wk 4: reflective journal number1:

Toady I was asked to see a patient who is 5 weeks post R TKR admitted to hospital to control his pain management, by now his pain levels should be lower and his range should be greater, investigations have been done and nothing has been found to be wrong.

as I have seen this patient before as he usually goes to the outpatient knee class I knew he was behind the other patient's who had surgery at the same time and that he had been complaining of pain in his knee and not doing his exercises at home. My main goal for this patient was to reassure him that moving his knee is essential for the surgery to be successful and that not moving will mean he won't get full range back. secondly I wanted to empower him to do his exercises regularly and improving his mobility by weening him off his crutches and encouraging greater WTB through his right LL.

I think I explained to the patient quite well the consequences of not moving and the need do his exercise more than 4 times a day to try and improve his ROM. I also think by encouraging him to walk without his crutch he was able to see that walking was not going to cause pain to his knee was very helpful in changing his mindset. Over the past 4 weeks I have built a good rapport with this patient which I think has helped me in getting him to participate in his exercises and take on board the education I have given him. I do believe he is starting to rely on me a little too much so am starting to make a conscious effort to try and empower him to do his exercise and only spend small amounts of time with him so he starts to push him self into his treatment as he will have to do this at home.

Something I plan on focusing on in the future is making sure I empower my patients to be responsible for their own treatment while still being supportive and empathetic towards them.

I had a very good day today and I feel like I’m learning a lot while enjoying being on placement.