The Importance Of Reflection And How It Aids The Professional Development Of A Newly Graduated Nurse

Throughout personal professional development reflection is essential, allowing health care professionals to self-develop by revisiting events and analysing areas in which improvements and learning would ensure a positive impact on their future practice. The Nursing and Midwifery Council, (NMC, 2010) notes that all health care practitioners must be self-aware in their own values and principles which could affect their practice. Ensuring they maintain personal and professional development while learning through supervision, feedback and reflection.

I will use a reflective model to discuss how I have achieved the necessary level of competence in my nurse training programme. The reflective model I have chosen to use is Gibbs model (Gibbs 1988). Gibbs model of reflection incorporates the following: description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and an action plan (Gibbs 1988). The model will be applied to the essay to facilitate critical thought, relating theory to practice where the model allows. Discussion will include the knowledge underpinning practice and the evidence base for the clinical skill. A conclusion to the essay will

As the nurses who participated in a study (Jones & Cheek, 2003) overwhelmingly advised, there is no such thing as a typical day for a nurse. Nurses face new situations everyday and it is important that they can adjust their knowledge and skills accordingly. Critical thinking and reflection are essential skills because they can enhance nurses’ ability to solve problems and make sound decisions. Critical thinking skills enable nurses to identify multiple possibilities in clinical situations and alternatives to interventions; weigh the consequences of alternate actions; and make sound judgement and decisions (Brunt, 2005). Through reflection, nurses can examine their practice, explore feelings and reactions and connect new meanings to past experience (Brunt). Reflection can enhance self-awareness, foster professional satisfaction and growth and increase the possibility for change and improvement in nursing practice and therapeutic relationships (Thorne & Hayes, 1997).

Abdallah. Ayda Critical Reflection Essay Introduction Within the context of nursing there has been a significant change in nursing in the last two decades, where nursing and medical knowledge has led to changes where patients can no longer stay in hospital and reduction in hospital beds. Professionals who are employed in the healthcare industry are dealing with acutely ill patients who are in more need of care (usher et al 2009). As professionals we must discover the nature that is offered to us by responding and using reflective thoughts to enhance the important aspects in society (Lauder et al 2004). And qualified nurses, acknowledge and understanding is essential for their practice to remain current, continuous improvement in reflecting

For this reflective piece I am going to write about a situation I encountered whilst on my community placement with the district nurse. To write the essay I will be following "Johns model of structured reflection" as a basis to structure my reflection around.

Reflection is the critical examination of nurse’s clinical decisions with the goal of learning from the clinical experience, develop new knowledge, improve competency and practice that results in quality and safe delivery of care and positive patient outcomes. Additionally, highlighting the reflection process as an integral part of nursing, the registered nurse standards for practice in Australia requires ongoing reflective practice for continuing professional development. For this essay, the SN utilised the Gibbs Reflective Cycle framework. Gibbs' (1998) reflective cycle is model of reflection that provides a systematic approach in analysing a clinical experience and to provide recommendations should the SN encounter similar situation in

Kofoed (2011) explains in the article how nurses reflecting on their practice enables them to “know in practice and reflect in practise” when a new situation arises. It enables nurses when faced with a familiar situation to quickly reflect back on previous similar incidents but have a natural reaction when recognising what care is needed and can act quickly. Benner, Tanner & Chesla (2009) believe that a nurse, who engages in reflective practice, is able to “adapt at clinical judgement in the midst of complex situations” (Benner, Tanner & Chesla, 2009). If a nurse is able to reflect

Introduction Reflection assessment or reflective practice a central skill for nursing practitioners. It can help nurses to handle situations and improve care. Engaging in systematic reflection assessment qualifies nurses to cope with personal and professional effects of addressing vital wellbeing and health requirements on a quotidian basis. It is extensively debated that clinical apprentices should learn to become reflective practitioners and reflective assessment plays a key part in this. There are also many challenges of assessing reflection.

In Oluwatoyin’s Reflective practice: Implication for Nurses, she explains that with proper utilization of reflective practice “nurses are able to plan their actions and consciously monitor [those actions] to ensure it is beneficial to their patient” (2015). Furthermore, she argues that the process of reflection can “enhance self-esteem through learning”. With the expansion of medical knowledge and innovations, the healthcare industry evolves constantly and nurses must continue to learn and build upon past experiences. By reflecting on one’s experiences, nurses can build a foundation of learned practices with autonomy and confidence to care for more patients (Oluwatoyin,

Schon (1987) identified two types of reflection that could be applied in the nursing practice. He described “refection-on-action” that involves assessing and analyzing an action while performing the action and “reflection-in-action” which involves going back to previous actions and situations and analyzing them to gain new insights and to improve the nursing practice (Schon 1987). Schon further argued that for reflection to take place there should be a commitment to action as there is to results. Coined in 1970, Borton’s theory on the other hand, proposes the use of three stem questions in the reflective practice (Borton, 1970). These questions were originally proposed by John Driscoll who described the experiential learning cycle (Driscoll, 1994) where practitioners are able to learn from their experiences to improve their practice. According to Driscoll (1970) these trigger questions could be used to complete the experiential learning cycle leading to a practitioner gaining new information and insights on how to improve their practice (Driscoll, 1994). The importance of Driscoll’s three stem questions in improving practice reflection among nurses cannot be underestimated. By answering these stem questions, nurses develop a better insight into the situation regarding how and why it occurred and identifies the next courses of action in case the situation recurs.

Reflection has now been integrated into continuing professional development (CPD), which can be identified in a recent publication of revalidation by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Nurses are now required to record a minimum of five written reflections. The purpose of the written reflections is to encourage nurses to engage in reflective practice, identifying changing or improvements that can be applied to their practice based on what they have learned. Written accounts can be related to what you have learned from CPD, feedback, or an incident, as long as it relates to your practice and is relevant to the 4 themes of the Code.

Reflective Practice within Nursing has been defined ‘as a process that develops understanding of what it means to be a practitioner’ (Rolfe, 1998) and follows on with the ‘theory and practice through the practitioner consciously thinking through the experience’ (Jasper, 2003). This is of great importance regarding a practitioner, especially one in learning, as they are able to develop a better understanding of their role and offers support when learning new skills. In Nursing, Reflection plays a huge role. Most of the opportunities to learn and develop knowledge come best when learnt through practice and subsequently will be found in a practice environment.

Reflective Practice (RP) is a concept embedded nowadays in most of the educational and healthcare professional curriculums in UK, but it is much more developed and almost mandatory in nursing than in any other field (Hebert, Finlay 2008, GMC, NMC, Wilson 1996). This trend is based not only on learning theories, professional requirements and patient expectation but also for the numerous benefits that have been described such as enhancing the competence of self-directed lifelong learning, professional development and critical thinking among others. This beside of some drawbacks that have been highlighted (tsingos).

Self evaluation is useful but if used solely, it can be isolating. Peer evaluation is a component of clinical supervision which can assist in benchmarking clinical practice by stimulating ones own performance and providing an alternate source of learning (Gopee,2001). Reflection for example is a precursor to evaluation, a skill that can be developed by an individual nurse to aid them in future decision making, understanding of accountability and a means of practicing autonomously. For the student nurse, these skills maybe in their infancy and concepts such as these may need to be explored and values formed, quite possibly developmentally through use of Bloom’s Affective domain coupled with practical experience

This essay will discuss a clinical skill in which I have become competent in practicing. I will use a reflective model to discuss how I have achieved the necessary level of competence in my nurse training programme. The reflective model I have chosen to use is Gibbs model (Gibbs 1988). Gibbs model of reflection incorporates the following: description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and an action plan (Gibbs 1988). The model will be applied to the essay to facilitate critical thought, relating theory to practice where the model allows. Discussion will include the knowledge underpinning practice and the evidence base for the clinical skill. A conclusion to the essay will then be given which will discuss my reflection skills, acknowledge my competence and show my personal and professional development.