Reflective Journal on Nursing Placement

Running head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
Introduction:
Reflective practice can be defined as the ability of professionals and students to identify
their actions as well experiences gathered from various experiences and then developing their
practices for enhancing their clinical and non-clinical skills required in healthcare. Studies opine
that reflection helps in enhancing of the personal development by leading to self-awareness
(Rubueno et al., 2017). Its helps in improving the quality of care services provided to patients as
well as expanding clinical and non-pharmacological knowledge and skills required to be an
expert healthcare professional. This assignment would be a reflective piece of writing containing
4 important events that occurred during times of my placement. Gibbs reflective framework
would be used in analyzing the events, helping in effective reflection and learning from the
incidents.
Description:
During the time of my placement, I got the opportunity to care for different types of
patients and this helped me develop new experiences helping me to gather new knowledge and
skills. Firstly, once, I cared for an old patient who was suffering from loss of mobility after
facing a fall. She had suffered from stroke which had made her condition far more miserable.
She requested me to discontinue her treatment as said that she had no will to live. In such a
situation, I was torn apart between the ethical dilemma of autonomy and beneficence. Secondly,
in another incident poor teamwork of the multidisciplinary team resulted not only in suffering of
the patient but also poor reputation of the organization. Third, I never knew the importance of
effective communication with the patients and due to busy shifts; I could not communicate with
patients effectively. The patient later complained to my senior that she was not comfortable by

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
my care and wanted to change the nursing professional by replacing me with another nurse. I felt
embarrassed and humiliated. Fourth, I once educated a heart disorder patient in details and this
patient education had positive outcomes on his health. In the next visit, the patient stated that as
I had educated her in details. She is now able to manage her health conditions and maintain
proper lifestyle successfully.
Feelings:
Initially, before joining the placement, I was quite confident about my theoretical
knowledge. However, after the placement and facing different incidents, I felt unhappy with my
performance. I realized that I had many gaps in my knowledge and skills which I needed to
overcome in order to become an expert nurse. I was very stressed and nervous when I could not
solve the ethical dilemma. I was clueless what to do in the situation and felt like breaking down
but my mentor successfully handle the situation. I was also disappointed when the team was not
working collaboratively and this affected the health of the patient. I also felt embarrassed and
guilty when the patient claimed that she was not comfortable with me and wanted me to be
changed with another nursing professional. The only area where I felt satisfied was the patient
education incident where I performed really well and the patient was also satisfied by the
education sessions.
Evaluation:
The bad part of the incidents was that I could not ensure best service delivery to the
patients. The first area where I failed is managing ethical dilemmas successfully. Ethical
dilemma often arises when nursing professionals need to choose between wo or more morally
acceptable options or between equally unacceptable courses of action where one choice prevents