Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare Essay Assignment
Journal Entry #1: OB/ GYN Outpatient Clinical Rotation
The first most challenging patient encounter that I had during this outpatient rotation was with a 48 year-old woman presenting with a complaint of frequent hot flushes accompanied by sweating at night. Even after taking her history and performing a thorough physical examination, I could not find any obvious physical cause to her symptoms. It was only after consultations with my preceptor that it dawned on me this was the consequence of a fall in the estrogen levels around menopause (Stubbs et al., 2017). What was most challenging for me was the intervention to use to reduce her symptoms, since they were so severe as to interfere with her daily activities. According to Stubbs et al. (2017), selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are effective in lowering these symptoms. I ended up advising her to apply lifestyle changes such as exercise and weight reduction on top of prescribing paroxetine (Paxil) at a low dose as per the evidence. Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare Essay Assignment
The second challenging case was that of a woman who presented with a complaint of raised “bumps” on her genitalia that were painless. Arriving at the correct diagnosis for this patient was very challenging as many sexually transmitted infections (STIs) usually present with such lesions. I finally arrived at a diagnosis of molluscum contagiosum due to the very typical presentation (Meza-Romero et al., 2019) and after ruling out other possibilities such as syphilis and lymphogranuloma venereum.
The third and last most challenging patient encounter was that of a 39 year-old female patient who underwent a Pap smear and a human papilloma virus (HPV) test at the same time. The HPV test came back positive and the Pap smear result showed atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance or ASCUS (Rask et al., 2017). What turned out to be most challenging for me in this case was the correct next course of action. This I soon determined after consulting a senior experienced advanced practice nurse to be the performance of a colposcopy. I immediately ordered for the same.
What I learnt from this experience was that the application of the cognitive domain elements learnt in class theoretically in the practical area is not easy. It takes practice to be able to connect cognitive domain material (theory) to affective domain (attitude) and psychomotor domain (physical examination) elements in practice. Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare Essay Assignment
The resources I had available were the staff at the physician’s office, the physician herself, my preceptor, the computerized provider order entry (CPOE) in the electronic health record (EHR) system, and the “add-on” clinical decision support or CDS.
For the above patients, I used established scholarly evidence in practice based on the algorithms contained in the EHR system and guided by the CDS to order interventions.
The new skills that I am learning are affective and psychomotor skills. I am becoming more aware and competent in multiculturalism (affective domain) and also better at physical examination (psychomotor domain).
What I would do differently is that I would spend more time with each patient to gain a better insight into their problems. The current 18-25 minutes seems insufficient.
I am managing patient flow and volume by making sure I do not spend more than 25 minutes with each patient. Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare Essay Assignment
I might only improve on my skills and knowledge by tapping on the experience of the staff employed at the physician’s office. This includes the physician herself and my preceptor. I would communicate that back to my preceptor by agreeing on some 30 minutes at the end of each day to review the events of the day.
In my opinion I am doing quite well. At the moment I do not feel like there is anything missing yet.
I am receiving s far very positive feedback from my preceptor; and that is the reason why I feel I am doing well. Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare Essay Assignment
References
Meza-Romero, R., Navarrete-Dechent, C., & Downey, C. (2019). Molluscum contagiosum: An update and review of new perspectives in etiology, diagnosis, and treatment. Clinical, Cosmetic, and Investigational Dermatology, 12(1), 373-381. http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/CCID.S187224
Rask, M., Swahnberg, K., Lindell, G., & Oscarsson, M. (2017). Women’s experiences of abnormal Pap smear results: A qualitative study. Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare, 12, 3–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.srhc.2017.01.002
Stubbs, C., Mattingly, L., Crawford, S.A., Wickersham, E.A., Brockhaus, J.L., & McCarthy, L.H. (2017). Do SSRIs and SNRIs reduce the frequency and/or severity of hot flashes in menopausal women? The Journal of the Oklahoma State Medical Association, 110(5), 272-274
Journal Entry #1 (450–500 words):
In your journal entry, answer the following questions:
Learning from Experiences
Communicating and Feedback
Respond to the following reflective questions:
Please keep in mind that this is OB/GYN Clinical rotation and it is outpatient (in Physician office)
Please use heading for each major part of the assignment as follow