Melissa Amos

NURS 3021- Reflective Writing

March 4th, 2015
Identification
The experience that will be reflected upon in this paper involves a patient that was
not assigned to me and instead shared the room with my assigned patient. This patient has
a history of aggressive and inappropriate behaviour. This behaviour appears to mainly be
directed at the female nursing staff, form my observations. While I was performing
morning care for my patient I overheard the patient speaking to me. The patient referred
to me as little girl and repetitively kept calling me attempting to get my attention for
the remainder of the time I was in the room. Even when the patient couldnt see me
because I closed the curtains he continued to call out to me. This phrasing and the fact
that I knew that the patient had a history of inappropriate behaviour made me extremely
uncomfortable. In order to deal with my uncomfortableness I spoke to my instructor. I
was then advised not to interact with the patient, and to report any other inappropriate
behaviour to her. While Im uncertain about what the intent behind the patients actions
were I was fairly certain that it was not motivated by good intentions.
Description
This behaviour may have been typical for this patient. It may not have had any
negative intentions however that is how I perceived his comments. The client may also
have been making these comments without understanding that they were inappropriate.
Because I do not the patient or their history it is unfair for me to assume that they
understand what theyre saying. However because of information from other nurses and
my instructor I was made aware that this behaviour was typical for the patient and that it
was believed that the patient was in control of their actions. Because of this I do not feel

Melissa Amos
as though my reaction was inappropriate. The patient was aware that this was not an
acceptable way to refer to the nursing staff and yet he continued to.
My intuition in this situation told me to ignore the patient. While I understand that
ignoring a patient is not in congruence with the best practice guidelines I was putting my
own concern for my safety over that of the patients immediate need. I assumed that the
assigned nurse would respond to his care needs, and I should not interact with him unless
I was required to.
I always believed that his care needs were not immediate as he was not actually
asking me to help him with something, instead he just continually referred to me as little
girl. I took priority to be may own safety and that his care could be later performed. I
also acted with the belief that I have the right to refuse work I do not feel safe or
comfortable with.
Significance
I could have left the room, and inquired into his chart as to this behaviour. This
would have allowed me to better understand if this was meant in a negative manner of
not. I also could have inquired into other practices to interact with patients that make
inappropriate advances. By inquiring into the chart I would be able to determine the true
reason for the behaviour and adapt my practice in congruence with the results.
Implications
This experience has encouraged me to develop how I prepare for my practice. BY
this I mean that I now am more aware that I do not only need to know pertinent
information about my patient, but also the other patient in the room. Knowing this
information about both patients means that I will be able to safety practice when I enter

Melissa Amos
the room. I will be more aware of what to expect in the room. I am not only responsible
for my assigned patients; instead I am responsible for all patients that I interact with.
Understanding what modifications may need to be made to interact and care for these
patients helps me provide the best care possible.
In the future or in similar situations I will attempt to make sure I ask a nurse that
regularly works with a patient such as this about information I may need to know. I will
also now seek out the regulations and procedures regarding how to interact with or refuse
care with patients that I am uncomfortable around.

Reference
Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario. (2008). Workplace Health, Safety and WellBeing of The Nurse . Retrieved March 4th, 2015 from http://rnao.ca/sites/rnaoca/files/Workplace_Health_Safety_and_Well-being_of_the_Nurse.pdf
Ministry of Labour. (2012). Part V: Right to Refuse or to Stop Work Where Health and
Safety in Danger. Retrieved March 4th, 2015 from
http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/hs/pdf/ohsa_guide.pdf