A Consolidated Learning Analysis of a Student Nurse's Clinical Experience with a High School Student who is Deaf

Abstract

 

A CONSOLIDATED LEARNING ANALYSIS OF A STUDENT NURSE’S CLINICAL EXPERIENCE WITH A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT WHO IS DEAF

By: Sally Chung , Student Nurse, 4^th year skmchung@ucalgary.ca  and Tracey Clancy, RN, MN, Nursing Practice Instructor tclancy@ucalgary.ca, University of Calgary, Faculty of Nursing, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4 , Canada

ABSTRACT

Background: This paper was developed during the first author’s Nursing 285 theory course. It is a foundational course with the intent of helping novice nursing students begin to develop an understanding of nursing as a profession and as a discipline.

Aim: The purpose of this consolidation of learning assignment offered students an opportunity to reflect upon and articulate salient aspects from their experiential learning and to further explore their growing understanding through bridging theory to practice and expressing how this transformational learning informs who they are becoming as a registered nurse. The experience described in this reflective paper occurred during my first community health placement in the fall of 2011. Placed at a high school setting in Western Canada, I worked with a group of students with cognitive disabilities, some of whom were deaf as well. As defined by the Canadian Association for the Deaf (CAD, 2014), a person is recognized as medically/audiologically deaf when that person has “little to no functional hearing and depends upon visual rather than auditory communication.”

Action Plan: When working with a particular student at this high school—we will refer to her as Lisa (pseudonym)—I found that Lisa had been born deaf.  Knowing that her strengths lay in sign language, I sought the help of her teacher and sign language aides (websites with translators and a sign language book) to better facilitate my teachings and improve our rapport.

Discussion: The themes discussed in this paper are: critical thinking, self-regulation, adapting to changes when in practice, and the complexity of the nursing role.

Conclusion: The complexity of the nursing role is a primary theme learned as a result of this experience in that nurses may oftentimes find themselves facing sudden or unexpected client status changes. The nurse needs to adapt to care for that client safely and effectively, thinking critically of priorities and what resources are available at the nurse’s disposal.

Keywords: Reflective Learning for Nursing Students; Nursing Care; Persons who are deaf