Critical reflection is the active, organised cognitive process used to carefully examine ones thinking and the thinking of others. It draws upon skills used in other ways of thinking, but is viewed as a broader concept that’s differentiated by its holistic, purposeful, reflective and goal orientated nature. Critical thinking is central to quality nursing practice. It is therefore important that nurses purposefully use and develop their critical thinking ability in order to deliver safe and effective patient care. This essay looks first at the theory and practices of reflection along with its benefits are discussed. It then identifies consequences of not being a reflective practitioner. Finally, it discusses methods by which nurses can …show more content…
Nurses that think critically are more aware of their own predispositions and are superior in dealing with patients from different backgrounds. This is because nurses that are aware of their own value and belief system are more probable in challenging and changing unproductive practices and improving patient outcomes. Critical thinking is a standard for competent nursing practices. The professional and ethics code reminds nurses of their responsibility towards all those in their care as a human right which includes cultural rights. It is seen as a declaration by the nurse that they will continuously deliver due care to whomsoever is in their care (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, 2013). This makes critical reflection a vital part of the nursing profession and forms the basis of thereof. Nurses that fail to employ critical reflection as part of their profession may be at risk of performing below par. Bourdieu’s concept of habitus identifies the way in which a nurse may carry out their personal ethnic based values and belief onto patients from a background unlike their own with the unintentional result being a preservation of ethnocentrism. According to Carballeria, formations of such health values are expected to lead to nurses holding bias cross-cultural outlooks towards individuals from marginalised groups such as all middle aged Aboriginals are alcoholics. (Chambers, Thompson & Narayanasamy, 2013) Failure of
Critical thinking is a term you will often here in regards to nursing education and the ability to be a successful nurse. Critical thinking is one of the most important skills of a nurse. Nurses must be able to constantly asses and analyze situations in order to prioritize what is the most important task to accomplish next. This is an ever changing situation in health care and especially in the Intensive Care Units.
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
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”.
In this essay, I will discuss several issues that seem to bind nursing practice with questions of ethics, sociology and management. Reflective practice is an important aspect of nursing management and in this essay we discuss implications of discrimination in nursing care and examine the importance of anti-discriminatory perspectives in nursing. In this paper, the case study I will elaborate is of an elderly woman who was of a non-British ethnic origin and spoke little English. A junior nurse visited her home to provide care but her attitude towards the patient has been discriminatory and abrupt, a situation that calls for serious reflection on the issues of racial discrimination at the clinical setting. The patient was
This paragraph is about the concept of reflection and how it aids the professional development of a newly graduated nurse. To do this, we first have to understand what is reflection. The Australian health practitioner regulation agency (APHRA), are responsible for regulating the health professions (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia 2016). All nurses must practise under the Nursing and midwifery board of Australia’s National competency standards for the registered nurse (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia 2016). Included in these standards is the Critical thinking and
41). Many Afro-Caribbean elders may not trust the nurse of fear being judged. They may not understand the questions on questionnaires and may take offense in the way they are worded. Many beliefs occur from birth and throughout life and are instilled through our culture and upbringing. As things change in our lives, our beliefs can change and grow. Cultural beliefs can change as well. It is an ongoing process. These are lessons learned throughout a nurse’s career. It is achieved through constant learning, reflection and by keeping an open mind while using humility.
Critical thinking is a nursing process that includes reflective practice, problem solving and decision making which are connected to one another. The definition of critical thinking is transferring and applying knowledge and skills in a new situation. The critical thinking is needed in a lot of aspects of the nurses’ job such as when the nurses need to provide the precise identification in the specific problems had by the patients. They need to be in detail and also critical to themselves in every time in order to be able to provide identification precisely. When you have the profession in nursing, it is important to be critical thinker. The nurses have the high responsibilities and their responsibilities are increasing from time to time.
Underlying both the clinical decision-making process and the nursing process is the skill of critical thinking. Critical thinking has been described as the ability to gather and process data in such a way as to arrive at the best conclusion using the filters of prior knowledge, experience and external resources to overcome personal emotions, biases, and assumptions. (This description was developed during NUR/300 class, University of Phoenix, S. Colorado, March 16, 2006) Note that critical thinking is described as a
The national league for nurses defines critical thinking in the nursing process as “a discipline specific, reflective reasoning process that guides a nurse in generating, implementing, and evaluating approaches for dealing with client care and professional concerns” (Kozier, 2008). This definition is imperative to help a nursing student learn how to think in terms of nursing care. Nursing students must achieve a comprehensive understanding of critical thinking in order to understand the nursing process. The purpose for this paper is for nursing students to learn how to use the nursing process, how to properly document their findings and assessments, and correctly implement APA formatting in a formal paper.
making Practice-Based Learning work Reflection on PRACTICE A resource commissioned by the Making Practice Based Learning Work project, an educational development project funded through FDTL Phase 4 Project Number 174/02 and produced by staff from the University of Ulster. www.practicebasedlearning.org Author Patricia McClure School of Health Sciences, University of Ulster www.practicebasedlearning.org contents Reflection on Practice 02
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
The major study variables in this investigation were critical thinking and clinical judgment skill of nursing students. Critical thinking was operationally defined with the ATI Critical Thinking Test and clinical judgment was operationally defined with the Lasater’s Clinical Judgment Rubric (Mann, 2012). The independent variable was identified as the Level II baccalaureate nursing students. The dependent variable was identified as the critical thinking and clinical judgment skills of the nursing students. The demographic variables included the gender and age of the
Two attitudes of successful critical thinking, risk-taking, and creativity, when combined are considered crucial for patient self-care advocacy. With creativity, one can find environmental, social, and clinical solutions outside of the usual standards of practice to help the patient achieve Orem ’s idea of self-care independence (Potter, Perry, Stockert & Hall, 2015). For example, when a patient who received partially compensatory care reveals to the nurse that he feels comfortable conducting an act of self-care that he was unable to previously achieve, the nurse must show risk-taking and creativity to encourage a supervised demonstration of the task. Acts of support such as these allow the patient to develop “self-care confidence” which is
As higher standards expected are from the public and higher patient safety demands are expected from health boards, therefore, there is a need for a way of measuring standards of practice which can be achieved through active thinking in a clinical environment brought about by critical reflection (Rolfe, Jasper & Freshwater 2011). Reflection has become such a key component in the role of a nurse that the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) have seen it fit to include it in their professional code of conduct the Code: Professional Standards of Practice and Behaviour for Nurses and Midwives, hereafter referred to as the Code (Nursing & Midwifery Council [NMC], 2015). With reflection being a vital skill for nurses to continue their professional development (Parrish & Crookes, 2013), an analysis of what it means to reflect within nursing is needed by all who intend to enter the profession to ensure its effective use is applied.