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Impact on the future of nursing
The importance of reflection in nursing decisions
The importance of reflection in nursing decisions
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Recommended: Impact on the future of nursing
There has never been a better time to consider a career in nursing. Few professions offer the opportunities, challenges and rewards available in these fields. Working as a health care provider is more than just a job, it is a career, however, being able to be a reflective nurse is important. “Reflection is an essential attribute to the development of autonomous, critical and advanced practitioners” (Caldwell & Grobbel, 2013). It allows for nurses to reflect on the day’s practice, whether how they treated the patients was appropriate or needs improvement. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to show the significances of reflection within the nursing profession.
Since I was a young child, I have wanted to pursue nursing as a career. Nursing
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“Reflection is the process of engaging the self in attentive, critical, exploratory and iterative interactions with one’s thoughts and actions, and their underlying conceptual frame, with a view to changing them and with a view on the change itself” (Nguyen, Fernandez, Karsenti, & Charlin, 2014). This is important, due to the fact it allows nurses to compare situations and changes that would be made to the circumstance if they were encountered again. It could also be used for the comparison between nurses to understand what others may have done in the same situation or help others understand your way of thinking. Reflective practice is to examine your actions and experiences with the outcome of developing practice and enhancing clinical knowledge. Through completing this, benefits of reflective practice may include, the emotional content to be put aside and learn from negative experiences. Completing reflection journaling can also allow you to understand the differences between what you intended to attain and how the outcome occurred. A recent study (Bostock-Cox, 2015) found that reflective practice could improve the quality of care delivered and produce more thoughtful nurses. It could also lead to reducing the thoughts that continue after finishing with a
Nurses are able to reflect upon their past experiences of work and build and improve this ensuring their level of competence and skills is in line with NMC guidelines. Improving the quality of care provided to patients is an ongoing process and requires practitioners to contently reflect and improve their practice. (Howatson-Jones, 2013) One way in which reflection can improve the quality of care is through the use of professional supervision, as stated by (Daly, Speedy and Jackson, 2014) a focus for supervision should be enhancing a nurse’s skills and ability to reflect on practice. It should reflect on the standard of care provided and highlight areas for improvement such as further training. This, in turn, leads to a greater self-awareness of practitioners’ own abilities. The process is not about finding faults, but to improve and learn to ensure the quality of care is high and professional for all patients. Being self-aware is a skill important to reflection and the provision of quality of
The purpose of this essay is to reflect and critically study an incident in 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 I will examine issues raised in light of the recent literature relating to the incident.
This essay will explore the authors meaning of reflection, how various reflective styles can benefit the practitioners within their settings, and how important reflection is within Early Years Practice. According to Appleby (2010, p.10), reflection is a generic term which describes various behaviours involving feelings, and thinking about thoughts and experiences, in order to examine issues and develop, new understandings and insights. Reflection within practice allows the practitioner to develop a sense of awareness around their daily activities, and helps them to evaluate how they could evolve these activities further, if the given opportunity was to arise again. Similarly, keeping a reflective journal
The intention of this written essay is to demonstrate an understanding of my views on reflection and the issues surrounding reflective practice. It is based on nursing skills that I used during my practice placement, most importantly reflecting on the professional value of privacy and dignity.
Hillard, C. (2006) ‘Using structured reflection on a critical incident to develop a personal portfolio’, Nursing Standard Vol 21(2) 35-40
Burns, S. Bulman, C. Palmer, A. (1997) Reflective Practice in Nursing - The growth of the professional practitioner. London: Blackwell Science.
Nursing has always been a key career in the health care system. Although it is not often focused on in media and stories surrounding health care, nursing is a career of great importance. If any patient was asked about their experience at a hospital or a care center, many will mention the capability and care that they received from the nurses. The health care system could not function efficiently, if at all, if nurses were not present to perform their part. Nurses are more than just physicians support staff. Of interest in this paper is why people choose to study nursing in university or college. From students just graduating high school to mature student who have prior degrees or education, nursing is a popular choice as a path to study
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.
Reflection has its importance in clinical practice; we always seek to be successful and that can be achieved by learning every day of our life through experiences we encounter. In that way we can reconsider and rethink our previous knowledge and add new learning to our knowledge base so as to inform our practice. Learning new skills does not stop upon qualifying; this should become second nature to thinking professionals as they continue their professional development throughout their careers (Jasper, 2006). According to Rolfe et al. (2001), reflection does not merely add to our knowledge, it also challenges the concepts and theories by which we try to make sense of that knowledge. Acquiring knowledge through reflection is modern way of learning from practice that can be traced back at least to the 1930s and the work of John Dewey, an American philosopher and educator who was the instigator of what might be called ''discovery learning'' or learning from experience. He claimed that we learn by doing and that appreciating what results from what we do leads to a process of developing knowledge, the nature and importance of which then we must seek to interpret (Rolfe et al., 2001).
The case study focused on a nursing student named Jane, who described how she “absorbed her patient’s emotional trauma like a sponge” (Rees, 2012, pg. 321). Through reflective practice, Jane claimed she was able to “deal with the emotional challenges such as fear she frequently felt in practice” (Rees, 2012, pg. 321). Dr Rees findings established how reflection can help nurses manage their emotions, in order to help the individual gain strength to overcome emotions brought about by the practice of nursing. Clearly reflective practice assists a nurse in being a success throughout their
It may have been something you did differently that had a positive result and you may conclude you would do it again upon reflection. The most important part of reflection is making sense of situations and events that occur so that our decision making and any actions we take lead to good, effective practice. Nurses have to keep a record of their continued professional development. At annual reviews, nurses are able to present evidence of their development through a portfolio which should contain reflective accounts of their practice. These reflective accounts will help them identify strengths and weaknesses, highlight their performance, improve their skills and highlight any areas that could be developed.
Especially since nurses in the course of their day-to-day work need to be able to act autonomously and make appropriate clinical judgements (9). Reflection can be of value in making sense of difficult situations, as it allows one to clarify the situation for themselves and the outcome is to have a changed perspective which enables the nurses to improve his or her clinical judgement (2). Thus why, it is imperative nurses engage in lifelong reflection which recognises its value for professional growth and development and improvement in the quality of patient care (7). The Gibb’s model of reflection, for example is a great tool that nurses can use daily to help improve these skills.
Help improved my clinical skills and professional development, made me proactive and thus have learnt that reflection is an important tool for student nurse to improve on their practice.
Taylor B (2004). Reflective practice: A guide for nurses and midwifes. Maidenhead: Open University Press
To me, being a nurse requires a great sense of selflessness and courage to devote your time and being to helping others. Nurses work long hours and experience straining situations for the satisfaction and fulfillment of helping others. More specifically, experiencing life and death, as well as applying your full self--emotions, knowledge, courage, and strength--takes a toil on the mind and body, but the innate satisfaction, human connections, and experiences I would be able to live through prevails over any thought of stress. The quote “A nurse is one who opens the eyes of a newborn and gently closes the eyes of a dying man. It is indeed a high blessing to be the first and last to witness the beginning and end of life” further reflects