Nursing Reflection Assignment PDF

NURSING REFLECTION
Nursing Reflection
Name
Professor
Institutional Affiliation
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Introduction
Reflection is considered as a method that can help us learn to comprehend and develop
the practice (Patterson et al., 2016, pp.94-98). It gives one an opportunity to explore and discuss
experiences with a view of attaining good comprehension to gain knowledge. This essay will
assist me to explore my individual experience as a learner from higher education access in
college and university level. It shows my interest and love for nursing journey began and the
challenges I experienced during my practice. It has discussed in details my situations with the
aim of giving insight into how health care support works, how clinical experiences can be
tackled professionally from my past working experience, working in a multi-Disciplinary Team
as a health care support worker and the values that have been added in my experience as a health
practitioner. This essay is divided into three parts that encompass the introduction, body, and
conclusion drawn from summarizing the main information discussed in the piece. The remaining
part covers three work-related situations, and it is fashioned after Gibbs reflection model. The
next section making up the body of this essay is divided into two, the first one discusses my
journey into the nursing practice through health and human science course accessibility and the
degree in the university that has played a role in my experiences and has helped in shaping some
competencies required to be a competent nurse in future. The second section discusses my work
associated situations and how based nursing four domains skills of competencies were applied in
the work-based case.
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Nursing practice in the United Kingdom is regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery
Councils regulations. The standards are set up for training, the rule of conduct and educating and
also performance nurses are required to abide by in making decisions at work that is associated
to both vulnerable victims and the public (Peachey & Meradin, 2010 ). Nurses are expected to
work within the scope of NMC regulations and rules (Dekker, 2016). Those who work against
the provisions risk facing both legal and ethical effects of the actions.
Professional values
My transformation into nursing through the passage of health care support worker acted
as a response to a long maturity craving to take care of all vulnerable individuals who are in
need. I always see nursing as the answer to serving humanity which is my passion. This assisted
me to take up health and social care and nursing program so that I can help many people in the
community that require assistance in regards to their health. These passages have always assisted
me to learn from medical and social module of dealing with problems regarding health (Husebø,
O'Regan and Nestel 2015, pp.368-375).Moreover, medical module view disability as a big
problem that belongs to people with disabilities while the social view acknowledges the step as a
barrier with the belief that the society is not improving individuals with disability by not making
enough facilities required to assist individuals who are vulnerable(Lestander, Lehto and
Engström2016, pp.219-224).Effective and clear communication is part of good record keeping,
and it is crucial in the care continuity and support the delivery of service to the individuals who
are in need(Wilson, D. and Miller 2018.p.59).
This part of the reflective essay puts its focus on professional values in the workplace context. It
also focuses on my personal experience as a health care support worker looking into the issue of
patient safety. The safety of the patient aims to prevent avoidable errors and sufferer harm(Hall,
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Johnson, Watt, Tsipa and O’Connor 2016, p.e0159015).Nurses are expected to be accountable
for the patients and safety of the public throughout their occupation. The professional nursing
competence aspect is chosen because of the broadening concern about the safety of the sufferers
in the United Kingdom. There have been reports like Sir Francis reportshow the poor patient
safety occurrences in the UK.Also, other reports have shown that there is inadequate and unsafe
care responsible for many causalities within the NHS yearly (Wong, Etchells, Kuper, Levinson,
and Shojania 2010, pp.1425-1439.). The concern of the victim's safety recorded in the reports
had to do with treatment error, patients falling, and inability to detect abuse and safeguard patient
(Graban, M., 2011). Although there have been measures taken to improve the safety of the
patient, current reports indicate that there is still poor patient safety in the United Kingdom
(Valentine, Nembhard, and Edmondson 2015, pp.e16-e30). This made me decide to work and
improve the safety of the patient and select it as a topic for this reflective essay.This reflection
assisted me to reflect on my nursing experiences with a view of assessing my practice as a nurse.
These experiences have helped me in promoting the quality of life and focus on improving the
vulnerable individuals in the future. Quality and safety of the patient have always been my
priority since I joined the university to study nursing. This reflection has reminded me that as
healthcare professionals, we devote our profession to serve the sufferers. In addition, I have
focused on the critical desired competencies through the formation in academics, training, and
practice. I will forever devote myself to help individuals who are vulnerable in the community.
Patient safety is paramount at this point in our lives.
Communication and interpersonal skills
During my practice, the whole surgery team encompassing the surgeon, bedside nurse,
and other medics, conducted a 15-minute daily briefing at every sufferer's bedside. The
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presentation is led by a nurse practitioner who is followed by a structured communication
protocol developed by an expert in human factor science. This briefing always ensured that the
patient is safe and any arising issue is solved immediately without delay. The process ensures
that the patients care plan is developed and recapped. I also had an opportunity to review the
progress of the patient and requirements and also to clarify the roles of the team. I also educated
Sufferers and family members about the process in advance, and I encouraged them to
participate actively by stating their concerns. Through this action, the participation of the patients
and family members increased each day tremendously. This helped in improving the quality of
life of the patient. To promote medication safety, the pharmacist reads the medications scheduled
for the day and have a chance to address any query raised by the patient family or the care team.
As a team, we addressed anything that has gone wrong in the care process called system
glitches rather than mistakes to encourage their identities and avoid the individual blame stigma.
System glitches are documented, the patterns identified and necessary solutions provided. As a
team, we also participated in biweekly system rounds that give a forum for discussing the goals
of the team and progress and for addressing the concerns of the system levels. This process
helped me take care of the patients advance and ensuring that their family members are
comfortable at all times. Furthermore, NMC (2010) codes expect nurses to use excellent
communication and interpersonal skills. They have to work with service users to get the
information that is needed to make reasonable adjustments that enhance optimum health and
enable equal access to services if someone has a disability. The made me be confident and dare
to take up responsibilities in working with other experts such as the pharmacists, physiotherapists
doctors, and occupational therapists to successfully evaluate patients and give necessary
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guidance to ensure that they are safe. This procedure also taught me that knowing the
information about the patient early enough is paramount in medication.
Nursing practice and decision making
Gibbs reflective cycle helped me to learn from my experience in health facilities that I
worked during my practice. Another incident that showed patient safety occurred while working
in a stroke ward when I was working with one of the health care in the United Kingdom as a
support worker during my practice in the community sanatorium. I worked with a victim who
had a hearing impairment. I was sent by my department to cover a shift that began at 5 pm on
Monday. When I arrived, the staff on duty introduced me to a sufferer Mrs. McMahon, a 66-
year-old woman with a right hand affected by the stroke and also had a hearing impairment. I
was given information that she uses hearing aids and that she had not eaten the whole day and
always feeling withdrawn in regards to her moody nature. In this situation, I asked the assistant
some queries since the assistant was with Mrs. McMahon the whole day since I was interacting
with the sufferer directly. This assisted me to get more information about the sufferer so that I
can provide quality care since successful handing over duties help in improving the health of the
patient and also quick recovery (NMC2010).
After some time, I started observing that Mrs. McMahon was trying to have a
communication with me using the body and sign language. After some time, discovered that the
patient had difficulties because the batteries in her hearing aid had ran out of power. I came to
the understanding that this was the reason why she withdrew herself from other individuals and
refused to eat. The Royal College of Nursing indicates that health care experts need to take
measures to provide solutions that can help in solving issues of sufferers with hearing
impairments by both speaking slowly and listening carefully (Peachey & Meradin, 2010). This
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means that words are supposed to be pronounced in a way that the sufferer can read your lips in
order to have a communication. In some situations, using communication aids like a hearing aid
or written communication might be embraced. I later realized that my first concern was to check
Mrs. McMahon's hearing aid where I realized that it was out of power. The need to make sure
that the sufferer is safe compelled me to go beyond the information given to me by the medic
that handed over to me in my shift. This situation helped me to realize that Mrs. McMahon had a
problem with the hearing aid. I wouldn't have known that if I had assumed that Mrs. McMahon
was just moody for no apparent reason. This could have put the sufferer in danger since poor
communication can lead to inappropriate medication. The NMC (2010) was candid about what
represents a secure connection that the regulatory body expects to be safe, respectful and
compassionate. This encompasses embracing different strategies to make sure that successful
communication takes place so that there is a better relationship between the sufferer and the
patient to enhance quality care.
Leadership, management and team working
In addition, this essay has covered leadership, team working and Management domain of
practice in nursing. Leadership, management and team working are explained as directing,
planning, organizing and controlling of work done by groups in healthcare facilities in the
Multidisciplinary Team encompassing doctors, psychologists, social workers, nurses, and other
health experts. Team development is essential in attaining quality health care service through
steps like norming, performing and storming.
To achieve patient care, teamwork is needed and the cooperation from other health
workers. My experience at St. Johns Healthcare where I worked as healthcare as a subordinate
for seven months made me experience leadership and management issues in the healthcare
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sector. The management was democratic because it provided opportunities for the team members
to express themselves and offer opinions that might help in improving the quality of life. Some
of the healthcare facilities have the autocratic type of leadership hence making it difficult to
provide direction for both teams when they are working together.
I felt the need to change the perceptions of the team and embrace peace so that they can work
together to serve the patient. A development model was put to effect in order to bring both
groups together and work in unity to enhance the safety of the patient. Therefore, both sides were
introduced to each other. This stage is identified as forming (Oliveira et al. 2015, pp.104-113).
This stage allows the team members to know themselves whereby the duties are assigned. The
team members worked effectively though there were trust issues because they didn’t know each
other very well. At this stage, the team members can take time to know each other and interact
and communicate efficaciously in the work setting. Effective communication and management
are required to make sure that the quality care of the patient is invariable.
The following stage is storming. This happens when the members of the team try to do
the allocated work by giving different ideas that might conflict. I observed that there was friction
through the exchange of ideas. The various groups had different concepts such as organizational
culture. The culture at St. Johns healthcare forbids dressing of the bed during the feeding period
to avoid cross-contamination while the other team does not even care about that. The other
team’s organizational culture is fluid as far as the visiting time for the patient is concerned. The
visiting time for St. Johns is fixed. These parts of conflicts affected successful communication
and teamwork required to dismiss evidence-based care for the sufferer. I also observed that the
forming stage was not done adequately. A proper discussion needs to be conducted at the
forming period to prevent these kinds of conflict in the future so that there can be the efficient
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delivery of services to the victims. Successful teamwork is essential in enhancing the quality of
healthcare.
Performing is the last stage in the development process of the group (Gittell, Beswick,
Goldmann and Wallack 2015, pp.116-125). At this point, the team can see their mistakes and
performed the tasks that they were allocated. They also have a chance to learn from their
mistakes from the storming time that is often defined by power struggle and conflict. This is the
stage whereby the teams follows all the rules and regulations and carry out their tasks in a
discipline which provides them with an opportunity to serve the vulnerable people and enhance
patient safety. Moreover, new rules and regulations were put in place by the new management
that provided solutions to the challenges that almost made the team collapse. This is important to
the team because it assisted it to advance in its activities and embrace ethical codes for
interacting with the NMC (2010).
Additionally, I also had an issue in communicating verbally and non-verbally with other
members. The problem of communication has been dramatically affected teamwork in the
context of healthcare. When team members work together, it enhances the quality of healthcare. I
was able to overcome this challenge by being able to prioritize my workload which made me
deal with experiences that are on demand that can endanger the safety of the sufferer. Patient
safety is essential because it improves the quality of life.
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CONCLUSION
This essay has stipulated the dimensions of the professional nursing competencies
brought by the NMC. In addition, this reflection on professional and personal progress from
being a learner to a nursing student who is competent. It has assisted me in realizing that the
safety and the interests of the patients come first before anything else. Also, it has shaped me in
decision making in order to give evidence-based care that concurs with the NMC code (2010). It
has relatively equipped me with the kind of knowledge that I needed in order to work well with
the multidisciplinary team to make sure that the sufferers’ safety and a successful way of
communicating with other health practitioners to improve the quality of life. I have the
confidence that I needed because of my experience and also enough knowledge that will help me
to work well in the multidisciplinary team as a nurse. I have faith that these competencies
explained in this essay enhance my professional development as a nurse in the future.
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References
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on factors influencing interdisciplinary teamwork in the C Canadian primary care setting.
Journal of Clinical Nursing, 23(19-20), pp.2968-2979.
American Nurses' Association, 2010. Nursing: Scope and standards of practice. American
Nurses Association.
Ceylan, H., 2018. Leadership in nursing. Journal of Nursing Research and Practice, 2(2).
Dekker, S., 2016. Patient safety: a human factors approach. CRC Press.
Fischer, S.A., 2016. Transformational leadership in nursing: a concept analysis. Journal of
advanced nursing, 72(11), pp.2644-2653.
Fischer, S.A., Jones, J. and Verran, J.A., 2018. Consensus achievement of leadership,
organizational and individual factors that influence safety climate: Implications for nursing
management. Journal of nursing management, 26(1), pp.50-58.
Gittell, J.H., Beswick, J., Goldmann, D. and Wallack, S.S., 2015. Teamwork methods for
accountable care: relational coordination and TeamSTEPPS®. Health care management
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Graban, M., 2011. Lean hospitals: improving quality, patient safety, and employee satisfaction.
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burnout, and patient safety: a systematic review. PloS one, 11(7), p.e0159015.
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Husebø, S.E., O'Regan, S. and Nestel, D., 2015. Reflective practice and its role in
simulation. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 11(8), pp.368-375.
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L.M.S.D., Barros, A.A. and Sampaio, R.L., 2015. Evaluating the intervening factors in patient
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Appendix
CASE STUDY 1
The whole cardiac surgery care team encompassing the surgeon, bedside nurse, physician
assistant, social worker, and other health experts conduct 15 minutes daily briefing at every
victim’s bedside. This briefing is led by the nurse followed by a structured communication
procedure that is developed by an expert in human science expert. In this process, the victim's
care plan is developed and recapped, and the progress and the needs are reviewed and clarifying
the roles of the team. The sufferers and the family members are educated concerning the process
and are encouraged to engage by stating their concerns actively. There was an increase in the
participation of the patients and family members. To promote medication safety, the pharmacist
reads the medications scheduled for the day and have a chance to address any query raised by the
patient family or the care team.
As a team, we addressed anything that has gone wrong in the care process called system
glitches rather than mistakes to encourage their identities and avoid the individual blame stigma.
System glitches are documented, the patterns identified and necessary solutions provided. We
also participated in biweekly system rounds that give a forum for discussing the goals of the
team and progress and for addressing the concerns of the system levels.
CASE STUDY 2
There was another incident where I worked with a sufferer who had a hearing
impairment. I was sent by my department to cover a shift that began at 5 pm on Monday. When I
arrived, the staff on duty introduced me to a sufferer Mrs. McMahon, a 66-year-old woman with
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a right hand affected by the stroke and also had a hearing impairment. I was given information
that she uses hearing aids and that she had not eaten the whole day and always feeling withdrawn
in regards to her moody nature. In this situation, I asked the assistant some queries since the
assistant was with Mrs. McMahon the whole day since I was interacting with the sufferer
directly.
After some time, I started observing that Mrs. McMahon was trying to have a
communication with me using the body and sign language. I later discovered that the sufferer
had difficulties because the batteries in her hearing aid had run out of power. I concluded that
this was w she withdrew herself from other individuals and refused to eat. I later realized that my
first concern was to check Mrs. McMahon's hearing aid where I realized that it was out of power
and this is what prompted the moodiness of Mrs. McMahon.
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