Nursing Reflective Essay.

Nursing Reflective Essay

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Clinical Reasoning Process........................................................................................................4
Consider the situation of the patient.......................................................................................5
Collect cues and information.................................................................................................5
Process information................................................................................................................6
Identify problems or issues....................................................................................................7
Establishing roles...................................................................................................................8
Take action.............................................................................................................................8
Evaluate outcomes.................................................................................................................9
Reflect on process and new learning......................................................................................9
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
According to the National Health Workforce Innovation and Reform Strategic
Framework, the existing health workforce is not sufficiently prepared to meet the
increasingly changing dynamics of patient population of Australia. The aging population of
the country, increasing frequency of chronic disease and advancement in technology and
changes in the expectations of public indicates that the demand for healthcare services
continue to increase in Australia.Throughout the country, registered nurses (RNs)require to
meet minimum requirement of three-year’s Bachelor Degree in Nursing for the purpose of
serving the patients. The healthcare professionals require to be flexible in their approach
regarding decision-making and to ensure continuous care to the patients. The ability of the
health care professional to provide safe and high-quality healthcare relyon their ability to
think and judge, however, it is restricted due to lack of experience. Simmons (2010) stated
clinical reasoning as “a complex cognitive process that utilizes formal as well as informal
thinking strategies for the purpose of collecting and analysing information about the patients”
(Simmons, 2010). The process of clinical reasoning relies on the healthcare professional to
use intuition as well as knowledge in order to influence the process of decision-making in
case of individual patients.As critical thinking and reasoning skills are utilized in everyday
practice by RNs, this essay aims to apply eight stages of clinical reasoning cycle proposed by
Levett-Jones et al. (2010) in order to discuss and reflect on clinical decisions. It is supposed
that familiarization with the clinical reasoning cycle supports RNs in providing safe and high-
quality care to their patients. Along with it, the reflection component of the clinical reasoning
cycle will also be focused around three competency standards from the Nursing and
Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) for the RNs with the aim to improve the clinical
practice of the student nurses.

Clinical Reasoning Process
During clinical practice, a number of complex decisions are involved and various
internal as well as external factors need to be taken into consideration (Levett-Jones T. , et al.,
2010). In such a situation, it is beneficial for the healthcare professionals to follow formal
decision-making tool and one commonly used tool is the Clinical Reasoning Cycle proposed
by Levett-Jones, et al. (2010) (European Heart Association, 2018). The assistance of this tool
enables the health care professionals to make decisions through systematic procedure, which
considers various clinical tendencies along with contributing factors.
The Clinical Reasoning Cycle will help the RNs to observe and discuss the steps in a
circularmanner to easethe process of decision-making and it willalso enable them to clearly
formulatethe care plan for their patient. In this clinical reasoning cycle, the case of patient ‘X’
will be taken into consideration. Through application of the Clinical Reasoning Cycle, the
decision-making process to be utilized in practice by the RNs will be taken into consideration
(Thompson & McCaughan, 2012).