Reflection in Health & Social Care: Principles, Values and Practice

This report delves into the importance of professional principles and values within the health and social care sector, emphasizing the crucial role of reflective practice. It examines the purposes of reflection, including recounting experiences, providing information, and fostering improvements in care. The report highlights various models and tools used for reflection, such as the Johns and Schon models, illustrating their application in real-world scenarios. Furthermore, it explores the use of practice themes and their links to performance indicators, culminating in a plan for reflection on personal and professional development, and an assessment of its effectiveness. The assignment draws on experiences from a Dementia Care Home, providing practical examples and insights into the application of theoretical concepts within a health and social care environment.

Demonstrating
Professional Principles
and Values in H&SC

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1: Purposes of reflection in health and social care practice.......................................................3
P2: Models and tools used for reflection.....................................................................................6
M1: Review the ways of in which reflective practice is applied in health, care or support
service environments...................................................................................................................7
D1: Evaluation of ways own reflections impact on personal and professional development.....8
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
P3: Use of Practice themes for underpinning reflection in learning and practice.......................8
P4: Links between Practice Themes and Performance Indicators...............................................9
M2: Producing a plan for reflection on own learning and development...................................10
D2: Assessment of the effectiveness of the plan.......................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
In Various professions, the use of Professional Principles and Values is important so that
the success is achieved in the future effectively and efficiently (Annan-Diab and Molinari, 2017).
In the practical course of action, they are quite necessary to be applied so that the firm is able to
work in the right manner and can function properly. Thus it can be said that their use is quite
important. This assignment will make detailed focus on role of reflection in health. Further,
explaining the use of practice themes so that they can be used as a framework for reflection will
be done as a part of this project.
TASK 1
P1: Purposes of reflection in health and social care practice
A practice through which recounting of past experience is done is known as reflection
(Banks, 2016). Using it, a person can present own view properly so that they can be useful
for someone who is reading them. There are specific purposes for which it is used in health
and social care practice. They are explained as follows-
 Recounting own experience- Own experience can be recounted by a person when the
use of reflection is made (Coughlan and Cronin, 2020). In health and social care its use is
important because recounting of own experience can help in training of people who are
learning more about these services as it serves as a source of experience for them. Thus in
Dementia Care Home I have gained relevant and valuable experience which I can share
with those people who are aiming to become Care Assistants in the Hospitals. This will
be helpful for them in getting to know the way which they can use for dealing properly
with the patients by taking good care of them so that they are provided with proper
treatment.
 Providing of information- With reflection, the information can be provided to the
person who is reading it. In the context of health and social care practice, using it is quite
helpful because it ensures that important decisions can be taken clearly. In Dementia Care
Home I have to make sure that by providing a reflection on my own experience I can
provide the future Care Assistants with a lot of information which can be used by them
properly. This can therefore be very helpful in ensuring that the relevant goals and
objectives can be attained effectively and efficiently.
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 Bringing of improvements- Using reflections mistakes can be identified and thereby
rectifications can be made in these mistakes. Their use becomes important in health and
social care practice so that the mistakes of the past are rectified and they serve as a base
for those people who are learning about providing these services to the people. In
Dementia Care Home the reflection on my own experience can be helpful in finding out
problems and issues so that the relevant improvements can be made effectively and
efficiently in my own skills and capabilities which will be very helpful for me in the
future.
 Personal and Professional development- Personal and Professional Development is
possible with the use of reflections as by giving them a person can get relevant
experience of recounting one’s experience by using a suitable reflection model. Thus In
health and social care this can be ensured as a person who is recounting own experience
can be able to enhance this development which will help a lot in the future. In Dementia
Care Home this is a very useful skill because through this one can bring the relevant
improvements in oneself which are highly essential for dealing with the patients and their
different problems and issues.
 Base for training- A Base for training is provided by reflection of a person. In health and
social care practice this is the main purpose due to which reflection is used. The people
who are learning the way of providing such services can learn a lot from the experience
recounted by another person. Thus in this way it can be said that with its use the goals
and objectives can be set for the people who are being trained so that they are trained in a
highly effective manner which will help them in providing these services in the right way
in the future. In Dementia Care Home this can be used for training those professionals
who will be taking the care of patients in the hospital. Thus this provides a right base for
training.
 Development of critical thinking- When a person looks back at own experience critical
thinking abilities are developed. The person thinks of the situation in the past and the
actions which were taken there and the actions which can be taken currently so that the
maturity in taking of important decisions in the future can be developed. Also this ability
can be enhanced further as more and more models of reflection are used by a person to
make reflections. Thus in this way it can be said that reflection is quite important for a
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person to develop critical thinking abilities for the future. In the context of Dementia
Care Home this can be quite useful because reflecting back on past experience can be
helpful in critically thinking on the mistakes and shortcomings and thus taking the actions
which are desired.
Johns Model of Reflection-
This model of reflection can be used for the purpose of providing a reflection on the
experience of the past (Bradley and et.al., 2016). When this model is used by the people it
ensures that they are able to reflect back on the past in the right manner. It has different
types of stages. These stages are explained as follows-
Stage 1- Description- This refers to the incident which happened in the past (Caverzagie
and et.al., 2017). In the past while working in Dementia Care Home I had to deal with a
situation where there was urgency on the part of the patient and thus the patient had to be
rushed into the Emergency Ward. Thus I had to actively deal with the Doctors who were
present. This allowed me to ensure that I develop my communication skills effectively
and efficiently. Here a person is required to make sure that a proper description of the
experience is given which can therefore be very helpful in providing a proper guidance so
that the necessary actions can be taken by the person who is reading the reflection. Thus
the reflection which I have provided while working for Dementia Care Home can be very
helpful for the people who are aiming to become Care Assistants in the medical field. In
this way it can help a lot to them in ensuring that they are able to gain valuable
experience without problems and issues.
Stage 2- Reflection- This means the stage where a person is required to do a reflection
(Curran and et.al., 2017). Therefore while working in Dementia Care Home and dealing
with the patients I was able to develop my overall personality. I also learnt how the
management is done while work is done in a Hospital. This has helped me in improving
myself by finding out my own faults so that the attainment of goals and objectives can be
done. Thus working in this organization has been quite rewarding for me as I have not
only gained the valuable experience in the medical field but I have also ensured that my
shortcomings are reduced properly after taking the necessary rectifying actions.
Stage 3- Influencing factors- This refers to the impact which is put by internal and
external factors on the incident (Farrell, 2016). When the Incidents related with patients
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happened a lot of internal factors like Stress, Tension were there on my mind and also
external factors like Impact of external situations outside the hospital influenced my
decision-making. In Dementia Care Home I faced these internal factors when the patients
complained that I was not taking their proper care. Also I faced external factors when the
situations outside the hospital were not so good leading to an influence on decision-
making.
Stage 4- What could I have dealt with it better- When I faced incidents where patients
requiring immediate medical attention in Dementia Care Home I feel that I could have
been more alert so that I could have informed the Doctors about their condition (Font,
Guix and Bonilla-Priego, 2016). This would have helped them in recovering faster. I have
a feeling that with the use of appropriate decision-making techniques one is able to deal
with any situation calmly and thus this can help a lot in the future.
Stage 5- Learning- This refers to the stage where learning has taken place (Grubenmann
and Meckel, 2017). Working in Dementia Care Home has allowed me to learn a lot as I
had to regularly deal with medical emergency incidents. This has developed and
enhanced my communication skills and thus this will be very helpful for me in the future.
Also I will be able to make the use of a better approach while dealing with these incidents
so that better care of the different patients can be taken by me and their various types of
problems and issues can be resolved. I think that using learning models and techniques
good knowledge can be gained about dealing with different types of situations and thus
this can help in the attainment of the goals and objectives.
Schon’s model-
According to Schon there are two ways in which reflection can be done (Seabrooke and
Wigan, 2016). These ways are explained as follows-
Reflection Inwards- This means reflecting on the events as they take place (Tuomilehto
and et.al., 2017). This is helpful as it is needed while the events are taking place so that
improvements can be made immediately according to the need and requirement. Working
in Dementia Care Home I face situations in which the patients have specific demands and
I am unable to fulfil them due to my busy schedule. I reflect back during my duty hours
and think that I should have taken some time from my schedule to look into the demands
of these patients to deal with them effectively. Thus this in this way I think that I should
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make and plan my schedule in a better way and manage the tasks effectively and
efficiently so that the different needs and requirements of the patients can be fulfilled and
thus they are provided with the assistance which they desire.
When the patients say that I do not take good care of them I face a situation in which I
think that I should be more calm in dealing with their different needs and requirements. I
have to make sure that by using this calm approach I can perform my duties and
responsibilities more effectively and efficiently.
Reflection Outwards- This refers to reflecting on the events once they have occurred
(Willis and et.al., 2016). This is helpful as it is a retrorespective reflection. Therefore,
while working in Dementia Care Home I face situations where the patients require my
immediate assistance and I am unable to provide them this assistance. Thus I reflect back
after my duty hours on what I could have done better and how I could have managed my
time so that I easily fulfil their demands without problems and issues. Therefore after the
events I think that I could have handled the patients in a much better manner and dealt
with them by talking in a polite manner with them and listening to their questions and
queries. Thus I think that I need to take better actions in the future so that the patients do
not face problems and issues due to different reasons.
When I am not able to deal in the right manner with the patients I feel bad and reflect
back on why I did so. Thus this is helpful in ensuring that that in the future I am more
responsible in dealing with them so that they can be dealt with in a proper manner. This
will thus be very helpful in the attainment of the higher efficiency and effectiveness in
dealing with the patients properly. Also this will help me in improving my behaviour
while dealing with them.
P2: Models and tools used for reflection
Scenario- I work as a Care Assistant in Dementia Care Home. My job involves taking
the care of various patients who are admitted here and ensuring that they receive the best care
during the course of treatment. I will use Gibbs’ reflective cycle because this is a model which is
helpful in the reflection on own experience of the past through the use of different techniques
and methods.
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There are different types of models which can be used for the purpose of making a
reflection. A brief explanation of some of these models can be provided in the following manner-
Johns Model- According to this model, there are two way in which a person can make a
reflection- Inwards or Outwards. Thus by making its use a person can make sure that the feelings
can be expressed correctly.
Kolb Model- In this model, experiential learning can be used. Thus, In this way the
experience can be reviewed, analysed and evaluated systematically in different stages.
Schon Model- In this model, the reflection can be made by reflecting on the experience
which contributes towards an unexpected outcome.
Rolfe Model- In this model, self-reflection can be made by looking back at the
experience and describing it in a particular way.
With the use of Gibbs’ reflective cycle a recount of own experience can be made by a
person. The various stages of this model are as follows-
Description- Here, the situation is described in detail (Drolet and Desormeaux-Moreau,
2016). In Dementia Care Home, I have faced various situations as a Care Assistant when
immediate care was required by the patients and for this purpose I had to call a Doctor
immediately so that the attention could be paid to the patient. Also there were situations in which
I used to take immediate actions based on the needs and requirements of the different patients.
Thus these were the situations which I used to face while working as a Care Assistant in the
hospital.
Feelings- It means the feelings of a person during a particular experience. In my role as
Care Assistant I have to deal with both positive and negative feelings of the patients. Thus I
learned the way control on emotions can be kept while dealing with the patients. There were
situations in which I had to keep a check on my anger and frustration on the patients because
they were not cooperating and coordinating in a right way with me and thus were not getting
proper treatment. Thus I learned the way I could control these feelings in order to perform my
duties and responsibilities properly.
Evaluation- It means performing an evaluation of the situation (Cruess, Cruess and
Steinert, 2016). In Dementia Care Home, I have faced situations where immediate care is
required by the patients. In these circumstances one has to evaluate the action to be taken. Thus I
assessed that I need to call a Doctor immediately to cater to the needs and requirements of these
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patients. Here I had to ensure that I evaluate the best possible action which could be taken on the
basis of need and requirement of the different patients
Analysis- This means making sense of something which has happened. As a Care
Assistant in Dementia Care Home, I have to analyse the specific situations sometimes and
accordingly take an action. This helps in dealing with the specific needs and requirements of the
patients. Therefore by performing this analysis I ensured that I am able to enhance my skills and
capabilities properly which will thereby help in the attainment of more efficiency and
effectiveness in the performance of my different duties and responsibilities in the hospital.
Conclusions- This refers to concluding something which has happened. As a Care
Assistant in Dementia Care Home I have had a good experience. In the future also, I look to have
a great experience. I can conclude that It has been a very great experience to work in this hospital
till now and I look forward to removing my shortcomings and mistakes of the past so that I am
able to deal properly and fulfil my duties and responsibilities effectively.
Action plan- This means the action which can be taken in a particular situation in the
future. Working a Care Assistant in Dementia Care Home, I assessed my weakness in certain
skills. Thus I made the use of SMART framework to frame an Action plan specifically focusing
on these skills so that an improvement can be made in them in the future which will help in the
attainment of goals and objectives.
Rolfe’s framework for Reflective Practice-
This model has a range of steps which are required to be identified by a person so that
reflection can be made properly (Winstein and et.al., 2016). By making the use of these steps a
person can ensure that recounting of experience can be done in the right manner-
Step 1- What? - This refers to the difficulty faced in a particular situation. My work in
Dementia Care Home involves dealing with some patients who are very rude. They are rude as
they don’t take their medicines on time and therefore in this creates an impact on the doctors
who are treating them and thus sometimes they are not provided proper treatment. Therefore for
dealing with these rude patients I think that the use of a specific approach is needed so that the
operations of the hospital can be managed properly.
Step 2- So what? - This means the actions which were taken by a person. While doing
my work in Dementia Care Home I have to take actions on dealing with rude patients. I have to
call the Doctor Immediately. Also I had to counsel the patients so that they could remain calm
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while the Doctor provided the treatment to them. Thus in this way I was able to ensure that the
patients calmed down and thus they could be dealt with in a better manner. Dealing with these
patients requires use of a calm attitude so that their different problems and issues can be found
out and thus they can be solved without difficulties.
Step 3- Now what? - This means the feelings related with the experience. While working
in Dementia Care Home I had to face situations where I feel both positive as well as negative. I
feel positive when the patients appreciate my work and the care which I take. However I also feel
negative when I am scolded by my superiors for not doing the work properly. Therefore in this
manner I can say that I can deal with both of these feelings without problems and issues. Thus it
can be said that future actions are dependent upon the prevailing situation in the hospital at that
point of time. Therefore, In this way I can improve myself so that I am able to deal in a better
manner with the different situations which I might have to face as a part of my different duties
and responsibilities.
M1: Review the ways of in which reflective practice is applied in health, care or support service
environments
Reflective practice can be applied here by making the use of different types of ways. By
making the use of reflective models as well as theories and frequent recording of one's own
experience the use of reflection can be made. In this way the right conclusions and
recommendations can be effectively derived which can be used in the future. There is an
importance of reflective practice because by making its use the reflection can be made correctly.
It can be applied in health, care-journals, discussions, supervision etc. because the use of this
type of practice will be quite helpful in ensuring that the goals and objectives of self-reflection
can be attained.
D1: Evaluation of ways own reflections impact on personal and professional development
Reflecting back on own experience in the past can be quite helpful for the purpose of
personal and professional development. This is so because by making the use of reflection a
person can ensure that the mistakes of the past can be identified and thus the necessary actions
can be taken so that these mistakes are not repeated in the future. Thus it acts as a learning
experience for the people as it can help them in determining the actions which can be taken in the
future. The impact of reflective practice is that by making its use the learners are able to ensure
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that they are able to identify the mistakes which they made previously and make sure that they
use rectifying techniques through which they are able to sort out these mistakes.
TASK 2
P3: Use of Practice themes for underpinning reflection in learning and practice
Kolb's learning cycle is a reflective model which can be used for the purpose of reflecting
back on the experience of the past. It is a learning cycle which covers various stages. These
stages are explained as follows-
Concrete experience- This refers to the experience of the past (Gil‐Rivas and Kilmer,
2016). This is the incident or the experience on which a reflection has to be made. While
working in Dementia Care Home as a Care Assistant I gained the required knowledge of law,
regulation and ethical practice which therefore helped me in ensuring that I perform my duties
and responsibilities accordingly. Also I had an experience of understanding that in health and
social care there is a value of professional values, attitudes and behaviours. Thus I worked
towards developing them.
Reflective observation- This refers to reflecting back on the experience (Guo and et.al.,
2017). Working as a Care Assistant in Dementia Care Home I have learned that health, safety
and safeguarding is important in health and social care because in this way proper care of the
patients who are admitted in hospitals and care homes can be taken. I learnt that while working
in such institutions there can be some mistakes which one can make and therefore the use of
certain methods and techniques has to be made so that these mistakes are effectively rectified.
Abstract conceptualisation- This means concluding and learning from the experience
(Hamilton, 2016). Working in Dementia Care Home as a Care Assistant I have learned that
promotion has to be given for physical and mental health and wellbeing is important in health
and social care practice. This is so because by promoting it better care of patients can be taken.
Thus I have realised that I have to give the required importance to it so that I am able to perform
by duties and responsibilities effectively and efficiently.
Active experimentation- This means planning and trying out something which has been
learned (Jones and Phillips, 2016). Working in Dementia Care Home as a Care Assistant has
allowed me to learn more about applied mathematics. I have learned how it can be used in health
and social care settings. Thus in this way I have made sure that I use it more in my day-to-day
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routine which will help me in being more stronger in my field and perform my duties and
responsibilities in the right manner.
Thus In this way I have realised that the use of themes can be made so that reflection is
made in learning and practice. Using a suitable reflective model one can reflect back on the
experience of using these themes properly in day-to-day routine of working in the care centres
and hospitals. Therefore this allows a person to be able to ensure that through the application of
these themes working pattern can be enhanced and more efficiency and effectiveness can be
brought in work so that better care of patients can be taken.
The use of Practice themes for underpinning of reflection in learning and practice can be
made in the following manner-
Law, Regulation and Ethical practice- By understanding the wide range of laws,
regulation and Ethical practice a person can make sure that their application can be made in a
proper manner. This will help in understanding the way they can be applied and thus helping a
lot in the attainment of particular goals and objectives.
Professional Values, Attitudes and Behaviour in health and social care practice-
Their assessment can be quite effective in ensuring that the health and social care practice can be
developed in a professional manner. In this way a person will be able to make sure that the
professional commitment can be given appropriate value.
Health, Safety and Safeguarding through the Lifespan and how skills and
knowledge are demonstrated- This will be helpful in understanding the way these regulations
are applied in the health and social care practice so that the skills and knowledge are used
correctly.
Valuing and Promoting Diversity, Difference and Inclusion- This can be helpful in
ensuring that the value and promotion to them can be given which will thus help a lot in
achieving the specific goals and objectives.
Promoting physical and mental health and wellbeing in health and social care
practice- This can be helpful in giving the right weightage to physical and mental health and
ensuring that the health and social care practices can be maintained correctly.
Applied mathematics- In the health and social care practice the use of Applied
mathematics can be made which helps a lot in ensuring that the specific goals and objectives can
be attained.
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