Part 1: Patient Care and Personal Story
Good patient care is a practice that involves the taking of good care of the patient and family in a manner that is effective to the patient as a person and involves carefully listening to the patient’s need, informing them of the best way to care, while involving them throughout the provision of healthcare.
This is closely linked to patient-centered care that focuses on health practitioners being respectful to the patient, responsive to their healthcare need, adhering, at least considering the patients preference and values relevant to the delivery of patient care, and ensuring that all decision or actions are taken strictly adhere to the clinical findings. Get legit paper writing services on patient care.
The characteristics of good patient care include: the respectful adherence to the expressed need, preferences and values of the patient in the decision-making process, something that is achieved through the patient is a unique person that needs to be treated with dignity and considering their sensitivities to culture (Jangland et al., 2017). It is also important to consider the fact that the patient has individual autonomy.
The delivery of good patient care involves integrating the care through the enhancing the coordination between the healthcare departments or health practitioners to mitigate the fact that their illness has made them vulnerable. Here, coordination includes clinical coordination, the coordination of the various uxorially services, and front-line patient care.
To deliver good patientcare, health practitioners ought to be well educated and constantly update their knowledge of the recent changes in patients’ needs and ways of solving them. This involves ensuring a free flow of information about the patient’s prognosis, progress, and clinical status by all the health practitioners caring for them. Additionally, there is information about the various process involved and the facilitation of self-care on the patient’s part.
Emotional support is another key aspect of good patient care and begins with alienating the anxieties and fears the patient may be having as a result of their illness (Jangland et al., 2017). This anxiety should be addressed concerning the physical anxiety that is to be relieved with the treatment, the stress of the patient’s family members and the people caring for them, and the anxiety involving the illness’s financial implication.
Sonographers have a role to play in delivering good patient care in that they focus more on the clinical and anatomic knowledge of that patient’s body concerning the illness and patient care. It involves the use of diagnostic ultrasound imaging, which requires the application of technical skills. This is to ensure that other health practitioners have adequate information about the patient for clinical use. This ensures that patient care is safe and delivered proficiently and with confidence.
Therefore, a sonographer is obliged to be self-confident, mature, and have adequate interpersonal skills to interact efficiently with other health practitioners and the patent (Mitchell & Nightingale, 2019). While dealing with the patient, a sonographer must consider the patient’s age, lifestyle, personal values, and cultural traditions. This allows the sonographer to obtain information from the patient, helping contextualize the findings obtained using ultrasound.
I have always been fascinated by healthcare practitioners in general, being people who dedicate their lives to take care of other people during their most vulnerable time. This seems to be a calling that is mean to people who believe that all people deserve a good quality of life. However, my first experience with sonography is the most disappointing moment I had with a healthcare practitioner.
I was 12 years old and had moderate lower abdominal pain after a heavy workout during gym class. Even though I was not writhing in agony, it was very uncomfortable and needed medical attention. With my parent’s company, I visited a general practitioner as a precaution of the injury getting work, and the doctor recommended I visit sonography for the imaging of the area in pain.
At the imaging clinic, I was served by a Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer (RDMS) in the company of an intern. The nature of patient care I received from this individual is something I have strived to never give to any of my patients throughout my practice, as they were very degrading and disrespectful to me, given my age. Furthermore, they were discussing personal issues throughout the session.
I remember the RDMS relating to how stressful her dating life was, especially because she worked up to 13 hours a day. She also kept complaining that her supervisor kept sending her “these you kids, who are more than often difficult to deal with.” However, she was pleased that I was her last patient for the week, and all she wanted was a hot shower, a nice meal, and be away from the office for the week.
However, I have interacted with other medical practitioners who have ensured that I receive good patent care after that, something that drew me to the practice of sonography, bearing in mind the role they have to place in the delivery of quality healthcare. In my pursuit to becoming a better sonographer, my goal is to ensure that I strictly follow the principle of patient-centered care.
This can be achieved by putting the patient’s needs first to realize that they are human beings who deserve dignity. Additionally, I ensure that I am professional throughout my time in the work environment, whether or not I am in a colleague or patient’s presence. Here, any interaction at a personal level should be used to enhance the knowledge of the information obtained via imaging.
Part 2: Open lab
Being in a sonography lab is unique and very different from the class setting, where concepts are relayed theoretically, with no lethal consequences for any mistakes made. This was an invaluable opportunity for me to supplement the information I had been egesting over the years. It gave me first-hand experience dealing with real human beings and ensuring that I understood how to carry out the various procedures involved. I was exposed to multiple healthcare professionals who provided that I get good quality care. The sonography lab atmosphere was very professional and focused on objectively obtaining information about the patient’s illness via imaging.
I got a chance to shadow an RDMS for a sonography exam on a middle-aged male patient’s liver. The RDMS was very warm to the patient and introduced himself and me to the patient. He also enquired whether the patient could adhere to the doctor’s guidelines on a fat-free meal and take much water. The RDMS was also keen to enquire whether the patient was on any medication or drug whatsoever. The patient was already in a hospital gown, and the RDMS applied the lubricating jelly to reduce friction and enhance the transmission of the ultrasound waves.
The patient was asked to change positions, to improve better access to the liver, given that he was overweight. The patients’ weight was not addressed during the procedure, but the RDMS explained the process afterward. The RDMS, with my help, noted the abnormalities and the images sent to the patient’s primary care provider, who had asked for the ultrasound.
Part 3: Interview with a Sonographer (300)
During my rotation, I got a chance to interview Farhim Zar, an RDMS, with 14 years of experience. I was well aware of the wealth of knowledge I could obtain from such a person to inspire me during the beginning of such a long career. This would inform me of the opportunities I ought to embrace and the pitfalls I had to avoid to succeed. Unlike me, Farhim got interested in sonography due to a sonography procedure he performed on him at 10.
He reports that his sonographer was a very kind person, in addition to the whole process seemingly high-tech but directly enhancing people’s health, something that triggered his interest. This career has influenced him professionally and economically, which he reports, has enabled her to be a better person.
Interacting with the various types of the patient is Farhim’s most challenging aspect of the profession, but he has been able to pull through without major incidences. Even though the patients are different, he ensured that he delivers the best care he can and avoids blaming the patients for unfriendly encounters.
Part 4: Career choice
This assignment allowed me to critically analyze my journey to sonography and the decision I have made in the past, and their impact on my personal and professional lives. It affirmed my conviction that sonography is one of the best ways to enhance people’s health and is at the center of patient care. I am also good at reflecting on whether I could provide good patient-centred care and the importance of values like empathy, professionalism, commitment, courage, and competence.
Additionally, it has affirmed my decision to be an abdominal sonographer that focuses on complications related to tumours, gallstones, and kidney stones. This has always been my area of specialization since I developed an interest in the profession.
References
- Jangland, E., Nyberg, B., & Yngman‐Uhlin, P. (2017). ‘It’s a matter of patient safety’: understanding challenges in everyday clinical practice for achieving good care on the surgical ward–a qualitative study. Scandinavian journal of caring sciences, 31(2), 323-331.
- Mitchell, P., & Nightingale, J. (2019). Sonography culture: power and protectionism. Radiography, 25(3), 227-234.
