Examining cases from different areas of medicine is a rewarding and beneficial practice for healthcare professionals of all levels. Particularly, Operating Department Practitioners (ODP) should reflect on and review practice as required by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) Standard 11 of proficiency. It allows us as future practitioners to describe what we observed during practice, give alternative measures, and the impact of an event on the patient. This information is necessary to use in the future once faced with a similar procedure to improve practice. The purpose of this paper is to describe a particular case, approaches to the patient’s condition, and useful information received.
This reflection is based on the case of an eighty-two-year-old patient who underwent a Laparoscopic Right Hemicolectomy. This patient needed a sufficient remedy to relieve pain after the procedure. The aspect of care chosen to evaluate was “Pain Management in Enhanced Recovery Pathway After Surgery ‘(ERAS). According to Shanthakumar, Ratnasingham et al. (2015), a patient having bowel surgery should choose this particular way of improving the condition. The ERAS pathway aims to involve the patient in planning and preparing for major surgery to achieve better outcomes and quick recovery. This reduces risks during surgery and helps avoid dangers after the procedure.
It is worth dwelling in more detail on the definition of pain management and the different approaches to this phenomenon. The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) describes the pain as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage. This condition can be dangerous and therefore requires urgent intervention. Pain can also be described in terms of such damage where it can be expressed in several ways by different individuals (Kumar & Elavarasi, 2016). Thus, pain manifests itself differently, but approaches to it are limited and effective for multiple various groups of people. William C. Shiel. Jr (2018) defines pain management as the process of providing medical care that alleviates or reduces pain. This includes various pills, creams, and other treatments.
The pain management pathway in the described case was not followed according to ERAS guidelines. The anesthetist took a different approach, and the ODPs and nurses delivered the patient’s best interest. The patient was involved in monitoring his pain. He was interested in getting healthy quicker, so he was cooperative and communicated with medical doctors to adjust the treatment. This practice was beneficial for patient care. However, the main limitation is that the patient does not have professional medical knowledge, and he could not understand his condition entirely.
The best evidence practice impact on perioperative care provision in integrating patients through ERAS results in the best outcome for the patient. Within a joint work of the medical workers and the patient, the pain was relieved, which positively affected the patient’s condition. This research provided me with an understanding of how to improve care practice. In the future, I will pay more attention to patients and treat each person individually. This case also allowed me to develop my interpersonal skills, which is beneficial for further practice. Observing how the healthcare professionals looked after the patient inspire me to be competent and effective in caring for the patient. This has allowed me to dive deeply into the topic of the essay (Joyce, 2014). Thus, researching patient care has multiple benefits for any medical worker.
References
Joyce. P (2014) ‘Reflection for Operating Department Practitioners’, in Abbott, H., & Booth, H. (2014) (eds) Foundations for Operating Department Practice, Maidenhead, Open University Press.
Kumar, H., & Elavarasi, P. (2016). Definition of pain and classification of pain disorders, Journal of Advanced Clinical & Research Insights, 3, pp. 87–90
Shanthakumar, Ratnasingham. E (et al.) (2015) ‘Enhanced Recovery,’ in Tan, K. (Ed.), Transdisciplinary Perioperative Care in Colorectal Surgery, An Integrative Approach, Springer.
The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) (2004), The standards of proficiency for operating department practitioners. Web.
William C. Shiel Jr (2018), Medical Definition of Pain management. Web.