Time wasting

On my cardiopulmonary placement I had alot of experience with getting patient's to do what they didn't want to. This was particularly true when they were reluctant to get out of bed. In their head they're thinking 'someone cut down my stomach just yesterday and messed around in there and you want me to get up?' And it is a valid concern which needs to be assuaged.

Patient's are often very nervous due to the fact that you are normally the first person to get them out of bed, and possibly even more nervous that you are a student and aren't the most graceful at getting all the attachments in order. The first time I was getting a day one surgery out of bed I spent time asking subjective questions, then messing around with the attachments, and getting the oxygen ready. All the while, unbenowst to me the patient is getting more and more agitated watching me struggle and wasting time. Once I finally got the patient up they were quite anxious and didn't walk as far as they perhaps could have if they were more relaxed.

Throughout the prac I had many opportunities to improve on my first treatment as I had several mistakes I could learn from. From this experience I realised that patient's are quite nervous (as obvious as that is, I was more nervous and worried about the attachments to notice this) and that it's best to ask only the essential questions before you get them up in order to save time. Once you tell them you are getting them up, they can often become quite anxious so it's important that you are organised and have brought the portable oxygen, oximeter and have a chair set up so that more time isn't wasted. In the future I will focus on ensuring the patient's comfort and safety come first and not get so bogged down in what I am doing that I don't notice what the patient's face and movements are telling me.