Reflection on Action

Reflecting on the situation that had taken place during my second placement working in the community. This will give me the perfect opportunity to develop and utilise my commutation skills in order to maintain the relationships with my patient. In this reflection, I am going to use Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle. This model is a recognised framework for my reflection. Gibbs (1988). Baird and Winter (2005,) give some reasons why reflection is require in the reflective practice. They state that a reflect is to generate the practice knowledge, assist an ability to adapt new situations, develop self-esteem and satisfaction as well as to value, develop and professionalizing practice. However, Siviter (2004)

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

There are various models of reflective practice. The first model of reflection is demonstrated by Gibbs (1988) whose model focuses purely on the reflection after a specific experience the individual goes through. Gibbs reflective model consists of six stages.

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 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

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

The model of reflection chosen for this essay is Gibbs’ reflective cycle (1988). This model has been chosen as it has clear systematic headings; it allows the individual to reflect precisely and accurately, (Jasper, 2003). The Gibbs’ reflective cycle incorporates 6 stages of refection (figure 2), (Rolfe et al, 2011).

Effective reflection helps the practitioner to see the situation from an outsider's perspective, so that they can develop a better way to respond to a similar scenario in the future. Reflection is meant to achieve a change in practice, rather than simply repeating the same mistakes (Schon, 1983). Many different models exist for structuring the reflective process. Regardless of the framework used, the reflection models are meant to accomplish three things. They are supposed to promote reflecting on events, self-evaluation and analysis, and a plan to change actions in the future. This Reflective essay will utilize Driscoll's 'The What?' model as its structure (Driscoll, 1994). This model has three components"

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.

Reflective practice is often defined as when practitioners engage in a continuous cycle of self observation and self evaluation in order to understand their own actions and reactions they prompt in themselves and in learners (Brookfield, 1995; Thiel, 1999). The goal is not necessarily to address a specific problem or question defined at the outset, as in practitioner research but to observe and refine practice in general on an ongoing basis. (Cunningham 2001). Reflection on practice is a key skill for nurses. Engaging in regular reflection allows practitioners to manage the personal and professional impact of addressing their patients’ fundamental health and wellbeing needs daily (Oelofsen, 2012)

In this essay I intend to reflect upon a clinical skill, which I have learned and become competent in practicing. I will apply the Gibbs model to the chosen skill throughout the essay to allow for critical thought. Gibbs model includes the areas of description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and action plan. (Gibbs, 1988)

The first stage of Gibbs (1988) model of reflection requires a description of events. I was asked to administer a drug to a patient named in hereafter as Mrs. A for confidentiality purposes (NMC 2008).I had observed this clinical skill on a number of occasions and had previously administered medication under supervision. On this occasion I was being observed by two qualified nurses, one of which was my mentor. The drug had been dispensed and was ready to be administered and Mrs. A consented to have a student administer the medication. My mentor talked me through the procedure step by step, and informed me that they have struggled with Mrs. A and her compliance with medication before so I should keep an eye and ensure that she swallows her medication and that she does not keep it her mouth.

Whilst there are many notion for reflection the main goal is for health professionals to learn, grow and develop through practice. There are a number of models of reflection to help engage in the process of reflection. In this entry I would be using the Driscoll framework of reflection

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

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