Reflective Practice: Understanding Grief
Reflective Practice: Understanding Grief Stressful and unfamiliar situations can leave you not knowing how to communicate with another individual. The personal may feel uncomfortable or interpret the wrong message. Therefore, it is important to reflect on your own actions, so that you can be successful in a similar event. Reflective practice has become the heart of nursing by primarily expressing feelings and experiences (Price, 2017). Reflection is a helpful tool that is used to look back on an incident while thinking and analyzing different end possibilities. According to Koole et al. (2011) reflection is entirely expressed through language. Writing is a useful way of recording events and results to be later evaluated, in order to develop
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Nurses must show concern for the client and acknowledge both verbal and nonverbal communication (Roberts, Fenton & Barnard, 2015). Trust is an essential element that the nurse must develop, in order for the client to express their feelings. A successful therapeutic relationship relies on the nurse’s professional communication and caring skills (Roberts et al., 2015). I believe that I was very effective in developing a therapeutic relationship with Mrs. Villeneuve, in correspondence to the assessment criteria (see Appendix A for assessment of relational abilities). Mrs. Villeneuve expressed trust in regard to the care that I provided Mr. Villeneuve. I lightly knocked on the door to a quiet and isolated room where Mrs. Villeneuve was and asked, “is it ok if I enter?”. She agreed upon my presence and I sat down in a chair close to her. I began to express my sympathies in respect and compassion for the loss of her husband. I followed Egan’s (1975) model of SOLER (“Sit squarely”; “Open posture”; “Lean towards the other”; “Eye contact; “Relax”). The model of SOLER instructs individuals of the essential non-verbal behaviours that creates an effective listener (Stickley, 2011). It is important to pay attention to both the client’s verbal and nonverbal behaviours in order to interpret how the client is feeling (Gorawara-Bhat, Hafskjold, Gulbrandsen & Eide, 2017). I used nonverbal communication, such as SOLER and head nodding, to indicate that Mrs. Villeneuve that my full attention. I displayed care by sitting with Mrs. Villeneuve, staying by her side for as long as she needed me, listening to her speak, and asking, “is there anything I can do to help you? Anyone I can call?”. I was there both physically and emotionally for her, trying to understand and ease her pain by talking about the good memories. I asked, “how long were you married for?” and Mrs. Villeneuve engaged in conversation by disclosing the
Nurses must show concern for the client and acknowledge both verbal and nonverbal communication (Roberts, Fenton & Barnard, 2015). Trust is an essential element that the nurse must develop, in order for the client to express their feelings. A successful therapeutic relationship relies on the nurse’s professional communication and caring skills (Roberts et al., 2015). I believe that I was very effective in developing a therapeutic relationship with Mrs. Villeneuve, in correspondence to the assessment criteria (see Appendix A for assessment of relational abilities). Mrs. Villeneuve expressed trust in regard to the care that I provided Mr. Villeneuve. I lightly knocked on the door to a quiet and isolated room where Mrs. Villeneuve was and asked, “is it ok if I enter?”. She agreed upon my presence and I sat down in a chair close to her. I began to express my sympathies in respect and compassion for the loss of her husband. I followed Egan’s (1975) model of SOLER (“Sit squarely”; “Open posture”; “Lean towards the other”; “Eye contact; “Relax”). The model of SOLER instructs individuals of the essential non-verbal behaviours that creates an effective listener (Stickley, 2011). It is important to pay attention to both the client’s verbal and nonverbal behaviours in order to interpret how the client is feeling (Gorawara-Bhat, Hafskjold, Gulbrandsen & Eide, 2017). I used nonverbal communication, such as SOLER and head nodding, to indicate that Mrs. Villeneuve that my full attention. I displayed care by sitting with Mrs. Villeneuve, staying by her side for as long as she needed me, listening to her speak, and asking, “is there anything I can do to help you? Anyone I can call?”. I was there both physically and emotionally for her, trying to understand and ease her pain by talking about the good memories. I asked, “how long were you married for?” and Mrs. Villeneuve engaged in conversation by disclosing the