Nursing Reflective Thinking and Decision Making

This assignment delves into the crucial role of reflective thinking in nursing. It examines various models, such as Gibbs' Reflective Cycle and Schon's model of reflection-in-action, highlighting their impact on student learning, clinical decision-making, and ultimately, patient safety. The document analyzes how these models empower nurses to continuously learn, adapt to evolving situations, and provide high-quality care.

REFLECTIVE
PRACTICE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Reflective practice is the ability of an individual to act and react on the actions of other
and to engage in the process of learning continuously. It requires paying critical attention to the
practices and the values and the theories that show the actions of the other. Reflective practices
in nursing are helpful for them to use it effectively in the critical situations and increase their
ability to improve care. It is a key skill for nurses and enhances their skills to manage the impact
of care for others in their daily routine work(Victor-Chmil, 2013). It is essential for improving
the quality of the services and also provide the care and support to the patients for their
development.
Clinical reflection is a practice that enables nurses to learn from their experience and actions
and help to cure patients effectively in near future (Council, 2015). This reflection is important
for them and enables them to learn from their previous mistakes and the actions that they chose
to help patients and so that this cannot be repeated. This practice requires critical thinking and
some practices to avoid mistakes, nurses need to think quickly to handle the critical situation to
save a life. This reflection is attained in the situations when they are able to learn on daily basis
and through critical questioning at the practice time (Naber & Wyatt, 2014). The questions are
such as what happened, why did I choose this method at this point, is there any other way to
resolve such issue, did this method help or it could be better one, what action plans can be
implemented for next time if the same situation arises. If the nurses are able to understand the
need of immediate reaction to the situation and are able to develop different reflection stages
with practice and implement it in situations. Nurses need to sense a caring for others to reflect on
the situations, they have to develop a sense of feeling and care for their patients and evaluate the
conditions and reflect in the situations and be a change agent in their lives. Clinical reflection is
the practice that is implemented by visualising the situation and its impact and their ability to
know from their mistakes and implement new strategies to overcome those situations. They need
to develop a sense of problem immediately in the situation and then observing the different
conditions that are helpful and elaborating its effect and implementing the foreseen requirement.
The reflective thinking of the nurses can be made stronger with the use of Gibbs Reflective
Cycle which describes the events that are being reflected upon (Dwyer, Hogan & Stewart, 2014).
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These reflective practices can be made stronger as per requirement of the situation of patient
whereas the Gibbs cycle shows or be learned from it such as it involves six steps that are:
 Description- This is the situation that describes the event that is being described for
instance in a situation at the time of placement I was working in a surgical ward where I
work under the supervision of my mentor. My mentor advised me to take care for an 82-
year-old gentleman and asked to remove his wound dressing so that doctor can assess it.
 Feelings- In the given situation that is to remove wound I felt intimidated because I felt
that doctor can do this in the better way as because he was more experienced.
 Evaluation- This reflects the after events or the situation and how they reflected on the
situation and reacted at the emergency and sense what other were thinking and did they
handle the situation effectively or there is a need to change (Dos & Demir, 2013). The
situation which I have described above was challenging for me as it was the tough task
for me. I need to make sure that old man does not suffer from pain at the time of
removing the wound. However, I am pleased that doctor responds me with positive
feedback.
 Analysis- This situation helps them to learn their mistakes and how they can improve
their reflection criteria or the ability to think and pick out the essential points that would
have been better. What are the conditions that went well and what is left or was not good
and can be changed in the future? The analysis of the situation will make them develop
reflective thinking and enhance abilities. They can improve their thinking and develop
new strategies in the critical situations. It is analyzed that the nursing of health and social
care advised that hand hygiene is one of an essential activity for reduction cross-
infection. The Nursing and Midwifery Council Code of Professional Conduct (2004,
section 8) states that as a nurse it is important for me to reduce the risk to patients and
clients.
 Conclusion- This section gives the summary of situations that have been reflected on and
help them to understand the need of events and their mistakes again and how they are
going to change them. They can also identify situations and stop same things from
happening again in near future or at the time of emergency. Looking to the incident I
noticed I just acted sooner and I make noticed that doctor has washed hands before
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examining the patient. I realized that it is important to wash hand and take proper care
before providing treatment to patients.
 Action plan- This is the situation when they have to think what they will do next about
the problem and is essential for their reflection (Ambrose & Ker, 2014). They need to
develop strategies to improve their performance and implement change if required to
achieve their desired outcome. My aim is to develop my assertive skills at the time of
working in health care organisation. In my placement, I will make this goal for learning
and develop my skills.
Evidence-based practices
One of the key principal in medicine today is evidence-based practices in nursing. As it is a
practice of medicines which is based on solid research and it is adhered to standard to ensure
high quality and safety as all this focus on patient's safety and needs. There are the different
example of evidence-based practices in nursing are as follows:
 Infection control: The patient wants at the time of going the hospital for treatment is a
hospital-acquired an infection. Nurses in health care organisation play the significant role
in respect to prevent illness as it before taking place by adhering to evidence-based
infection control policies (Bogossian, Cooper and Seaton, 2015). It considers keeping the
healthcare environment clean and washing hand practices help in avoiding infection. In a
health care organisation, there are lots of responsibilities nurses have and the time to take
control infection is well worth the effort.
 Measuring Blood Pressure Noninvasively in Children: It is essential for nurses to
measure blood pressure according to the evidence-based practices as because the accurate
measurement is one of the significant parts of the effective treatment (Butterworth and
Faugier, 2013). To measure blood pressure in children is a different procedure as
compared to the adult, so it is important for nurse to strictly follow evidence based
practices.
By applying these learning techniques nurses can increase their ability and skills to react in the
critical situations and develop their sense of thinking to implement to these conditions.
According to the research, it has been found that nurses need to think effectively at the time of
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emergency and sense the requirement to treat the patients for their benefits . It also enhances
their thinking power to react differently so that they develop new strategies and can help the
patients and their families. It is essential to learn from them from their experiences and not repeat
the same mistakes again. Reflective practice is the learning theory for nurses for the
advancement of their skills and treats patients effectively. These situations are very critical and at
the time of treatment, they have to summarise the situation and treat them according to their
thinking capability and seek from the experience (Tutticci, Lewis and Coyer, 2016). It is inter-
related with the experience and reflection can be developed by implementing new ways to treat
and Gibbs reflective cycle helps them to learn and organise their reflection in a positive way.
These thinking abilities and changes in nurses’ practices is beneficial for the patients as they
will be treated with more effectiveness. It will make sure that they are able to introduce new
styles or ways and learn from their mistakes. Patients will be treated effectively and it will sense
a responsibility in their working behavior and will work to cure them. The continuous
professional development of the nurses will attribute in their conditions and evaluate their
professional responsibility to increase their loyalty towards their work. Reflection has helped to
practice nurses to develop the attitude of questioning and the skills that have constantly updated
their knowledge and skills and created self-confidence at the time of treatment. Their strengths
and weaknesses are also evaluated and also helps them to apply their skills of reflection in the
CPD process and give services to the patients effectively (Töman, Odabasi Çimer & Çimer,
2014). To develop their interpersonal skills they make sure to increase their compatibility and
abilities to react to the situations effectively. Reflective thinking of nurses encourages them to
develop a sense of responsibility towards patients and at the time of emergency, they are able to
feel their requirement and give medications according to the needs of the patients.
The key components of reflective practice in nursing are the ability of the learner to learn and
enhance his skills in practice. It also promotes deep learning for nurses and increase their
confidence and know t their weakness and treat patients with confidence. It helps in identifying
the needs of the patients to develop their thinking and reflective ability in emergencies. In
nursing, they are able to develop their self-beliefs, attitudes, and values and commence their
practices ethically (Andrew, McVicar and Henderson, 2015). Reflective practice in nursing
helps them to acquire and identify their personal and professional strengths and the areas that
need to be improved. It also practices them to improve their clinical confidence direct them to
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take decisions effectively at the time of emergency. They develop their thinking capabilities and
introduce new ways to treat patients effectively. They practice self-belongingness activities and
evaluate patients’ needs and ways in which they provide sufficient feedback to them.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above that in nursing profession it is required to evaluate needs
and effectiveness of individuals and improve their reflective thinking abilities. It also helps them
to develop their skills and abilities in practice so that they can treat their patients effectively. It
can be acquired by using different models or theories of reflective practices such as Gibbs
Reflective Cycle, this helps them to acquire abilities to give better treatment to patients. It is
essential for nurses to increase self-beliefs and demonstrate their thinking power and give
frequent or quick reaction to situations. These models are important as they make it possible for
them to acquire new ways to treat patients and are helpful for them as well.
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REFERENCES
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investigation of the mechanisms that impact on student learning in a single cohort over a 5
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Andrew, S., McVicar, A., Zanganeh, M. and Henderson, N., 2015. Self‐efficacy and relevance
of bioscience for nursing, midwifery and healthcare students. Journal of clinical nursing,
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Butterworth, T. and Faugier, J., 2013. Clinical supervision and mentorship in nursing. Springer.
Council, N.M., 2015. The code: professional standards of practice and behaviour for nurses and
midwives. London: NMC.
Dos, B., & Demir, S. (2013). The analysis of the blogs created in a blended course through the
reflective thinking perspective. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice. 13(2). 1335-
1344.
Dwyer, C. P., Hogan, M. J., & Stewart, I. (2014). An integrated critical thinking framework for
the 21st century. Thinking Skills and Creativity. 12. 43-52.
Naber, J., & Wyatt, T. H. (2014). The effect of reflective writing interventions on the critical
thinking skills and dispositions of baccalaureate nursing students. Nurse Education
Today. 34(1). 67-72.
Töman, U., Odabasi Çimer, S., & Çimer, A. (2014). Analysis of Pre-Service Science Teachers'
Views about the Methods Which Develop Reflective Thinking. Online Submission. 5(4).
162-172.
Tutticci, N., Ryan, M., Coyer, F., & Lewis, P. A. (2017). Collaborative facilitation of debrief
after high-fidelity simulation and its implications for reflective thinking: student
experiences. Studies in Higher Education, 1-14.
Victor-Chmil, J. (2013). Critical thinking versus clinical reasoning versus clinical judgment:
Differential diagnosis. Nurse Educator. 38(1). 34-36.
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