The aim of this essay is a reflective account in which I will describe a newly acquired skill that I have learned and been able to implement within my role as a trainee assistant practitioner. (T.A.P.) for Foundation for Practice. I have chosen to reflect upon neurological observations on patients that will be at risk of neurological deterioration. Before I begin any care or assessments, I should have a good theoretical underpinned knowledge, of the skill that I am about to put into practice, and have a good understanding of anatomy and physiology, in order to make an accurate assessment of a patients neurological status. I will be making a correct and relevant assessment to identify any needs or concerns to establish the patient’s individualized care, and make observations to determine an appropriate clinical judgement.
I will be using the Gibbs, G. (1988) model of reflection to reflect upon for this essay, as this six stage cycle will guide me through the process of description to the action plan, as I find myself to be an active/reflective learner and feel that I can relate to, and learn something that is of value to my practice, and future career and lifelong learning skills through this model of reflection. Throughout this reflective account I will refer to the patient as Mr X, in order to respect confidentiality and maintain his anonymity (NMC) (2008), and local trust policies and guidelines (2009).
Gibb’s model (1988) first describes the event, so my description of the event is: Mr X was admitted to the medical assessment unit (MAU) from the A+E (accident and emergency) department, with a preliminary diagnosis of a T.I.A. (transient ischemic attack) and dysphasia. Ross and Wilson (1996) describe this as, caused by small...
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...the patient’s family more within the assessment after obtaining the patients consent, but my main aim in this case was to concentrate the assessment, solely on the patient, with little information from the family/loved ones. This is a vital skill to remember as patients family/loved ones can often feel unimportant and distant toward nursing staff, and no one knows the patient better than they do, and can tell you vital information. Therefore involvement of family/ carers or loved ones is sometimes crucial to patient’s further treatment and outcomes.
For the final stage of Gibbs’ (1988), my action plan would be, to involve the family more, and to work within my skills log book to increase my competency level and to gain knowledge through literature, the internet, and my mentors and future modules and to keep my knowledge and skill up-to-date.
This assignment focuses on an incident which was experienced during a community placement. The patient suffered from bowel cancer, my mentor and I were visiting her to change her dressing. The names of people have been changed to ensure confidentiality Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC, 2008). Gibbs (1988) cited in Jasper (2013) will be used as the reflective model because it is simple and, easy to understand. Through the model’s six key stages I will describe my experience and how I maintained dignity while giving personal care to patients in the community. Writing a reflective account makes one relive their thoughts and, feelings and make appropriate changes when required (Howaston-Jones, 2013).
I will be using the What? Model of Structured reflection suggested by Driscoll (2000), a recognised framework for reflection to demonstrate my ability to reflect on a clinical skill with the professional value of privacy and dignity.
Including family members in the care of the patient helps them cope better with the patient’s illness and helps them plan ongoing care when the patient goes home. Gaining both the trust of the patient and family can help the health care team get any details that may have been missed on admission, such as medications the patient takes, or special diet, or spiritual needs. Also, the family may provide pertinent information that the patient may not have divulged to the nurse. Encouraging the patient and family to voice their concerns will help implement a safe plan of action.
Utilising John’s model of structured reflection I will reflect on the care I instigated to a patient with complex needs. The patient in question was admitted to the Emergency Assessment Unit for surgical patients then transferred to the ward where I work as a staff nurse.
The purpose of the paper is to discuss the activities involved during the evaluation of a patient. Evaluation of a patient can be seen as the process of examining a patient critically. It comprises of gathering and analyzing data about a patient and the illness (Allan, 2012). The core reason is to make judgment about the disease one is suffering from. Such judgment will guarantee proper treatment and diagnosis. Typically, gathering of information from the patient is the role of nurses while making judgment and prescription is the doctor’s role (Jacques, 1988). In any case all practitioners are required to know how to evaluate a patient.
This piece of work will be based on the pre-assessment process that patients go through on arrival to an endoscopy unit in which I was placed in during my second year studying Adult diploma Nursing. I will explore one patient’s holistic needs, identifying the priorities of care that the patient requires; I will then highlight a particular priority and give a rational behind this. During an admission I completed under the supervision of my mentor I was pre-assessing a 37 year old lady who had arrived to the unit for an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. During the pre-assessment it was important that a holistic assessment is performed as every patient is an individual with unique care needs as the patient outline in this piece of work has learning disabilities it was imperative to identify any barriers with communication (Nursing standards 2006).
The purpose of this essay is to reflect and critically study an incident from a clinical setting whilst using a model of reflection. This will allow me to analyse and make sense of the incident and draw conclusions relating to personal learning outcomes. The significance of critical analysis and critical incidents will briefly be discussed followed by the process of reflection using the chosen model. The incident will then be described and analysed and the people involved introduced. (The names of the people involved have been changed to protect their privacy) and then I will examine issues raised in light of the recent literature relating to the incident. My essay will include a discussion of communication, interpersonal skills used in the incident, and finally evidence based practice. I will conclude with explaining what I have learned from the experience and how it will change my future actions.
Reflection encourages the student to acknowledge and act upon their strengths and weaknesses in their ability to make clinical decisions (3). As the student reflects it allows them to focus their attention on areas where they have both succeeded and struggled in the clinical setting and apply direct relation to how much knowledge they have gained from the experience (3). Furthermore, whilst it also also allows the student the ability to pose questions, seek clarification of specific events, find meaning and discuss matters of concern and interest with their preceptors in their reflective writing (3). Nonetheless, it is not until the student has achieved the additional knowledge that they will fully understand the limitation of their own practice (3).
The aim of this essay is to discuss on how the reflection on mentorship will be undertaken, how and why the model of reflection will be used and the importance of confidentiality. I will reflect the mentorship by ensuring that the mentee during clinical practice is put at ease throughout the learning experience of four weeks (Quinn, and Hughes 2007, p. 29). Also, I will use the principle of Kolb’s learning cycle as my model of reflection because reflecting is an essential element of learning. As I am the mentor, I will follow this cycle in a clockwise direction with Jude, so she would have to reflect on the skills learnt by reviewing the whole situation (Kolb’s learning cycle 1984 in Rose and Best 2005, p.129). This would enable Jude to integrate theory into practice. I would use a pseudonym ‘Jude’ to comply with mentee confidentiality as stated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC, 2004).
“Evaluation is an important part of nursing and nursing education. As nurses, we evaluate the interventions we use to determine if they are helping achieve patient outcomes.” (University of Minnesota 2012) The Gibbs Model of Reflection, 1988 will be employed throughout this evaluation, as guidance in the reflection of my intervention as well as an assessment of my overall practice. (Appendix 3) Reviewing how efficiently I carried out this activity is beneficial in helping me to develop a critical mindset and also enhance on existing skills as well as expanding my awareness through assessment of my practice.
Complex care of patients provides the nurse with a myriad of decisions to be made-however, it must be remembered that although the
One of the clinical skills which I become competent in during my clinical placement is bed washing a patient. I had little or no knowledge of how to wash a patient in a hospital before and this training has provided me an ample opportunity to learn this skill. The reflective model I have chosen to describe my essay is Gibbs model (Gibbs 1998).Gibbs model of reflection is one of the most popular models of reflection and divided into six step process of reflective cycles. These are incorporates in the following: Description of the event, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action plan. I would use this model to describe my essay while relating the theory to the practice.
future actions and responses. In health, reflection is essential as it improves the actions of a
The purpose of this essay is to reflect on my experience as an adult student nurse from a clinical setting in older adults using Gibbs (1988) model of reflection. Gibbs cycle is systematic , straight forward and encourages a clear description of the situation (Vaughan, no year). It will allow me to analyse and provide better understanding of my experience and draw conclusions relating to personal outcomes. Forrest (2008) described three purposes of reflection: to re-examine our understanding of knowledge, to enhance our own personal awareness and to assess the appropriateness of our action. On the other hand, Smith (2011) mentioned that students can use critical reflection as it uses a number of learning outcomes that may include enhanced thinking,
Through reflection and critical analysis I have been able to identify my strengths and weakness during clinical placements over the years. It has allowed me to begin a process of self-learning that will assist me in my professional and personal development. From my research project and this reflective assignment I have recognised the importance and value of this lifelong learning tool in health care practice as it will help provide a high quality of care and improve professionals’ confidence, decision making and actions.