Chemotherapy's Side Effects on Cancer Patients

This report discusses the side effects of chemotherapy on cancer patients. It includes a reflective account of the research process and a personal development plan. The report highlights the importance of the Gibbs reflective model and identifies areas for improvement. It also provides insights on time management, data analysis, and communication skills.

CHEMOTHERAPY’S SIDE
EFFECTS ON CANCER
PATIENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Reflective account.......................................................................................................................3
Personal Development Plan.........................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
The reflection is an extremely comprehensive part in the academic learning of a student and
evaluates the entre experience identifying what were the major learning (Li and et.al., 2020).
This report will involve the preparation of a reflective account on the research that was
undertaken on the side effects presented by chemotherapy on the cancer patients. Further, the
report will also involve development of a personal development plan on the basis of skills that
require development.
MAIN BODY
Reflective account
The reflective activity is critical in ascertaining and evaluating the entire experience that
the learner incurred in the completion of any specific activity. The reflective activity helps in
regularly evaluating the positive and negative experiences that the individual is having and
collectively this helps in taking decision about the entire experience collectively where it is
identified that what was good and bad about the experience and most importantly the learning
that an individual develops is identified. In order to complete the reflective activity in a
comprehensive manner, the Gibbs reflective model can be used effectively (Sekarwinahyu and
et.al., 2019). This model consists of six different stages where every stage helps in identification
of the different aspects that helps in developing a clearer perspective regarding the overall
experience that an individual has had.
I intend to use this model for completing my reflection on the research activity that I
undertook on the side effects of chemotherapy on cancer patients. I will evaluate every stage
separately in order to clearly formulate and enumerate my entire experience through this
reflective activity:
Description: The first stage in the Gibbs reflective cycle is description and under this the main
purpose is to explain the key facts that are related to the experience that needs to be evaluated. I
am expected to give all the background information related to the reflection but no analysis will
be undertaken. I have to state only the relevant facts that will help in understanding the
background of the reflective activity. I basically undertook a research on the chemotherapy and
its side effects on the cancer patients (Markkanen and et.al., 2020). I conducted the entire
research in a time period of 5 months and the research was mainly qualitative in nature. First of
all I developed the objective of research side effects of chemotherapy on cancer patients only
3

because mostly chemotherapy is used for cancer patients only and only in some rare cases is it
used for any other treatment. After this I researched some background information about this
topic so that I could identify the current perception or trends today amongst the people. Then
after getting the objective approved, next step was to conduct a literature review on the past data
that has already been published on the side effects of chemotherapy. Then I designed by research
methodology which I used to identify that what would be my sample size and how would I
collect my primary data in order to conduct a comprehensive research. This will help in
completing my dissertation successfully as right now I have only completed the research
protocol or broad guidelines that can b used in order to complete the research effectively. I have
tried to address all the pros and cons that can arise in the future while completing the dissertation
and there was a lot of learning that I accumulated while I studied evaluated and identified the
different aspects that are required to be complied with and addressed before actually beginning
the research activity.
Feelings: The next stage is termed as feelings where I am expected to evaluate my feelings and
thoughts that I incurred during the entire experience. This mainly utilises the feelings that I had
at the moment while I was conducting the activities and what did I though after the activity is
over. While conducting the research I was apprehensive throughout the activity as I was
conducting this type of research for the first time and therefore had no experience in it. Initially,
while developing aims and objectives I was not at all confident that whether my topic is correct
or not and whether it would be insightful or not. There were many things that were going on in
my mind because I was not confident about the approach that I had developed for the research
(Waltz, 2019). However, later when the teacher immediately approved by topic and even praised
because of the maturity of the proposed research that it depicted and the further insights that it
will provide was considered as a very advanced and considerate thinking. I then gained
confidence in the work that I was doing and therefore was able to complete the research step by
step. Later, when the literature review activity had to be done, again I was becoming frustrated
again and again because I was facing extreme difficult in collecting the research paper that were
relevant and in accordance with the research objectives that had been developed. However, when
I consulted about this problem with my teacher, I was able to identify a solution where by just
reading the abstract which is very breif, I could ascertain the nature of the literature review and
4

thus excess time. Therefore these were the major feelings that I can recount while thinking about
the experience of developing a research protocol.
Evaluation: Evaluation is the third stage where I am meant to evaluate the entire experience and
identify that which were the good situations and which were the bad situations that I faced
through the experience. I will also identify how bad situations were resolved ultimately and what
learning did I develop simultaneously from such experiences. The best experience that I had was
while I was identifying the sample size and developing research methodology for my research.
This is because I enjoyed the identification of the patients who would support my research and
since I had to evaluate the data records of many patients, I identified that I was very quick in this
process. I was able to develop my research methodology quickly and effectively where I was
even praised by my teacher. This boosted my morale of conducting the research effectively and
therefore I categorise this as the good experience that I had during the research completion.
However, while conducting the research, I was can adequately say that my literature review part
did not get completed quite well (Tawanwongsri and Phenwan, 2019). I was very frustrated with
the collection of the research papers and the relevance of collecting authentic and meaningful
research papers made me irritable. This wasted a lot of my time that I could have otherwise
utilised on other more important tasks in the research. I also put too much efforts in the literature
review where I was trying to collect those papers that would give the exactly same results and
this was unrealistic because there can never be exact literature available on the topic because
then the proposed topic of my research would not be new. This shows that I can adequately say
that the literature review was a bad experience for me. Therefore, I can say that there were some
good and some bad experiences and I learnt a lot from both of them which helped in formulation
of a better understanding and learning for me.
Analysis: The entire experience that I had helps in identifying some key mistakes that I made and
some good actions also that I undertook. The major lesson that I learnt was from the bad
experience that I had through the collection of literature review. I tried to do it all by myself and
struggled as I have always been told to do i.e. that when you struggle with the problem you will
be able to overcome it. This wasted lot of my energy, time and resources. However, I was able to
resolve this issue effectively when I consulted my teacher about the problem that I was facing. If
I had done this earlier, I might have not faced this much problem and I could have saved my time
as well. Apart from this, I can also analyse that my knowledge building skill were extremely
5

comprehensive and while identifying the sample size, I further identified that my convincing
skills are good that helped me in easily convincing people to participate in the research (Tanaka,
Okamoto and Koide, 2018). The theoretical concepts of data collection and analysis that I had
studied before were tested in this research and I was able to complete my activities successfully
because these were very helpful in accumulating the correct research. However, I identified
certain redundancies as well such as while fulfilling the consent aspect, if a respondent cannot
sign the consent form than it is necessary to give written explanation which was a bit too much
as per me. I think that just a testimony that can be conveyed through digital medium as well
should be enough in such cases. Collectively, this helps me in analysing that the overall
experience both good and bad will help me in conducting more evasive researches in further that
will help me in avoiding any unnecessary mistakes so that I can conduct better research structure
in future.
Conclusion: The stage of conclusion helps in summing up all the major findings and also helps
in identifying what I could have done better or what I did better. After the completion of all the
activities that are required to be performed in the research protocol, I can comprehensively state
that that the entire procedure has been extremely enlightening for me. However, I acknowledge
that my time management skills are not very well developed and I often tend to spend more time
on the less important tasks. This I could have avoided by better judgement and taking corrective
actions. Additionally, in the good aspect, I identified that I can easily communicate with people
and this has contributed immensely in my research where I was able to collect the respondents
easily who would assist me in my research. Therefore, this was something positive that I
concluded about me (Dhaliwal, Singh and Singh, 2017). However, I still conclude that assistance
from the mentors is necessary and should be sought from time to time so that unnecessary
utilisation of energy on wrong aspects can be avoided. Further, the assistance also helps in
moving in the correct direction without wasting any excess time on those areas where one gets
stuck. I have realised that putting efforts is a good thing but it should not exceed to the point
where the entire work gets affected and rather an expert advice or guidance should be sought if
no solution can be driven despite repeated efforts. Collectively, I can say that there many
positive and lifelong learning that I was able to generate from the entire research procedure. I
realised what are my strong points and skills and additionally I also identified which are those
6

characteristics or skills hat I need to work upon in order to develop better research projects in
future and in general as well.
Action Plan: This is the final stage in the Gibbs reflective model where I am supposed to
illustrate the future actions that I am going to take on the basis of the analysis and evaluation of
my past experience that I have done and the learning that I have developed. By undertaking the
research on the side effects of chemotherapy o the cancer patients I was able to conclude some
major aspects. In future, while conducting research, I will ensure that I regularly take guidance of
my supervisors and get my work approved form them whenever I get stuck at any point. I have
also decided that I need to further develop some of my skills that I am not very good at such as
time management skills, data analysis and collection skills etc. This will ensure that if I conduct
a research in future I will avoid facing troubles due to the learning of some more developed
skills. Further, in future, I also want to increase my communication with my fellow teammates or
my peers so that I can ascertain how they are working on the projects and therefore, I will be able
to complete them more effectively without labouring in vain (Emery and Chang, 2017). I can
therefore conclude that my action plan for future would be more skilled and more developed
where rather than taking rash decisions and working on them endlessly, I would be more
considerate and develop a smart approach for completing m work. Further, in future I will
develop a time line for whatever tasks I have been assigned to whom I will stick closely and
comply with as much as I can. This will help me in managing my time and avoid causing
unnecessary delays. Therefore, the action plan that I have developed of the prospective future
researches that I am bound to conduct in future, I will ensure that I do not repeat the same
mistakes that I have already made and further improve the quality of the work that I have
performed by learning the necessary skills.
Therefore, through the Gibbs reflective model, some of the major conclusions were drawn
regarding the entire research experience that I had and further I was able to identify what are the
areas in which I lack i.e. what are the skills that I need to develop in order to create a better
professional research. Through this model, I was also able to illustrate my entire experience and
identify what were the good or bad experiences and what was my major learning.
Personal Development Plan
In accordance with the skills that I identified in the reflective account above, there are
certain areas in which I need to develop myself more and work on certain skills. This can be
7

done effectively by developing a personal development plan that will help me in indentifying
what resources or activities would I require in order to develop those skills and also the time
taken (Grit, 2019). Therefore, developing a personal development plan is a very comprehensive
tools that will help me put in action the conclusions that I have drawn from the reflective account
that I prepared for the research that I conducted on chemotherapy and it side effects particularly
in asthma patients. I can prepare a personal development plan for me in following manner where
I will be working on certain specific skills:
Skills to be
developed
Activities undertaken Resources
required
Time
period
Feedback
Time
manageme
nt
I will try to develop
proper schedules after
adequate planning so that
I can identify what are the
important tasks that are to
be performed and what is
the appropriate time in
which they should be
performed. This will help
me in keeping a check on
the time I am consuming
for completion and
therefore I will learn
better time management
skills by avoiding
unnecessary time wastage
(Lejeune, Beausaert and
Raemdonck, 2018). After
some designated time
intervals, I can
continuously check the
progress that I am making
Time
evaluation
sheet,
schedules,
planning
Approxima
tely 6 – 7
months
I can take feedback for
these skills from my
peers, from my own
evaluation sheet, from
my mentors and
friends. They will help
me in recognising
those activities in
which I am wasting
too much time and
guide me regarding
how I should properly
allocate the activities.
Further, the meeting of
deadlines itself will
show and give me the
most honest feedback
that whether I have
been successful or not
in my activity. I will
constantly repeat this
activity until I am able
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and then further develop
plans accordingly as per
my performance results.
to complete all my
activities satisfactorily
thus moving in a loop.
Data
Collection
Data collection is an
important activity for
every researcher and in
order to develop
collection skills I will
constantly review articles
and news where I am able
to identify and sort out the
relevant data from the
irrelevant one. This will
help me in minimising the
search area and time and
if I can adequately
recognise the data or
collect it in a timely
manner then I will be able
to focus more on my
analytical skills that form
the core of the research
process. The development
of this skills will ensure
that the data I have
collected in order to
analyse is both relevant
and meaningful.
Reading
abstracts,
reading books
or guidelines
published by
recognised
authors or
data
collection.
Approxima
tely 3 – 4
months
I will take regular
feedbacks from my
mentors regarding the
data that I have
collected and this will
help me in evaluating
that whether I am able
to collect relevant data
or not. I will continue
this process until I am
able to ensure that data
that I have collected is
relevant and
additionally I have not
wasted too much time
as well (Dahmarde,
Khodabakhshi and
Rad, 2018). Therefore
when I will receive the
positive feedbacks
from my mentor
ensuring that I have
collected relevant data
in an accurately
estimated time, I will
stop this skill
development.
Problem The skill development of Engage in Approxima The feedback can be
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Solving problem solving will help
me in ensuring that I am
able t resolve the variety
of problems that I might
face while conducting
research. The
development of this skill
is not only necessary for
research but it will further
help in professional life as
well where I will be able
to develop critical
thinking and hence take
quicker and effective
decisions in the time of
crisis (Maguire and
Blaylock, 2017). I can
evidently say that this is
the most practical and
relevant skill that I need to
develop and I will do this
by developing strategic
thinking and by keeping
my mind analytical and
practical.
problem
solving
session by
joining
training
centres, watch
videos and
read books
written by
recognised
authors on
this topic.
tely 1 year
and further
depends on
the
consequenc
es
gathered from the
supervisors, colleagues
or peers, teammates
and friends or family
(Stewart, 2016). They
will give feedback on
the solution that has
been developed and
also show how
effective it is in
solving the problem
for which it has been
derived. Their
feedback will be
instrumental in
working on this skill
because until it is
approved by them and
by the positive results
of the problem that I
have solved, I will not
be able to gain
accurate feedback.
Therefore I will
engage in this activity
for a longer time
period.
Critical
Analysis
The critical analysis skill
development is necessary
to ensure that collected
data has been analysed
Analytical
skill
evaluation
tool chart,
Approxima
tely 6 – 7
months
I will again require the
help of my clients and
supervisors as well
where they will
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form all relevant
perspectives on order to
generate comprehensive
set of solutions and further
make correct
recommendations. This
can be done by trying to
accommodate different
perspectives from which
the collected data can be
perceived and the
different factors that it can
affect significantly. I will
try to analyse the data in a
multi- facetted manner by
thinking form various
perspectives and then
identifying the best
solution for each of them.
This will help me in
conducting effective
critical analysis.
Collectively, this skill will
help in conducting an
exhaustive and insightful
research.
Engaging in
communicatio
n with
experts,
watching the
mentors or
senior
authority and
learning by
experience
evaluate that how
many point of views
and perspectives I
have taken into
consideration while
developing analytical
thinking. This will
help in synthesis the
efforts and also help
me in developing a
realistic view thus
evaluating that how
much criticality I have
been able to introduce
in the thinking that I
have developed
(Rimmer, 2018). I will
again have to develop
my skill continuously
until the skills gets
developed successfully
and I am able to
integrate critical
thinking with my
decision making skills.
The personal development plan that I have develop above is mainly centred around skills
that will help in better research completion in future but majority of them can be used in further
as well in a professional context where I will have to perform almost similar tasks. Therefore the
above personal development plan will help me in making myself multi skilled and extremely
talented thus addressing my negative characteristics that I identified earlier in my reflective
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account. This will also help me in succeed in my future career path that I intend to forge for
myself and therefore I will comply with it very closely.
CONCLUSION
The research conducted in the above document helps in concluding that in the whole process
of conducting the research there are a variety of problem that can arise. In order to complete the
reflective account Gibbs reflective model was used that helped in analysing the researcher’s
experience through six different stages and thus providing the insight into the learning that was
developed throughout the research experience. Further, the document also involved development
of a personal development plan where the different skills that were required to be developed
were evaluated and it was identified that how much time, resources, efforts and tools it would be
required to develop those skills. Lastly, the integrated efforts of both the reflective account and
the personal development plan were discussed and the efficiency in improving the performance
of an individual was concluded.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Dahmarde, H., Khodabakhshi, M. and Rad, G.M., 2018. BIRJAND TEACHING HOSPITALS
NURSES'ATTITUDE TOWARDS PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
PLAN. Pharmacophore. 9(3). pp.25-29.
Dhaliwal, U., Singh, S. and Singh, N., 2017. Reflective student narratives: honing
professionalism and empathy. Indian J Med Ethics. 3(1). pp.9-15.
Emery, C. and Chang, J., 2017, July. Reflection in a new light: updating Gibbs' reflective cycle
on a foundation degree in healthcare sciences. In HEA Conference, generation TEF.
Grit, R., 2019. Managing your competencies: personal development plan. Routledge.
Lejeune, C., Beausaert, S. and Raemdonck, I., 2018. The impact on employees’ job performance
of exercising self-directed learning within personal development plan practice. The
International Journal of Human Resource Management, pp.1-27.
Li, Y., and et.al., 2020. Nurses’ Psychological Feelings About the Application of Gibbs
Reflective Cycle of Adverse Events. American Journal of Nursing. 9(2). pp.74-78.
Maguire, W. and Blaylock, P., 2017. Preparing a personal development plan for all members of
the dental team. British dental journal. 223(6). p.402.
Markkanen, P., and et.al., 2020. A reflective cycle: Understanding challenging situations in a
school setting. Educational Research, pp.1-17.
Rimmer, A., 2018. How do I prepare a personal development plan?. Bmj. 363. p.k4725.
Sekarwinahyu, M., and et.al., 2019, February. Development of problem based learning for online
tutorial program in plant development using Gibbs’ reflective cycle and e-portfolio to
enhance reflective thinking skills. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1157,
No. 2, p. 022099). IOP Publishing.
Stewart, J., 2016. Personal development plan. In Encyclopedia of Human Resource Management.
Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.
Tanaka, M., Okamoto, R. and Koide, K., 2018. Relationship between Reflective Practice Skills
and Volume of Writing in a Reflective Journal. Health. 10(3). pp.283-288.
Tawanwongsri, W. and Phenwan, T., 2019. Reflective and feedback performances on Thai
medical students’ patient history-taking skills. BMC medical education. 19(1). p.141.
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Waltz, C., 2019. Impact of Reflective Practice within a Residency Program on New Graduate
Nurse Satisfaction, Stress, Support, and Retention Rates.
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