Reflective Account - nursing
RETURN TO NURSING PRACTICE
REFLECTIVE LOG
MODULE LEADER:
STUDENT NUMBER: 1
INTRODUCTION
This essay demonstrates the significant learning that resulted as a consequence of using critical reflection on my practice. The reflective process helped me to realise how my practice needed to change after I experienced a personal and practice-related issue during and after my clinical placement.
Reflective practice is an important component of all nurse education programmes. The Nursing and Midwifery Council's (NMC) The Code: Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics for nurses and Midwives (NMC, 2008), states that nurses must continue to keep knowledge and skills up to date during their professional careers. Reflection can improve a nurses 'repertoire of skills' (Matthews, 2004).
Reflection is a term much talked about yet there is no single, universally agreed definition (Chirema, 2007). However, there are many prominent thinkers and writers in the area who have made considerable contributions to the ongoing dialogue. As a learning process, reflecting on practice and turning experience into learning requires a framework or model in which to understand the experience and make sense of it. This may include other people with whom to interact and share experiences with. Indeed, much of the literature enthusiastically encourages reflection on experiences in nursing. It expects that by doing so, it will improve the professionalism of the practitioner by automatically transferring the new knowledge, skills and expertise into practice (Wallace, 2010).
After trialling a few models of reflection, I eventually settled on Gibbs' (1988) model (refer to figure 1). I find this a simple and easy to use model and it suited my personal style of learning. However, reflection often reveals shortcomings and it has potential to leave the practitioner feeling insecure and demotivated. Yet O'Callaghan's (2005) reflective writing
REFLECTIVE LOG
MODULE LEADER:
STUDENT NUMBER: 1
INTRODUCTION
This essay demonstrates the significant learning that resulted as a consequence of using critical reflection on my practice. The reflective process helped me to realise how my practice needed to change after I experienced a personal and practice-related issue during and after my clinical placement.
Reflective practice is an important component of all nurse education programmes. The Nursing and Midwifery Council's (NMC) The Code: Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics for nurses and Midwives (NMC, 2008), states that nurses must continue to keep knowledge and skills up to date during their professional careers. Reflection can improve a nurses 'repertoire of skills' (Matthews, 2004).
Reflection is a term much talked about yet there is no single, universally agreed definition (Chirema, 2007). However, there are many prominent thinkers and writers in the area who have made considerable contributions to the ongoing dialogue. As a learning process, reflecting on practice and turning experience into learning requires a framework or model in which to understand the experience and make sense of it. This may include other people with whom to interact and share experiences with. Indeed, much of the literature enthusiastically encourages reflection on experiences in nursing. It expects that by doing so, it will improve the professionalism of the practitioner by automatically transferring the new knowledge, skills and expertise into practice (Wallace, 2010).
After trialling a few models of reflection, I eventually settled on Gibbs' (1988) model (refer to figure 1). I find this a simple and easy to use model and it suited my personal style of learning. However, reflection often reveals shortcomings and it has potential to leave the practitioner feeling insecure and demotivated. Yet O'Callaghan's (2005) reflective writing
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