Reflective Writing: Gibbs Cycle, RLT Model, and Nursing Practice

This reflective writing assignment explores a nursing student's learning experience in a unit focusing on person-centered care, clinical reasoning, and the Roper, Logan, and Tierney (RLT) model. The student describes their initial understanding of nursing, the excitement and fascination they developed, and their feelings about the course. The assignment includes an evaluation of the RLT model and clinical reasoning cycle, analyzing the importance of patient cooperation and the establishment of a therapeutic relationship. The student reflects on the impact of socio-cultural factors and communication skills. The conclusion emphasizes the effectiveness of patient-centered care and the integration of the RLT model with the clinical reasoning cycle. The student outlines a plan to implement patient-centered care, emphasizing patient education and practical experience, and identifies learning priorities. The assignment demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of the concepts and a commitment to applying them in future nursing practice. The assignment follows Gibbs reflective cycle and covers description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and action plan.

Running head: REFLECTIVE WRITING USING GIBBS REFLECTIVE CYCLE 1
REFLECTIVE WRITING USING GIBBS REFLECTIVE CYCLE
Student name:
Course coordinator:
Date:

REFLECTIVE WRITING USING GIBBS REFLECTIVE CYCLE 2
Description
The unit was taught by our lecturer in class and it covered person-centered care with
emphasis on clinical reasoning cycle and the Roper, Logan and Tierney model of care. The
clinical reasoning cycle looked into how nurses collect verbal and nonverbal information,
process this information, use the information to understand a patients’ problem, scheme and
execute intervention, assess outcomes reflect on and learn from the process. The Roper, Logan
and Tierney model drew attention to the essence of the patient’s ability to carry out daily living
activities. This model, we were taught that it is based upon Abraham Maslow’s (1954) hierarchy
of human needs. The model as was taught it encompasses five concepts including factors
influencing activities of living such as biological, psychological, socio-cultural, and
environmental and politico-economic. Biological factors considered how an illness impacts on
the overall health of a person. Psychological factors looked into how health promotion is
influenced by emotions, spiritual beliefs and the persons’ understanding ability. Socio-cultural
was based on how culture and society determine health. Environmental factors were based upon
how the surrounding impacts the daily activities of a person and how these activities impact the
environment. Politico-economic factors dwelt on how the government, politics and economy
impact the daily living activities of a person.
Feelings
At the end of this unit, I was excited and fascinated by the nursing profession. Before
starting this unit, I thought that nursing is all about treating and taking care of patients, but that
has changed now. I now know that nursing has to be person-centred and this brings more joy to
me. During the course of learning this unit have been thinking how interesting it will be when I
finally graduate and start practicing nursing in a hospital. Currently, I think that this is the most

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important unit have learned since I joined the nursing school and am thrilled to have learnt much
from it. I feel great changes have already started taking place in my life concerning how I
interact with my classmates and those around me. I now feel lively when communicating with
people and am attentive looking for verbal and nonverbal cues.
Evaluation
Patient-centred care in reference to clinical reasoning cycle and Roper, Logan Tierney
model creates awareness on the importance of patient’s biological, socio-cultural, psychological,
politico-economic and environmental background during their treatment (Levett-Jones and
Tracy, 2018). For a satisfactory outcome in treating a patient, all these factors have to be
considered, and this requires cooperation from a patient to provide this information. The patients
feel involved in their treatment and not spectators making them give specific details that help in
their care. Before the patients can provide all the details proposed in the model there needs to be
a good therapeutic relationship must be developed between the nurse and the patient. Some
patients feel that providing all this information that is needed for the nurses to know them in
person truly is an invasion of privacy and sometimes they are not willing to provide this
information (Farr & Cressey, 2015). If care is provided to the patient outside the context of their
life, conflicts in healthcare related goals can arise resulting in the patient feeling unsafe.
Analysis.
For patient-centred care to be achieved under this model, the patient has to be cooperative
and provide all the information needed by the nurse. A good therapeutic relationship has to be
established between the nurse and the patient which is not the case always (Tobiano et al. 2015).
Communication skills are an important factor that contributed to the grasp of concepts under this
unit as it helps in explaining how a nurse should interact with a patient. Patient-centred care puts

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the patient at the middle of their treatment as they have to be exclusively involved and this for
me is the best way to treat a patient. The patient has to feel that they are in a safe environment
before providing the needed information and their privacy well-guarded during and after
treatment. This was a good learning experience for me personally after listening to my lecturers
and reading from various sources how patient-centred care revolutionalised patient treatment.
Some factors in the model such as the socio-cultural background of the patient may be a
hindrance towards the treatment needed for a certain patient (Holland, 2008).
Conclusion
From this unit I have learnt that patient-centred care is the most effective way of treating
a patient. The incorporation of this model integrated with the clinical reasoning cycle helps
provide a logical and systematic way of delivering care, encouraging team participation leading
to the provision of care (Marcum,2012). This model of care is simple in practice because it is
easy to understand, clear and precise. Patient-centred care from this perspective shows how the
activities of daily living are connected to the health of a person and how they impact the
treatment of a patient. This models of care helped me understand how quality care can be
achieved if the patient is involved in the treatment process. Before the start of this unit, I had
queries on how the relationship between a patient and a nurse can be bridged to enable efficient
care plan, but this unit has answered those questions (West et al. 2014).
Action plan
To implement patient-centred care, it is important that the patient understands from the
start of what is going on for them to appreciate the process. For the process to be patient driven,
they need to show a high confidence level in it and be realistic and specific while setting their
goals (Nilsen 2015). I will ensure that patient education is key to the implementation of patient-

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centred care in future as this gives the assurance of quality care and therefore their cooperation.
To make the learning of patient-centered care more efficient, this unit is best taught in a hospital
setting as this gives the student a first-hand experience. This helps them practically see what they
learnt in the lecture halls and reinforces their understanding of the topic (RoAcH,2013). My
learning priorities for this unit are the patient and the nurse. How best can the patient be involved
without interfering with the process of care? This will be attained by helping them understand
the role they play in this model.

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References.
Farr, M., & Cressey, P. (2015). Understanding staff perspectives of quality in practice in
healthcare. BMC health services research, 15(1), 123.
Holland, K. (2008). Applying the Roper Logan Tierney model in practice. Edinburgh [u.a.:
Churchill Livingstone Elsevier
Levett-Jones, Tracy, (editor.) (2018). Clinical reasoning : learning to think like a nurse (Second
edition). Pearson Australia, Melbourne, Vic
Marcum, J. A. (2012). An integrated model of clinical reasoning: dual‐process theory of
cognition and metacognition. Journal of evaluation in clinical practice, 18(5), 954-961.
Nilsen, P. (2015). Making sense of implementation theories, models and
frameworks. Implementation science, 10(1), 53.
RoAcH, M. S. (2013). Caring: The human mode of being. Caring in nursing classics: An
essential resource, 165-179.
Tobiano, G., Bucknall, T., Marshall, A., Guinane, J., & Chaboyer, W. (2015). Nurses' views of
patient participation in nursing care. Journal of advanced nursing, 71(12), 2741-2752.
West, M. A., Eckert, R., Steward, K., Pasmore, W. A., & King's Fund (London, England).
(2014). Developing collective leadership for health care.