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Nursing Reflection Essay

Decent Essays

Reflection on a clinical Skill

This essay will discuss a clinical skill in which I have become competent in practicing as a student nurse. 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 …show more content…

My mentor said that this was acceptable and I continued to administer the injection, omitting the use of the alcohol wipe. On the previous occasions when I had administered IM injections I had not cleansed the site and had never been instructed to adopt this practice.
I am now going to enter into the second stage of Gibbs (1988) model of reflection, which is a discussion about my thoughts and feelings. I was aware of being under the supervision of two qualified nurses and this made me feel very nervous and self conscious. Once my mentor questioned my practice, concerning skin cleansing, I became even more aware of feeling nervous and under pressure. The patient was present and I did not want the patient to feel that I did not know what I was doing. I thought that as I had been observed carrying out this clinical procedure on many other occasions then my practice must have been seen to be correct. I was now feeling very confused about the use of alcohol wipes in the administration of IM injection. I was also concerned that the practice of the qualified nurses was so inconsistent, which led me to evaluate the whole process.
Evaluation is the third stage of Gibbs (1988) model of reflection and requires the reflector to with state what was good and bad about the event. I was aware that research by Workman (1999) suggests that the use of skin cleansing wipes is inconsistent and not necessary in IM injections if the patient appears to be physically clean

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