Observation Of Individuals At Campus Square And Basketball Court

Description of the Campus Square and Basketball Court

Discuss about the Experiential Learning and Reflection Research.

The first visual observation was done at the campus square where students hang out during their free time. The first individual was in a group of four students who were sited on the lawn. The second case was a lady who was playing at the basketball court with other ladies. The activity was purely visual and did not include any engagement with the observed individuals.

The individual was young male and appeared to be in the mid-twenties of age. The age of the patient could be easily characterized as youth since he had a beard which was not fully grown and the hair on the head had not started greying. However, he was having a smart phone which he was tapping all through showing one of the characteristics of the millennial population. Having an athlete body with well-built muscles, the individual can be said to have a body fat that most athlete bodied individuals have (Carins, 2016). He was seen as having a fractured or broken left arm which was bandaged thus making him use the right arm in almost everything that he was doing. He displayed good average movement of body parts with only the left arm that was a problem.

The individual was dressed in a blue-dirty jeans, a grey plain polo shirt and sketcher shoes with a watch on the left arm. This dressing style clearly indicates the dressing style of the young millennial population of today who are keen on not associating with old brand s but rather trying out something unique that fits in the modern dressing domain. The patient seems to be cautious with dressing based on the mix of the different brands to give a classy look. Being characterized like one from the middle-class family, the patient was well groomed and could be seen calmly talking to others and the health practitioners in the facility who were on duty. However, the facial expression indicated that he was in mild pain which was seen in him changing the face every time now and then. The personal hygiene of the patient was high since even the plaster that had been put on the arm was clean despite the challenges of maintaining a plaster on the arm (Barnicot, et al., 2017). The mood and manner of expression that he was using was normal since he was using both verbal and non-verbal communication to talk to others.

Visual Observation of the Young Male Individual

He displayed low signs of distress due to the physical pain from the injured arm. This was seen in stretching and changing the face in some situations, an indicator of the pain that was striking at some points (Slemon, Jenkins, & Bungay, 2017). However, he only displayed physical distress but not any sign of emotional or psychological distress.

Pain was seen in the patient in some situations. From the observation it is like the pain was mild but was in and off, this was seen in restlessness and agitation of the patient and sometime appearing uneasy when feeling the pain.

The patient was a female who appeared in her early-30s was characterized by a heavy body fat in the body which characterized her body size and an enlarged belly. The lady could easily be characterized as obese since she was too heavy for flexibility in the physical activities that were being done by other students (Zuzelo, Curran, & Zeserman, 2012).

The lady was dressed in a navy blue skirt suit with high heeled boots. She looked well-groomed based on the dressing code and she appeared to come from a well off family based on the dressing and smart phone that she was using. She seemed to have an eating disorder since within the short time that I observed her, she had eaten chocolate cream, biscuits, one hot dog and one bottle of soda.

The lady displayed some physical distress due to the size of her body which made it difficult for her to engage in physical activities like the rest of her friends. She was seen missing the level of physical activity and only participating in less demanding activities.

The environment that I was observing the individual was the campus square and the basketball court. At the campus square students are free to hang out to pass time with others. Most students hear are youths ranging from the age of 20 to 30 who are pursuing their undergraduate programs but there are other older students who are in senior programmes too. The campus square has all sorts of students ranging from age, sex, gender and physical characteristics.  With this type of population profile, there are as many people to observe as possible who exhibit different characteristics. The observation in the campus square and the basketball court was open since there were other students who were present here making it easy for me to observe the specified individuals. I chose these two places since they are one of the areas that I hang out too thus making it easy for me to identify the targets.

Clothing and Physical Characteristics of the Young Male Individual

The role of the task was to assess the nature and characteristics of individual that were seen in the two areas and choosing any significant person from the group that was being observed. The reason why I chose the young gentleman was to capture the characteristics of the young population which defines the major segment of the population. On the other hand, the female gave the characteristics of the female population and the challenges of health that the young adults are facing. The major challenge that I faced is making the right visual observations on the individuals using clinical analysis. Since I was watching them from some distance and I did not interview them directly, then it means that the findings that I gathered were based on my personal knowledge and analysis of the situation (Valenti, Giacco, Katasakou, & Priebe, 2014). In clinical situations, making the right analysis of the patient’s situation is important in formulating the right clinical processes that need to be followed to treat the patient.

The action that I focused on was analysis of the situation that the individuals were facing and make clear clinical recommendations for the process. To address this process, I first focused on analyzing the number of students who were in the area to determine the number of that can be analyzed. This means that I looked at the number of students who were in the campus square and basketball court to determine the ones that I will analyze.  I used the criteria of any individual who was having physical injury and any other who was having a lifestyle challenge. This led me to the male student with the injured arm and the fat lady. The young male with a broken upper limb was hanging out with a group of other male students who could be course mates or friend and the lady was with others who were playing basketball. Most students were here in groups which I could not easily define the characteristics of each.

In analyzing the students’ situations I focused on keeping their confidentiality and ensured that they were not aware of what I was doing. In academic research, anonymity of respondents is an important element of protecting the patient and ensuring that their personal information is not used anywhere.  Here I did not ask the students for anything related to their personal information nor did I approach them about the study that I was doing. From the analysis I believe that I was professional in may approach to work since I made clinical judgment based in my nursing knowledge rather than asking the patients how they were feeling to diagnose the medical problem that they were having (Moorman, 2015). As a health practitioner, clinical knowledge of situations is important in ensuring that the practitioner makes the right analysis of the patient’s situation before further tests can be done. This means that through observation of the basic signs and physical characteristics that patient’s exhibit, the practitioner can make clinical judgment on the basic condition of the patient without interrogating them.

From the analysis of the situations, I learned that by observing the physical characteristics of people, one can learn a lot from them. For example, the dressing code and appearance can help determine how the social determinants of health affect the individual (ThomasSandy, 2016). By looking at the cost of dressing that one puts on, we can estimate the background of the patient and make judgments on the social challenges that they face. Further, Birch, et al. (2016) suggests tha as a health practitioner situational analysis knowledge is relevant in assessing patient situations without asking them to describe how they feel. This knowledge and skills can be applied in emergency situations where patients are unable to talk thus requiring the practitioner to offer first aid before other tests can be done. By engaging with the physical characteristics of the students, I was able to easily asses them and make clinical assumptions that can inform the future care processes that will be administered on the patients.

References

Barnicot, K., Insua-Summerhayes, B., Plummer, E., Hart, A., Barker, C., & Priebe, S. (2017). Staff and patient experiences of decision-making about continuous observation in psychiatric hospitals. Social Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiology, 52(4), 473-483.

Birch, S., Govender, V., Fried, J., Eyles, J., Daries, V., Moshabela, M., & Cleary, S. (2016). Does treatment collection and observation each day keep the patient away? An analysis of the determinants of adherence among patients with Tuberculosis in South Africa. Health Policy and Planning, 31(4), 454-461.

Carins, 1.-1. (2016). Visual Observation Techniques. Formative Research in Social Marketing , 107-123.

Moorman, M. (2015). The Meaning of Visual Thinking Strategies for Nursing Students. Humanities, 4, 748-759.

Slemon, A., Jenkins, m., & Bungay, V. (2017). Safety in psychiatric inpatient care: The impact of risk management culture on mental health nursing practice. Nursing Inquiry, 11(3), 1-10.

ThomasSandy, P. (2016). The use of observation on patients who self-harm: Lessons from a learning disability service. Health SA Gesondheid, 21, 253-260.

Valenti, E., Giacco, D., Katasakou, C., & Priebe, S. (2014). 2014). Which values are important for patients during involuntary treatment? A qualitative study with psychiatric inpatients. Journal of Medical Ethics, 40, 832-836.

Zuzelo, P. R., Curran, S. S., & Zeserman. (2012). Registered Nurses’s Behavioural Health Associates’ responses to violent inpatient interactions on behavioural health. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 18(2), 112-126.