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An essay about what reflection is in nursing
An essay about what reflection is in nursing
Reflection in nursing process
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A study conducted by academics found that undergraduate nurses feel reflection is the key to changing and improving their practice. (Bulman, Lathlean, & Gobbi, 2011). Reflection assists nurses to enhance their nursing abilities by encouraging them to reflect on negative experiences, in order to overcome similar experiences in the future. This essay will aim to demonstrate the importance of reflection within nursing, additionally providing me with a platform to reflect on my decision to become a nurse. I will begin by reflecting upon the factors that influenced me to choose nursing, followed by an explanation of the benefits that reflection has on nursing. The essay will conclude by summarising how I will put reflection in practice throughout The beauty of nursing is it allows me to travel whilst still working in the health care environment. As well as exploring different cultures, I could provide care to individuals of countries where health care is not accessible. Nursing will allow me to explore the world whilst fulfilling a rewarding career. Additionally, friends and family have always encouraged I study nursing. Throughout my life, people have commented on my caring nature and suggest nursing would be a perfect career for me. I agreed, as I enjoy caring for others whether they are a friend or a stranger. Therefore, nursing for individuals would bring joy to me. A final factor that influenced my decision is the understanding I will gain of the anatomy and physiology of the human body. The function of the human body has always interested me, as human life depends on it. Nursing allows me to enlighten people of the wonders of the human body. These factors and attributes influenced my decision to study 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
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
Bulman, C and Schutz, S. (2004). Reflective Practice in Nursing. Australia: Blackwell (3 ed). pp.29.
The concept of person needs to be explored to go into further depth with the remaining concepts of the metaparadigm of nursing. Person refers to the person undergoing nursing care which includes individuals, families, groups, and communities (MacIntyre & McDonald, 2014, p.63). It is evident that each person may be unique with different biological, psychological, social, and spiritual depth (Thorne, 2010, p.66). Therefore, it is necessary for nurses to realize that each person at the centre of any nursing care will experience different feelings in regards to their body as a whole. The theorist, Parse, defines the concept of person as being “linked to an unfolding process, the relating of value priorities, meaning, and quality of life” (Wu, 2008, p.6). Also those human beings are free and choose in situations that arise from personal experience and becoming with the universe (Thorne, 2010, p.71). The nurses’ role in regards to this theory is to act encourage individuals in their human becoming process. Wu (2008) looks at the p...
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
Burns, S. Bulman, C. Palmer, A. (1997) Reflective Practice in Nursing - The growth of the professional practitioner. London: Blackwell Science.
Rolfe, Gary; Freshwater, Dawn; Jasper, Melanie (2001). Critical reflection for nursing and the helping professions: a user's guide. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York: Palgrave. pp. 26–35
Reflective practice aids nursing students by “helping them understand what they have done well, what they might do differently, why a particular situation developed, and how to handle challenging events in the process” (Walton, Lindsay, Hales, & Rook, 2018, p. 66). Reflective practice has enabled myself to discover mistakes that were made and determine an appropriate solution. Realizing a mistake can help to assist others to avoid making a similar mistake. It is important to make mistakes and learn from them as a nursing student rather than a professional nurse, where the mistakes could result in death or serious harm (Pijl Zieber & Williams, 2015). Reflective practice allows recognition of my own strengths and weaknesses. Establishing one’s strengths and weaknesses can either boost one’s confidence or lower it (Walton et al., 2018). The discovery of my strengths and weaknesses is a convenient tool, to be used to my advantage. Reflective practice also allows me to connect different situations together and learn about how each situation relates to another. The use of reflection tools such as making connections between situations, allows the increase of confidence as a nursing student (Graue, Rasmussen, Iversen, & Dunning,
We often replay situations in our minds, thinking back on what occurred, reviewing interpersonal aspects of events, and maybe even second guessing our own actions during an event. This is when nurses learn most, as they attempt to make decision and reflect upon their actions (3). Self-reflections in nursing is something that a professional nurse considers throughout his or her entire career (7). By writing reflections the nurse can distance herself from the experience, enabling more objective writing in the reflection
It’s been my desire, longing for a nursing career since I was in my primary and secondary school. At the age of 12, I began to look after children and baby-sitting then, from there, I gained the understanding of how to deal with children. Nursing is one of the highly demanding careers that bring new challenges every day and it comes with various rewards and a real sense of job satisfaction. I chose nursing because it is a profession where you never really finish learning. It has been my dream job since my tender age. Seeing nurses visiting my school treating students, immunisation, teaching us about health and sexual health issues, this encouraged me. My goal and desire at that age have been to help people within the Health sector. That is how; I decided to go to college where I am currently doing my Access to Higher Education Diploma (Science), which involves Biology and Chemistry. I chose this pathway because I want to gain the relevant skills and knowledge of my career to be. As someone who wants to become a nurse, I found biology as an important role in the delivery of client car...
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
The term reflection means the examination of personal thoughts and actions. For nurses this means focusing on how they interact with their colleagues and with the environment to obtain a clearer picture of their own behaviour. This means it is a process in which a nurse can better understand themselves in order to be able to build on existing strengths and take appropriate future action (Somerville, 2004). Reflection is a way to bring your own intuition along with empirical knowledge together. Reflective practice in nursing is guided by models of reflection. Reflective practice model serves as a framework within which nursing or other management professions can work. Reflective practice model is also a structural framework or learning model that serves the purposes of a profession and is particularly applicable to health related professions. Reflective practice enables practitioners to learn to value themselves as significant people with values and feelings that are important factors in giving care. Whilst reflective practice allows the nurse to recognise the value of their experiences, they may also need support to work through a difficult situation. This is where reflection aids nurses in dealing with these challenging experiences (Johns, 1995). Reflection on experience offers nurses the opportunity to reflect on caring in practice in ways that its nature can be understood, where the skills necessary for effective caring can be developed and most significantly, where the values of caring for people can be highlighted, both to the individual nurse and the world in general (Johns 1996)
Reflection is very much his basis for learning, although the concept of reflection was originally work from Schon (1983) Jarvis extended his idea, Schon’s work was very much credited and in the mid-eighties his work on reflection was put on the agenda of professional practice in the nursing profession. Likewise reflection is an important process when attempting to integrate theory and practice. Severinsson’s (1998) directed a study in which it showed how the reflective approach focuses on ways which knowledge can be used in practice and how it enables nurses to develop their own personal knowledge, his study indicated that personal growth enhanced a person’s skill and ability to reflect. Using reflection offers people an opportunity to review their decisions and to help learn from past experiences, which will positively influence future learning and practice. Some individuals may find reflection tough due to the self-awareness that is needed to be able to critically reflect in an analytical way (Steverinsson’s, 1998). The reason for this is that people have to be socialized to see themselves as passive recipients of knowledge instead of recipients of critical constructors. Being self-aware enables individuals to identify their own strengths and identify any areas for development,
Reflection is very important in clinical practice. Each of us has the desire to be successful and that can be achieved by learning every day from our work experiences. In this way, we can reconsider and rethink our previous understanding and add to our knowledge base so as to improve our practice. Learning new skills does not stop with the completion of formal education; it must become second nature to all professionals as they continue their professional development throughout their careers (Jasper, 2006).
My reasons for selecting a career in nursing stem directly from my desire to help our prospering population and community. This career appeals to me because it embodies what I strive to become, a person of influence, a guide, a respected adult, a mentor, and a person that can be trusted and looked up to with great passion. Another reason for selecting a career in nursing has a lot to do with my current job position at Generations Elder Care. Working with the elderly community at this personal care home has enriched my life in many ways, including one for my passion of learning more about the nursing field. As I shadowed the nurses entering the facility I watched them do their assessments on the residents which has peaked my curiosity. I believe being a nurse presents daily challenges which are unique, interesting, and rewarding and that is another reason why I want to become a nurse. Knowing that I have helped someone in some way possible gives me a feeling of fulfillment and enjoyment that I never understood or had before. And this career offers just that, and that is exactly why I...