Reflective Practice in Nursing: A Case Study on Borderline Personality Disorder

This article discusses the importance of reflective practice in nursing through a case study on borderline personality disorder. The Gibbs’ reflective cycle is used to evaluate the situation and provide insights on how to handle such patients in the future.

Running head: NURSING PRACTICE 1
Nursing Practice
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

NURSING PRACTICE 2
Nursing Practice
Description
Health professionals are required to advance their knowledge and skills through the
process of constant reflective practice. As a student nurse, I experienced an unpleasant situation
during my initial placement in the constant care ward which is worth evaluating. My patient who
had the borderline personality disorder failed to respond well to treatment (Gunderson, Weinberg
and Choi-Kain, 2013). At first, I thought that the situation was as a result of inadequate
medication management or the utilization of inappropriate treatment approach. Conversely, the
primary cause of my patient’s failure to respond to medication was the ineffective treatment of
other disorders that are as a result of substance abuse. Furthermore, the patient failed to
understand and appreciate the essence of life. Therefore, he did not disclose that he abuses drugs.
The Gibbs’ reflective cycle is suitable for evaluating and analyzing the situation. It helps
people more so health professionals to reflect systematically through the different phases of an
activity or experience (Husebø, O'Regan and Nestel, 2015). Subsequently, Gibb's reflection
model emphasizes the significance of health experts’ ability to comprehend, access and utilize
information from an experience to improve healthcare provision (Hébert, 2015). Therefore, the
reflective model allows for adequate reflection on any medical experience.
Feelings
I experienced emotional breakdown because my patient was not recovering from the
clinical condition. The core aim of nurses is to make sure that people have good health.
However, when patients conceal vital information, the provision of care could become
ineffective. Therefore, it was very stressing to provide the necessary medication whereas the
patient was not improving. Although I could not accelerate his recovery process, I strive to

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ensure that I have a full understanding of my patients. Therefore, this will make sure that future
patients fully recover from the borderline personality illness.
Evaluation
The Gibb's reflective model helped me in discovering that the experience was both
beneficial and disadvantageous. The clinical situation has been crucial in shaping my
understanding of mentally ill patients. Notably, from my practice and experience, I was able to
understand that patients with BPD (borderline personality disorder) have the increased
probability of concealing significant information that would be helpful in providing medication
(Gibbs, 2001). Most people with mental illness would fail to convey crucial information unless
they believe that it would be beneficial to them. The experience was disadvantageous because I
hoped for fast recovery which did not happen.
Analysis
Through the utilization of Gibb's reflective cycle, I have noted that the clinical experience
has improved my comprehension in regards to nursing practice (Gibbs and Coffey, 2000).
Conventionally, most student nurses regard care provision of people with BPD pessimistically.
Nonetheless, contemporary research reveals that persons with BPD usually respond to treatment
better (Schön, 2017). The core reason for becoming a nurse is to provide better health care. My
values are aimed at improving the quality of lives of people. Previously I felt emotional
breakdown concerning the situation. However, I now feel better because I strive to provide
patient-centered care.
Conclusion
According to my experience, the situation would have been handled in a better way. As a
student nurse, I only needed the understanding of necessary treatment procedures in regards to

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the mental illness. Furthermore, I was required to understand my patient before healthcare
provision.
Action
As a student nurse, I need to further my education to ensure that I have the best medical
strategies to prevent such occurrences. I will conduct detailed research concerning the ways I can
get over distress that occurs after such incidences (Gibbs and Coffey, 2000). Consequently, it
will be essential to receive more training on how to handle such patients. Patients consider
concealing vital information because they often feel rejected and that it would not be much
useful. Secondly, I need more professional development on how to teach patients to appreciate
the importance of life (Lauren, 2013). Therefore, this will make them value life which would
lead to faster recovery.

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References
Gibbs, G., & Coffey, M. (2000). Training to teach in higher education: A research agenda.
Teacher development, 4(1), 31-44.
Gibbs, J. A. (2001). Maintaining front‐line workers in child protection: a case for refocusing
supervision. Child abuse review, 10(5), 323-335.
Gunderson, J. G., Weinberg, I., & Choi-Kain, L. (2013). Borderline personality
disorder. Focus, 11(2), 129-145.
Hébert, C. (2015). Knowing and/or experiencing: a critical examination of the reflective models
of John Dewey and Donald Schön. Reflective Practice, 16(3), 361-371.
Husebø, S. E., O'Regan, S., & Nestel, D. (2015). Reflective practice and its role in
simulation. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 11(8), 368-375.
Lauren Caldwell RN, B. S. N. (2013). The importance of reflective practice in
nursing. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 6(3), 319.
Schön, D. A. (2017). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. Routledge.