Critical Reflection on Preparing Care Plan for Chronic Illness Management

Running head: CRITICAL REFLECTION
CRITICAL REFLECTION
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1CRITICAL REFLECTION
Introduction:
Reflective practice is one of the most effective process that helps to evaluate the
performance of a nurse and identify the mistakes in the service in order to improve the clinical
skills and avoid such mistakes in future (Dubé & Ducharme, 2015). In this regards I will reflect
regarding one of the important skills in clinical practice that could benefit both the client and the
general practice. The chosen skill for the assignment is ability to prepare care plan for chronic
illness management. The following paper will provide a brief description of the skill, its
importance, evaluation of my skill, area of improvement and benefits to the client and general
practice.
Identification of skill and its importance:
Improving care for the patient with chronic illness is one of the greatest challenges for the
health care system. It has been found that 87% of the total population of the world have at least
one chronic illness and death rate due to chronic illness is also high (von Haehling Anker &
Anker, 2016). Hence, preparing care plan for chronic illness management is important in order to
improve the care of patients and nurses should have the skill to prepare an effective care plan for
such patients. The ability of planning and coordinating with other health professionals and
monitoring the patient with care plan is also related with the skill of preparing care plan for the
chronic illness management. Such ability would help a nurse to provide quality care service to
the patient with chronic illness and achieve successful outcomes (Coulter et al., 2015).
Evaluation of the skill:
In order to meet the requirements of the patient with chronic illness, I perform proper risk
assessment to identify the central problem of the patient. I prepare adequate care plan based on

2CRITICAL REFLECTION
the priority of need. In order to ensure the effectiveness of my care plan, I always discuss my
planning with other health professionals such as senior nurses and doctors. I use to monitor the
patient and follow up the care plan in order to identify improvement or deterioration in the health
status so that I could improve the care plan. I take feedback from the patients and the doctor
regarding the care plan. Such process help me to ensure that I am performing the skill in an
effective manner. For example, I have prepared care plan for a diabetes patient that includes
proper diet, medication, physical activities and education regarding self-management of diabetes
(American Diabetes Association, 2015). I have monitored the patient’s blood glucose level and
found that within few months there was a significant reduction in the blood glucose level. The
patient has mentioned that my care plan has helped her to manage diabetes in an effective
manner. Such experience has helped me to gain confidence that I could perform my skill
effectively.
Improvement in the skill:
During performing the skill I have identified that I need to communicate in a better
manner to improve my skill of preparing care plan and implement the plan. Due to
communication problem I face difficulties in risk assessment of chronic illness which is
important for preparing care plan. For example, in a case of COPD, the patient was
uncomfortable to share his problems due to poor communication, thus, I have faced problem in
understanding the requirements of the patient that has led to the difficulties in preparing care
plan. Thus, I feel that I need to improve my communication (Arnold et al., 2015). It would help
me to interact with the patients easily and they could share their problem without hesitation that
could help me to include proper activities in my care plan. Effective communication would help
me to collaborate with other health professional. Patients could share their feedback without any