Blood Pressure

4. What tips can you give KH’s wife to improve the accuracy of her blood pressure measurement technique? Used the better way to measure the blood and for the cuff to wrap

have said with regard to the above questions. You should use all of your knowledge about blood pressure

The convenience sampling that was used in recruiting all male patients who were on blood pressure medications is a glaring bias in this study. There was no information provided addressing why the patients were presenting to the clinic. There are many interventions that can raise blood pressure. For example, the study conducted by Marshall, Anantharachagan, Choudhary, Chue and Kaurhis, (2002) investigated the effect of situational anxiety on blood pressure experienced in anticipation of a blood test. Marshall, et. al., (2002) found that anticipation of a blood test can raise blood pressure. Foster-Fitzpatrick, et. al., 1999 did not address the purpose of the patient’s visit to the clinic.

Reflective practice in nursing is the process where we examine our nursing ability’s and practice in order to critically think and analyze the way we work and think about the views of others in our practice, what we could have done and we could have achieved a greater result by doing this also allows us as nurses to include best practice and use our own judgment in patient care to show the factors that either aid and hinder nurse to patient relationship. (Lowenstein, Bradshaw and Fuszard, 2001) described reflecting in nursing practice “the nurse must first come to understand what he or she defines as ideal practice”.

Personal reflection in nursing is essential and critical as it allows for continuous development and re-assessment of skills whilst working within a health care setting (Reflective practice: a tool to enhance professional practice 2011, pp.1-3). Personal reflection is important as reflective practice allows for the ability for one to reflect and examine their actions and experiences which overall will increase and enhance their clinical knowledge, as well as developing and improving their practice (Reflective practice: a tool to

• Measure blood pressure

In this assignment I am going to reflect on a clinical situation that has taken place during my placement. I will be using the Gibbs’ reflective cycle which will include the skills of assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of care and link it to the registered nurse standards for practice – standard 4 , comprehensively conducts and assessments (nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia [NMBA], 2016). The Gibbs’ reflective cycle consists of 6 stages which starts with a description of the situation and what I observed, the second stage is to describe what were my feelings and thoughts were at the time, third stage is an evaluation to explain what worked well and what was good, fourth is an analysis to link the incident to what we have been learning , fifth stage is the conclusion to talk about what else could have been done and the final stage is an action plan to set out next steps for if it was to happen again (Gibbs' Reflective Cycle, 2014).

The ability to become reflective in practice has become a necessary skill for health professionals. This is to ensure that health professionals are continuing with their daily learning and improving their practice. Reflective practice plays a big part in healthcare today and is becoming increasingly noticed.

The last week of classes for NURS1005 were a series of clinical skills activities. These activities refreshed the student’s minds on what they will be doing on placement and how to do it. We got assessed on three clinical skills; taking and recording vital signs, blood glucose levels and doing a urine analysis. I’ve chosen to reflect on taking vital signs and how I performed them. Reflection is a very important part of learning from experiences which is essential in nursing. Nursing practises continue to change and it is easier to go with and to add to that change if you are reflecting on your practise. This essentially makes nursing practises better for the patients. I have reflected on the process of how I took the vital signs during my clinical skills activities. I was very nervous but believe I performed them well due to how I was taught, what I have read and seen and the vital signs signified how my peer was acting which was healthy and within a normal range. Even though I felt I did them well, there were improvements that could and have happened since. Most of the improvements are minor in comparison to the strengths I have but it is important to recognise improvements when needed so you are giving the best and accurate care. I was aware of these improvements needed and tried to strengthen them during my clinical placement which helped me learn different ways of doing processes and also the rationale behind the processes.

I believe that reflective practice is essential to carrying out clinical skills effectively. It allows the nurse to reflect on their actions and perhaps, think what they will do if a similar scenario were to occur at a future stage. I reviewed Kolb's model of reflection. This

Reflection is an important tool for all health care practitioners. It can improve our skills and help us understand the choices we make while in practice. Williams (2001) states that “Reflective learning involves assessment and re-assessment of assumptions and critical reflection occurs whenever

Reflection is used by nurses and health care professionals to incorporate theoretical and practical knowledge (Cowen et al 2009). On the other hand, Rolfe et al (2011) noted that reflecting on the event and thinking about any action that could have been taken differently. For effective changes to occur when reflecting, the reflector should pay attention to what they are thinking, how they are feeling and what they recall (Taylor 2010 cited in Howatson-jones 2013)

Cooney, A. (1999) Reflection demystified: answering some common questions. British Journal of Nursing 8(11): 1530-1534.

As a first year student I was assigned to take a patients vital sighs while my peer videoed it. Throughout the video blood pressure, pulse, respirations, and temperature was recorded to check if everything was in normal range, while ensuring a comfortable environment, and communicating with the patient to build trust and confidence in my ability to make an accurate assessment and judgement

Reflection is defined by Howatson-Jones (2013), as “a way of examining your experience in order to look for the possibility of other explanations and alternative approaches to doing things” (p. 6). The practice of reflection is important for numerous reasons. As stated by Hargreaves and Page (2013), reflections promote good practice and in the occurrence of a difficult or challenging situation, they can help to identify where things went wrong and how to improve the outcome for future incidents. As identified by Jasper, Rosser and Mooney (2013), reflection offers benefits to both the patient and the practitioner. Practitioners are more likely to avoid routine practice, continuously develop their knowledge and identify faults to improve on. Patients are more likely to receive higher standards of safety and better quality of care