Nursing Experience Reflection: Skills, Achievements, and Development

This report is a reflection by a nursing student on their professional experiences, skills, and achievements, utilizing Gibb's model of reflection. The student details their experiences as an account assistant, support worker in a care home, and care coordinator in an independent living facility. The report analyzes how these experiences have enhanced communication, interpersonal skills, decision-making abilities, and leadership qualities. The student discusses real-life scenarios, including managing staff shortages, maintaining patient confidentiality, and handling challenging situations with elderly patients, including those with dementia and terminal illnesses. The report also evaluates the impact of ethical considerations, privacy laws, and the importance of emotional intelligence in providing patient-centered care. The student reflects on the challenges faced, the positive outcomes achieved, and the application of NMC codes of conduct, highlighting areas for future professional development in the nursing career.

Running head: NURSING
NURSING
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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Introduction
This assignment the aims to provide the evidences regarding my professional Curriculum
vitae, that has been provided as an appendix below. This paper will provide a detailed account of
my achievements and skills, and how they have enhanced with the time and experience and the
way they will be helpful to my future professional development in the nursing career. I will
provide the information about some real time experiences that I believe has helped me to
enhance my communication, interpersonal skills, my decision making skills and my ability as a
leader to manage a team.
Discussion
I will use Gibb’s model of reflection to reflect on my experience and achievements, analysing
them in the lens of supportive nursing journals. I will also give some real life experiences of my
work experience as a care coordinator, a support care worker and an account assistant.
Description
I have experience of working as an account assistant, a support worker in a care home for the
elderly. I have also worked as a care coordinator in an independent living.
My main role was to work as a team leader and to be in-charge of managing the day to
day activities in the independent living facility for the elderly. I was assigned to manage the
patient’s care, to coordinate the treatment plan of the patients and educate them about the
condition and connect them with the health care providers and evaluation of their process.

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During my tenure as a care coordinator, there had been an audit, where there was a
comprehensive restoration of the entire independent living starting from the restructuring of the
infrastructure to the recruitment of competent staffs. It was a hectic task and there was a shortage
of staffs. However, I was able to manage the situation successfully and I have received positive
feedback from the other staffs and the patients.
I have also stated, my communication skill to be one of my important strength of my
career. Preservation of the confidentiality and privacy is one of main aspect of patient- therapist
communication. Maintenance of privacy and confidentiality has been an ethical obligation for
the nurses. With the introduction of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA) Privacy Rule in 2003, the health workers are liable to maintain the privacy of the
patient information. I have always tried to adhere to ethical rules of privacy.
While working as an account assistant, I had to manage with multiples tasks that included
maintenance of the ledgers and assisting the customers, or preparing and distributing the checks,
along with the handling of cash and invoices making phone calls. I have also achieved
appreciation while working as an account assistant.
Furthermore, I also had to attend the triage where at times we are assigned with multiple
tasks at a time, especially during the overcrowding of the emergency department. Working in an
aged care home can be challenging as the elderly persons often suffer from multiple illness of
which some are terminally ill patients. I had often provided informal care to elderly patients who
have been discharged from an aged care home. . It is the emotional intelligence that we use while

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dealing with the dementia patients. I am always ready to provide any kind of help to my peers
within my expertise. I can think of one such incident, where one of my peer nurse was in- charge
of a dementia patient. The patient was the aggressive and had stopped receiving any kind of food
or drink. Another healthcare worker was left with no choice and had to apply restraint on that
person. Later on, the patient was convinced and calmed by me to consume his food in a normal
manner. I ensure to keep a proper documentation of all the patient records such that they can be
produced timely to the doctors as and when needed. I have also indulged in informal care as a
care coordinator and as a support care worker, as I have also made personal home visits for the
patient to have a follow up, just out my responsibility to provide a complete care to the patient.
Feelings
I have clearly witnessed restrictions and conflicts between the stakeholders in
implementing the changes. I felt really perturbed while making decisions about the recruitment
of staffs, as it was my accountability to make sure that standard of the independent living facility
is uplifted after change. While working in the aged care as a support care worker, I came to know
that one of our elderly patient has been diagnosed with HIV. I really felt anxious to disclose
this to his family members. However, I have always been appreciated by my peers for my
communication skills and the polite words that I use in case of disclosing any bad news in front
of the patient. Things have been challenging and difficult while dealing with patients suffering
from any sorts of neurodegenerative disorder or cognitive impairment. One will always remain in
doubt whether their needs are getting addressed.

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Caring for patients with dementia in an aged care setting is challenging for me due to
another reason. Patients might get aggressive and indulge in self harm or harming others (Liu,
Norman and While 2013). I has a hard time in managing patients, where one of the care worker
has put a physical restraint on the patient. I was tensed, as I knew, that putting restraints can
bring about several complications, like bruising, pain, increased heart rate and many more.
Furthermore, while working as an account assistant, I have often felt nervous as I had to
deal with accounts, calculations and check whether, the payments have been made, management
of the credit and the chasing debt. A single mistake in any of these roles could have been a great
loss from my part, both in terms of reputation and job.
Evaluation
Based on the personal evaluation, the expected results from these initiatives are positive
given that services provided in has to be more focussed and hence will improve in terms of
efficiency and quality. Since, an independent living is always occupied with elderly patients who
are critical hence, bringing back any changes in such a setting required proper strategic
management and the leadership skills (Barr and Dowding 2019).
I was relieved by the fact that I could manage the conflicts between the stakeholders and
made sure, that nobody is overloaded with work and disseminated the work between the team
members thankfully, the nurses and the other health care staffs could actually cope up with the
sudden changes. I provided enough room to the other health care staffs to share their valuable

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opinions, so that they can be used for the betterment of the services. Majority of the staffs in the
independent living unit were happy with the changes that has occurred in the surgical unit.
Evaluating the above mentioned incident of privacy and confidentiality, I should say that
I have worked in compliance with the privacy laws and as per the NMC codes of privacy, which
makes a clinician to be accountable to keep a patient information confidential. Considering the
privacy of the patient, I have also made sure to consult the patient in a separate room for
preserving the integrity of the patient and to ensure, that nobody could hear us. Again, supporting
dementia patients has been quite challenging for us, as patients with dementia in addition to
cognitive and functional deterioration, they also tends to suffer from both behavioural as well as
psychological complications, an increased use of the health and the social care services, and
complicated management of the clinical condition. They are more susceptible to an increased
risk of certain medical complications like falls, delirium and more. Empathy is a widely accepted
as one of the widely accepted attribute of nursing, which I believe that I possess. However, I
must say that a lot of factors comes in to play, while providing to provide an empathetic care
towards elderly patients. These includes the patient flow, risk management and the widespread
stigmatisation in the acute care and the sub-acute care facilities (Digby, Williams and Lee 2016).
I believe that have enough emotional intelligence to deal with the emotions of the patents,
especially while dealing with children and elderly patients. Evaluating the incident about putting
physical restraints on patients. This can bring about serious litigation against a nurse, who had
been applying restraint on the patient.

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While working as an account assistant, I had faced several barriers while working with
spreadsheets, sales and the ledgers, but things were more simplified due to the enormous help got
from my peers and the seniors.
Analysis
Analysing, the above incident, it can be said that I played a good leadership role in
managing such a big change taking place in the independent living facility. It has been stated by
Fitzgerald et al. (2017), effective distributive leadership strategies have been successful in
improving service in health care. I believe that I have worked in compliance with NMC
competency standard, which states that every care worker should be acting as a change agent and
should provide leadership by quality development for enhancing the wellbeing and experience of
the people (NMC, 2010). A leader will behave as an accountable professional, promote health
and would prevent health. They are responsible for assessing the needs and planning the care. I
believe, that I have been able to work as per the proficiencies of the registered Nursing
Associates that is being an accountable professional, promoting the health and preventing ill
health, assessing the needs and planning care, leading and managing nursing care and working
teams (Papathanasiou et al., 2018). As stated earlier, I had always extended my hands to my
peers as well as my colleagues. It my emotional intelligence that has always helped me to
understand and manage ones own emotions as well as the emotion of others. Emotional
intelligence has emerged across several disciplines and has gained tractions in the profession of
nursing and has promoted well-being of the patients and the families. I have realised that
emotional intelligence in nurses enables them to take better decisions and improves the

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relationship with the patient, which is an important aspect of providing a patient centred care. I
believe that I have worked in compliance with the NMC codes (2010) that states that a health
care workers should thrive for the physical, intellectual and the emotional needs of the patient
(NMC, 2010).
Good verbal and non-verbal communication skill and excellent attention skills are
necessary to progress career in the health care field. Furthermore, it has been clearly stated in the
NMC (2010), that nurses should be able to build partnership and therapeutic relationship with the
patients (NMC, 2010). My experience of working as an account has helped me a lot, as I had to
communicate daily with the clients and the administrators. I believe, that this analytical and the
critical thinking will be helpful in my future professional career as a registered nurse.
My experience as a support care worker and a care coordinator has helped me to remain
updated with aged care laws. I am well aware of the restraint laws, where restraint could only be
applied as a last resort to the patient, when all the other alternatives have been tried. Before the
administration of the restraints, it is necessary to understand the risk factors like age, chance of
cardiovascular diseases. Restraints have been found to be largely associated to mortality and falls
(Knutzen et al. 2013). I ensure to the care for the patients in a holistic manner taking care of both
the physical and the psychological needs of the patient.
According to the NMC codes , that informal activities of the support workers towards
their patients has always been an important factor, while dealing with terminally ill patients. This
not only enhances the quality of the therapeutic relationship between the care worker and the

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patient, but also provides psychology support to the people. This enhances the quality of living
of these patients (Hengelaar et al., 2017).
Conclusion
Being a nurse, I have tried to incorporate the attributes like communication and
interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence and compassion. I believe that I had gained much
experience in delivering a high quality of care. I had worked as a leader and have been
effectively managed the patient care goals, improving the satisfaction and driving a widespread
health care initiative. I have also provided palliative care in the aged settings and ranging from
assessment to the development and the implementation of the plan of care. I have displayed
accountability in every task, I am assigned with starting from management of the accounts to
management of elderly and disabled people. In this essay, I have provided examples of my
experiences, where, I have successfully evaluated the needs, prioritized the needs of the patients
and have maintained the patient flow. I have also provided patient education, about the adoption
of healthy behaviour, engagement in self-care and adherence to the care plans of the patients by
the application of the behavioural strategies like the diets and exercises. I have ample
experiences in the development of care plans, performing care by managing the family of the
patient, development of the care plan, supervising the care workers , making discharge plans .

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Action plan
Reflecting on my nursing experience, I intend to indulge in lifelong learning. I also aim
to incorporate each of the attributes mentioned in the NMC codes, to ensure a successful nursing
career in future years. According to the recommendation that has been involved in life log
learning. I believe that it is an active process, where a student normally search for knowledge and
the understanding that can be used for the own professional development (Qalehsari,
Khaghanizadeh and Ebadi 2017). I have always tried to remain updated about the current
researches related to nursing. Further, I would like to improve my communication skills more, so
that I am able to address the diverse needs of diverse patients coming from various cultures.
However, I intend to develop my own professional skills, by working and gaining experience in
repudiated organisation. This will not add a feather to my professional achievement, but will also
help me to learn more. I personally want to work on critical cases, which think is necessary for
developing a clinical reasoning skills and critical thinking skills.

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References
Barr, J. and Dowding, L., 2019. Leadership in health care. Sage Publications Limited.
Digby, R., Williams, A. and Lee, S., 2016. Nurse empathy and the care of people with dementia.
Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, The, 34(1), p.52.
Fitzgerald, L., Ferlie, E., McGivern, G. and Buchanan, D., 2013. Distributed leadership patterns
and service improvement: Evidence and argument from English healthcare. The Leadership
Quarterly, 24(1), pp.227-239.
Hengelaar, A.H., van Hartingsveldt, M., Wittenberg, Y., van Etten‐Jamaludin, F., Kwekkeboom,
R. and Satink, T., 2018. Exploring the collaboration between formal and informal care from the
professional perspective—A thematic synthesis. Health & social care in the community, 26(4),
pp.474-485.
Knutzen, M., Bjørkly, S., Eidhammer, G., Lorentzen, S., Mjøsund, N.H., Opjordsmoen, S.,
Sandvik, L. and Friis, S., 2013. Mechanical and pharmacological restraints in acute psychiatric
wards—Why and how are they used?. Psychiatry research, 209(1), pp.91-97.
Liu, Y.E., Norman, I.J. and While, A.E., 2013. Nurses’ attitudes towards older people: A
systematic review. International journal of nursing studies, 50(9), pp.1271-1282.
NMC, 2010. Standards for competence for registered nurses. Access date: 4.3.2020. Retrieved
from: https://www.nmc.org.uk/globalassets/sitedocuments/standards/nmc-standards-for-
competence-for-registered-nurses.pdf

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Papathanasiou, I.V., Kleisiaris, C.F., Fradelos, E.C., Kakou, K. and Kourkouta, L., 2014. Critical
thinking: the development of an essential skill for nursing students. Acta Informatica Medica,
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Qalehsari, M. Q., Khaghanizadeh, M., and Ebadi, A. 2017. Lifelong learning strategies in
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