Running head: REFLECTION TWO 1

Reflection Two

Leah Will

Trent University
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The last month of placement has been a great learning experience. I really feel

comfortable on the unit interacting with the patients, the nurses and all members of the health

care team. I have also gained confidence in the process of the day and what all needs to be

accomplished. I feel as if I am becoming more independent with my skills, my MSA’s and

charting. I also recognize that I spend less time shadowing the nurses, but more time actually

making an effort to work on my own (within my scope of practice as a student).

A meaningful event that stood out to me was giving my first injection. This was a great

learning opportunity because it doesn’t happen very often on our unit, so I was lucky to be given

the chance to do one. The patient receiving the injection was not my assigned patient, but he was

willing to allow me to perform the injection. Previously in lab, we have only learned how to give

injections that were either prepackaged, or just drawn up from a single vial. My first time, I had

to reconstitute the medication. It was difficult because there were more steps involved than what

I had previously done in lab. There was also an additional piece that was supposed to make it

easier to draw up the constituted medication, but that ended up making a mess because we didn’t

know how exactly it worked. Additionally, the blunt fill needed flew off the tip of the syringe.

Overall, it was a humorous start to the process but in the end we were able to draw it up and

prepare to give it to the patient in his glute. I somewhat surprised myself at how confident I was

in giving the injection. I wasn’t nervous at all and this was clear to the patient because after I was

finished he asked me if it was my first time giving a needle, and I replied honestly. He then

complemented me and said it was one of the best ‘first times’ a student has done for him, as he

mentioned others are often shaky and less confident. This was nice to hear from him.

During another shift last week, I was working with my patient assisting him to the

laundry room. The patient who I had given the injection to the week before had his clothes in the
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washing machine. He was unable to realize that he needed to push the “start” button for the

washing machine to do its job. He also seemed confused and out of sorts compared to his normal

baseline. I asked him if everything was okay, and he proceeded to ask if he could speak with me.

So I agreed, and he told me that during his ground privileges earlier that morning he had smoked

marijuana and was high. He was extremely apologetic and embarrassed, and mentioned that he

was just trying to be honest because he was been trying hard to stick to his treatment plan. I

thanked him for being honest with me and thanked him for trusting me with the information.

It was encouraging to have developed a therapeutic relationship with a patient who I

haven’t even been working with this entire time. He trusted me with the injection, and then

trusted me with information that ended up getting his privileges held for a week.

Focusing more on the injection, I realized that what was important about this situation

for me was the fact that I was very confident in my skills and communication as a nursing

student. Despite having a little bit of difficulty actually drawing up the medication (although we

laugh about it now), I put that behind me and focused on giving the injection properly. I used my

knowledge of land marking the ventrogluteal muscle site with my hands. I then confidently gave

the injection and withdrew it with ease and disposed of the needle. It was also encouraging to get

that compliment from the patient afterwards. I would like to preserve that same confidence in the

future. The only thing that I would change going forward is the experience I had drawing up the

medication and reconstituting it. After this clinical day, I did go home and look up more

information on injections, the different types and different methods people use. This will become

helpful moving forward when I have to give another one that is new to me, or if there is an added

step or piece of equipment I am not familiar with.

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Reflecting on the situation with the injection, I do feel as if this has been one of the

highlights of my clinical so far. There have been many, many therapeutic moments and learning

opportunities that I have been given from the patients, but I will always remember giving my

first injection. Overall, I feel as if it went well and I was able to stay calm and confident while

giving the injection. This started a therapeutic relationship between myself and that patient, so

much so that he was then able to trust me with sensitive information about his substance abuse in

the following week. It was also encouraging to receive positive feedback from my instructor, my

peer and the nursing staff after the injection. Moving forward, I am looking forward to learning

as much as I can in the remaining two weeks of clinical. I have thoroughly enjoyed this

placement and will absolutely take many skills and communication techniques with me for my

future practice.