Reflective Practice

Reflective practice is considered an essential practice for student nurses while they are transitioning into the role of a graduated registered nurses as it allows understanding and development of nursing skills and care. Through this essay it will examine what this statement means by firstly understanding what the terms mean, what is reflection , how a student transitions from a student to a graduate nurse, why reflection is important in nursing and also what can be gained from reflection as a graduate nurse .
Before continuing there must have an understanding of what reflective practice is. Reflective practice is a meaningful reflection on events that may have transpired during a period of time . This can be done in a number of ways, some

As transition is common in all lines of work a graduate program is designed particularly for newly graduate nurses to assist them move from an education model of practice to that of working within a clinical setting . Although each graduate program is different they all have similar structures depending on the hospital that is running the graduate program. Throughout the graduate program there are many stages, each stage is aimed at assisting the newly graduate nurse in becoming independent within the clinical environment. The first stage is orientation to the department or facility so that they are able to identify the locations and operations within the clinical area, as this is standard practice for any career, the next stage of the graduate program the transitioning nurse is partnered with a mentor for a period of time, the role of the mentor during this time is to assist the graduate nurse in becoming more comfortable in the clinical environment and assist them in consolidating the graduates skills and theory (*). The aim for the graduate nurse by the end of the program is to be able to feel comfortable within the clinical environment and also be able to link

As part of that the nurse graduate will be exposed to clinical situations that maybe confronting or would not have seen while they were a student. To assist them through the different clinical situations that they are exposed to and are asked to reflect on this as this allows for a continuation of profession development . The continuation of professional development is important to any nurse as it allows for future development in nursing care, it is also important as it is also something that all nurses must do to retain their registration under their professional practice . By starting this process now as the student is just transitioning into the role they will be developing a good practice and be able to perform as better nurses in the future as they become more confident in their practice and also their reflective