Reference no: EM133670251

Assignment:

This assessment explores more deeply self-awareness and person-centred practice in nursing.

The assessment explores 'the self' in the context of collaborative practice in nursing, working as a team or group and peer learning.

This assessment supports a deeper understanding of self-awareness by understanding different aspects of us that are in action when we work in groups to identify and discuss the complex ways nurses manage the bodies of others with a specific focus on emotional labour and person-centred nursing practice.

Christina has strong links and relationships with Indigenous Australians because of her heritage and identity. People sometimes find her background confusing because she has pale skin and blonde hair. When people seem genuinely interested, she always takes the time to explain the meaning behind being an Aboriginal Australian. On the afternoon that she arrived at a hospital emergency department (ED) with her seriously ill two-year-old son, she had no time to explain anything, although she ticked the box on her admission form to identify her son as an Indigenous Australian.

She attended the ED of a busy metropolitan hospital because her son was having an extreme allergic reaction to peanuts. That day her family and friends had come together for a children's birthday party for her five-year-old daughter. The party was a large gathering of toddlers and pre-schoolers who enjoyed an afternoon's festivities. Near the end of the party, following the cutting and eating of the cake, she noticed her two-year-old son was showing signs of a severe allergic reaction. She had seen it before and knew exactly what to do.

Not knowing for sure what had caused the reaction, she administered adrenaline and set out for the local hospital, a two-minute car trip from home. On the way she remembered that she that she had decorated the cake with 'hundreds and thousands' that had been stored in a jar that previously contained peanuts. Her two-year-old son had reacted immediately after eating the cake.

On arrival, she quickly explained what was happening to the triage nurse in the ED. She told him of her son's history and the events of the day, stating that she and her son needed to be seen immediately as her son has a severe allergic reaction to peanuts. The nurse's response was not in keeping with the seriousness of the circumstances and he asked her to be seated. She became quite distressed, stating in a loud voice that she and her son must be seen immediately. He replied, 'Have a seat, and wait like everybody else'.

Knowing she had no time and knowing of another hospital two minutes away she picked up her son, who was by now unable to walk and went to a second hospital. There her son was stabilised in the ED ad admitted to the intensive care unit. Although he recovered physically, Christina had difficulty recovering emotionally from her treatment in the ED of the first hospital; she felt traumatised.

She retained the services of a lawyer and obtained the ED record of her son's admission under the right to freedom of information. On the record she read: 'Aboriginal woman, dishevelled, wearing dirty clothes, with a two-year-old in her arms, loudly demanding to be seen immediately. Child appears dirty unkempt and possibly neglected, not in keeping with developmental milestones as he is crawling. Strong smell of alcohol on the mother's breath. Mother seems hysterical and believes the child is having a reaction to peanuts. Not able to confirm allergy. Plan is to contact the children's services department and have the child seen by a social worker. Mother told to wait. Triaged to category 3.

Christina filed a formal complaint against the hospital and the nurse. She was pleased to hear that this resulted in action being taken against the nurse, who was removed from further triage duty. Christina was satisfied knowing that this nurse would not have a further opportunity to make decisions that could have dire consequences purely based on a racial stereotype (after Stein-Parbury, 2018).

• What is the importance of this story?
• What more do you need to know about the concepts that you read into this story?
• What have you learned about yourself in the context of human diversity from reading and thinking about this story?

Reflect on peer learning through the group component of this assessment.

• How did you feel about your involvement in the group?
• What was the basis of that feeling of involvement?
• How did it feel to be completing the empathy map as a group?
• What would have helped the situation?
• What conclusion would you draw from the experience of peer learning through the shared completion of the empathy map part of the assessment?