Reflection has been strongly advocated by the English National Board for Nursing & Midwifery (1994), United Kingdom Central Council (UKCC) (1996), and a wealth of nursing literature over the past decade to improve nursing practice. Reflection is un doubted an important concept in nursing and since 1994, reflection has succeeded in stimulating debate and investigation, and influencing nursing education around the world. Reflection is an in-depth consideration of events or situations outside of one-self, solitary, or with critical support. Burnard (1995) argues that reflection has its roots in experiential learning, as it forms the second stage of the experiential learning cycle. Active reflection gives nurses the confidence in terms of clinical decision making. It can also be a meaning of identifying strengths and weaknesses in practice and enabling nurses to learn from their mistakes. Despite this, critics of reflection say there is still …show more content…
Reflection in action is important for expert nurses to avoid becoming ‘stale’ or bored and preventing burn out. Reflection in action is the hawk in our mind constantly circling over our head watching and advising on our actions while we are practicing. Reflection in action is the process whereby the practitioners recognized a new situation and think it out as it happens and improved during practice. Reflection in action or ‘thinking on your feet’ is perhaps the most familiar to nurses. It is perhaps the lack of opportunity to look at these events away from the clinical setting, and with the absence of a supervisor that adds to the stress that nurses experience in their workplace. Reflection in action is essentially reflection that is done ‘on the hoof’. It refers to the mindfulness that all nurses engage in to a greater or lesser extent when they are going about their daily business as nurses (Anderson & Branch,
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”.
Reflection can be defined as “a process of reviewing an experience of practice in order to describe, analyse and evaluate and so inform learning from practice.”(Reid, 1993) It is an important factor when working within any health profession and midwifery is certainly no exception. Schon (1991) defines a reflective practitioner as “someone who learns by reflecting on current experience and applies that learning to future practice.” Reflection allows midwives to grow and develop professionally as well as personally (Kirkham, 1994) and can guide her into moulding her sphere practice in a positive way to benefit the women she is caring for (Church & Raynor, 2000). It also allows midwives to continue with lifelong learning and put theory to
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
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
Reflective practice in nursing is considered an important aspect to nursing. Durgahee ( 1997) defines reflective practice as a process of learning and teaching professional maturity through the critical analysis of experience, whilst John ( 2009) up to date explanation of reflection is learning through our everyday experience towards realising one vision of desirable practice as a lived reality.
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
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).
Burns, S. Bulman, C. Palmer, A. (1997) Reflective Practice in Nursing - The growth of the professional practitioner. London: Blackwell Science.
In recent years, reflection and reflective practice have become well-known term with in the health care arena. They are words that have been debated and discussed with in the health care setting (Tony and Sue 2006). Reflective practice is essential for nurses, as nurses are responsible for providing care to the best of their ability to patients and their families (NMC, 2008). Reid (1993) states reflection is a process of reviewing an experience of practice in order to describe, analyse, evaluate and so inform learning about practice. Johns (1995) notes that reflection enables practitioners to assess, understand and learn through their experience. Reflective practice, therefore, offers nurses an opportunity to review their decisions and
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.
Critical reflection is vital to develop evidence based practice for safe and quality approaches to professional nursing practice. Nursing professionals should critically reflect on events to identify what health professionals might do to improve their practice and reduce the risk of a similar error. Reflective practice can help to learn from their mistakes, be empowered and most importantly to deliver best possible care to patient as nurses must work closely with their patients to develop a therapeutic relationship. Critical reflection is a valuable skill to ensure patient centred care. This practice promotes personal development by enhancing students’ self-awareness, their sense of community, and their sense of their own capacities for
For the purpose of this essay, I have selected Gibbs (1988) Reflective Learning Cycle to reflect on an aspect of individual professional practice, which requires development in preparation for my role as a Registered Nurse. Gibbs (1988) Model of Reflection provides a clear description of a situation, analysis of feelings, evaluation of the experience, conclusion, and action plan to make sense of the experience to examine what you would do if the situation happens again.
The purpose of this essay is to reflect on my personal role in the inter-professional team and the delivery of healthcare that I have encountered during my duty as a health care assistant in one of the hospitals here in England. In accordance with the NMC (2002) Code of professional conduct, confidentiality shall be maintained and all names have been changed to protect identity. The purpose of reflection as stated by John's (1995) is to promote desirable practice through the practitioner's understanding and learning about his/her lived experiences. I have decided to reflect upon an incident with the nurse in charge in one of my shifts and in order to structure my reflection I
Developing my holistic nursing practice or looking at who I have become as a nurse today has been a journey that has helped defined who I am today. When I look back at when I originally became a nurse over 16 years ago, I am proud of who I have become. When I finished nursing school and began my job as a new nurse I thought I had all the tools to be the best nurse I could be. I understood the nursing process, I recognized the skills needed at the bedside to be a nurse, and I felt I had great nursing documentation skills. Soon I learned that wasn’t all of what I needed.
According to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) (2013) defines reflection as “an important activity in which people recapture their experience, think about it, mull over and evaluate it”. Therefore it can be argued that a reflection is a way of thinking about situations, analysing and learning from them. Nursing Midwifery Council (NMC) (2015) advocates that nurses are to maintain confidentiality at all times. Therefore the patient will be named