic names of the medications prescribed by the doctors and other
information (i.e mechanism of action) and thus made it easier for me to
comprehend. Moreover, I searched for drugs generic names through a
website using MIMS online which provides a wide range of Australian
medicines information (www.mimsonline.com.au). I also refer myself to the
hospital policies and procedures. Understanding the above information and by
knowing what to look for made me feel more confident in the administration of
medication to my allocated patient with minimal supervision from my RN
buddy.

Making Sense

I realized that time is gold. I need to be productive during my leisure

time to catch up. I managed my time properly and look for opportunities to
study. By this time, I always orient and engage myself with the Australian
standard health system to overcome the uncertainty of my knowledge in
medication administration. My team is very important. Aside from establishing
good rapport to the clients, I am sure that quality care can be done when you
have a good relationship to your co-workers as well. With the help of my
supportive preceptors, I could easily approach them and ask the things that I
have missed during the handovers or ask the things that I have not
encountered before in any of my experiences.

Planning

Based on the situations and experiences encountered, I can conclude

that continuous learning is vital in delivering effective holistic care. This is
because every patient, as our main client, is the actual focus for every nurse.
Being exposed to actual duties and work could increase or improve your level
of knowledge, accuracy, confidence and positivity in dealing with day-to-day
nursing care. I have also immersed myself in reading registered nurse
standard of practice that will guide my future practice. In general, I came to an
understanding of the importance of having to use GIBB’s reflective cycle. It
made me comprehend where I should be from now and to the future when it
comes to delivering an effective nursing plan. It should contain full awareness
of the importance of accurate administration of medication.

My clinical exposure along with my continuous enthusiasm in learning

nursing practices makes me feel more confident to face any challenges to
happen in the near future. My level of excitement has never been better than
before and that I am looking forward to expand, learn, observe, adapt and
mostly be able to carry out a holistic approach of nursing care.
References:

A. Books

King, D., Smith, D. and Culver, A. (2012). Medication administration for

nurses. 2nd ed. [Meadowbank, N.S.W.]: Training and Education
Support, Industry Skills Unit Meadowbank, TAFE NSW,
pp.22,57,105,350.
(King et al., 2012)

Australia, MIMS. (2019). MIMS Online. [online] Mimsonline.com.au.

Available at: https://www.mimsonline.com.au [Accessed 8 Feb. 2019].
(MIMS Australia, 2019)

Encyclopedia Britannica / Britannica .com viewed 8 February , 2019

https.www.encyclopedia Britannica

B. Internet Sources

- (NSW Health, 2019)

Gibb’s Cycle of Reflection 1998, ‘Reflective writing: About Gibbs

‘reflective cycle’, Oxford Brookes University, viewed 9 February
2019.Retrieved from
https://www.brookes.ac.uk/students/upgrade/study-skills/reflective-
writing-gibbs/

- Www1.health.nsw.gov.au. (2019). Medication Handling in NSW

Public Health Facilities. [online] Available at:
https://www1.health.nsw.gov.au/pds/ActivePDSDocuments/PD2013_0
43.pdf [Accessed 2 Feb. 2019].

Safetyandquality.gov.au. (2012). National Safety and Quality Health

Standard. [online] Available at:
https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/wp-
content/uploads/2011/09/NSQHS-
Standards-Sept-2012.pdf [Accessed 9 Feb. 2019].

Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) 2016. Standards for

Practice: Registered Nurse. Retrieved from
file:///C:/Users/ANU%20PRINCE/Downloads/Nursing-and-Midwifery-
Board---Standard---National-competency-standards-for-the-registered-
nurse%20(2).PDF.