Reflective Journal on Community Engagement and Self-Reflection
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AI Summary
This reflective journal discusses a community engagement incident where the author had to handle a medical emergency. It also includes self-reflection and organizational analysis through SWOT, and the impact of the incident on the author's learning curve.
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Introduction to Incidence While working within an organisation there can be a number of challenges faced which has to be overcome. Working at Opal Raffin Place in Calamvale was a community engagement service, where there was a host of challenges faced. The organisation had full time employees along with volunteers to cater to service with medical unit. One night during starting of summer’s, there was an old man who lived with comorbidity, he started convulsion. In absence of doctors, other staffs who could handle the situation I was asked to do it. It was a day off for doctors and other medical professionals, the doctor who was supposed to stay had gone off as he was not feeling well. I had to handle an old man aged 74 years facing convulsion, which was a shock to me. I did not expect that employees and staffs working at the community center had any expectations from me as I was working as a mere volunteer in the field. Self-reflection and Organisational analysis through SWOT can reveal more data regarding the same. This scope of self-reflection will allow to understand the situation in a better way. Self-Reflection When the situation of handling the aged man arrived late at night, at 2.00 a.m, I was half asleep. Woken up by the emergence when all staffs and even the nurses called for my help, I was literally shocked(Govaerts, 2010).I could not expect that the nurse could have such expectations from me as I had no prior experience in handling such a situation. I realized that the staff lacked decision taking capability and as it was late in the night, they could not effectively take a decision. I though shocked sat down to consult with the nurses and then provided medical attention based on their expertise itself. I felt that they needed someone who could guide them into taking a productive decision to lead to a positive outcome. For the first time I was able to Page |2
understand my leadership and team management skills. I did not possess much of medical skills and I was merely a volunteer at the center. I had limited number of responsibilities at the center therefore my role did not extend to any levels to make it important or integral in the organisation. In middle of night, response time for any individual is low, though I would not have stayed back for night duty absence of staff led me to do it. Staying for the night at the organisation made other staffs and employees feel that I was considering future employment with the organisation hence would go to extent to prove myself. Therefore, in absence of any help they came to me so that any possible solution could arise. Organization Reflection Opal Raffin Place provides a friendly environment that is suitable for residents along with their family. Its location is also suitable in suburbs of Calamvale. Includes dedicated staffs with appropriate living spaces to help community residents. Though all facilities are provided but the organisation makes it services affordable at high costs range. Often various families are unable to afford such services. Strength Suitableaccommodationwith necessary facilities Provides palliative care, dementia care and Alzheimer’s care as well. Medical services All modern facilities and amenities as Weakness High Costs Located in suburb at a distance from key cities. Caters to a single location for old age care only Page |3
hairdressing salon, café, dining room and theater. Opportunity Include a broader range of services for various age groups Provide attractive packages to include broader range of patient care. Threat Financial constraints Packagesareprovidedatdifferent locations and not within single unit The organisation suffers from tremendous financial constraints to expand and provide services. Its service range is confined to a specific class of customers who can afford the service. This, leads to sizable number of individual visiting the facility. There is lack of expert doctors and other medical professionals from visiting this facility. There is a fixed number of staff and employees, to treat special patients, there are hardly any specialized doctors visiting. Reflect Volunteering The volunteering experience changed by entire approach of learning. Volunteering through community engagement provided me with practical experience with exposure in real life situation(Boud, 2013).There has been high transfer of learning from this experience, as I understood ways to treat and take care of critical patients. I also realized, I possessed leadership and team management skills. Without exposure to this type of situation I could not have realized my skill set. I was able to understand ways in which community centers works or functions. Their positive impacts on the society was understood by me that could be used later. Page |4
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Final Reflection: Effect of Incidence The scope of the current incident had immense impact on me as I was able to see myself in a new light. Through this experience, I had immense stress in the middle of night. I could not call anyone for help, neither I could go anywhere, there was limited number of possibilities in which I had to function(Gray, 2007).At that time, I realized I needed to find a way out of this situation, and also save the suffering old man till morning. Lacking in medical skills, first I thought that I will not be able to do anything to save him, but then I started asking nurses on their previous experiences. I was able to work under pressure and make a positive impact on a community engagement process. Community services requires commitment and conformation to highest possible levels of diligence such that there is no suffering associated with any individual. I have been able to learn immensely from the community engagement practice. I have also learnt several skills associated with practice, which would not been possible in absence of this experience. Therefore, my learning curve has been significantly high with this experience and I will use the learning in my practical experience. Reference Lists Boud, D. K. 2013.Reflection: Turning experience into learning.Routledge. Page |5
Govaerts, S. V. 2010. Visualizing activities for self-reflection and awareness. In International Conference on Web-Based Learning.Springer Berlin Heidelberg., 91-100. Gray, D. 2007. Facilitating management learning developing critical reflection through reflective tools.Management learning, 38(5), 495-517. Page |6