Reflective Journal: Clinical Placement Experience - RMIT University

This reflective journal documents a student's experience during a clinical placement, utilizing Gibb’s cycle to analyze the various situations encountered. The student reflects on their role within the team, highlighting increased confidence from a previous placement at the same healthcare center. Key responsibilities included patient interviews, health assessments, and assisting nuclear medicine technicians. Strengths such as strong theoretical knowledge and emotional regulation are discussed, alongside weaknesses like soft-spoken communication and forgotten theoretical concepts. Specific instances, such as interacting with a young cancer patient and observing inconsistent practices among supervisors, are examined. The student's feelings of confidence, motivation, and emotional distress are explored, providing a comprehensive overview of their learning and growth during the placement. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering a wide array of study tools and resources for students.

Running head: REFLECTION
REFLECTION
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Introduction:
Clinical placement is one of the most important phases in the student life that helps the student to
prepare themselves for the future professional challenges that come in their way. It gives them
the scope to learn about the different procedures that they need to follow while working in an
organization like team working, adjusting to the work environment, aligning with the
requirements of the authorities and the clients and many others. Moreover, the clinical placement
mainly acts as a wonderful opportunity for the students to brush their theoretical skills and
thereby understand how to apply theories in article scenarios. Many of the researchers are of the
opinion that it gives students different opportunities to identify the knowledge as that they have
faced while on placements. Moreover, the lack of proper skills, behaviors and attitudes that one
needs to possess for the work also are identified and thereby help students largely. It helps
students to enhance their skills and knowledge more so that they can become efficient
professionals when they get their jobs and thereby reach the zenith of success. In this
assignment, I would be mainly describing my experiences in the placement and the different
positive and negative situations that I have gone through. I will also discuss my realizations and
action plan with the help of Gibb’s cycle.
The role that I have played in the team:
This was my second clinical placement and therefore i was more confident in comparison to my
other team members. Moreover, it was the same healthcare centre, where i had conducted my
first clinical placement and therefore I was also confident about effectively handling myself in a
confident manner. I was less and anxious and stressed than my previous time as i had gathered
preliminary knowledge about how different operations are handled and how the professionals

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work in the present organizational climate. Since, I was well aware of the organizational culture
and what the organization expects from its employees and healthcare staff, I was able to
manipulate myself according to the goals and aims of the organization. In the previous
placement, my role was just limited to observing patients and the ways the healthcare
professionals conducted communication and treated the patients in effective ways bringing out
the best results on their health. That time, I had very few scopes of taking hand on approach
about treating and handling patients. However, my role in the team was expanded and my mentor
advised me to conduct effective interviews with the clients and try to develop therapeutic
relationship of the patients. I was also supposed to keep the patient under the camera so they can
be kept under surveillance and changes in the health or any requirements of the patient can be
well understood. This time, I was assigned the duty to work along with the team of the nuclear
medicine technicians and understand the patterns of the workflow of the departments. I was
supposed to take the initial heath assessment of the patient and document the medical history of
the patient in a detailed manner. The mentor wanted to make me learn how to take the patient
narrative so that the entire life journey of the patient can be understood by me and accordingly
develop an imaging procedure that would help in planning the care interventions in the later
stages. My mentor had planned my roster in a way where I got the opportunity to rotate and
therefore in each week, I learnt new things to which I was not exposed. In the first week, I got
the opportunity to handle a cardiac camera-scanning patient for the gated blood pool scans as
well as general cardiac scans for effective assessment of the ischemia and other abnormalities.
The second and third week was quite hectic where I had to assist and work under the guidance of
my mentor to learn about the procedures of the standard SPECT/CT gamma camera. The last two
weeks also focused on observing tasks where I was placed in both cold and hot lab. The

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theoretical knowledge that I had developed in the first year and the second year was only
introductory and therefore I did not have a detailed knowledge about the working procedures in
the cold lab. However, I learnt to many new procedures of working in cold lab, and also
introduced myself to a number of patients, took their history and explained them the medical
procedures that would be conducted with them. In the hot lab, I had to be very cautious and only
observed techniques applied by my supervisor technicians and the ways they dealt with the
radiopharmaceuticals ascetically and the ways they performed quality control and other
activities.
Strengths and development:
One of the best part of the second placement was that I was well aware of the different strengths
and weaknesses that I possess as the different experiences gathered in the first placement was
quote helpful in understanding the skills I lack. Therefore, as a second year student, I was more
confident with the approach that I need to take in the professional world and hence I was more
comfortable with my abilities in comparison to that of the other members. I always tried to
possess a behavior by which I remain open to adapting to different situation as it comes my way
and always eager to develop new knowledge and skills from any opportunities. They want to
learn more and enhance my skill and knowledge makes me try hard to gain new insights every
time from very of the cases. One of the greatest tests that I felt that I possess is that I have string
theoretical knowledge and therefore I could use my academic and clinical knowledge. This
helped me to large extent in effectively processing the images and ensuring that no further
imaging required with the physician. One of the most important things that I developed an
experience was the correct ways of handling the emotional situations when the patients used to
break down or go through severe pain during the treatments. Initially I used to break down and

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could not self regulate myself but gradually I developed the skills of doing so. However, this
placement provided me an opportunity to identify the knowledge gaps largely. I realized that
although the knowledge gap was not so much high that could affect my treatment but I realized
that i have to overcome the knowledge gap to sharpen my skills, enhance my knowledge base
and develop quality care principles so that high quality care can be ensured for the patients.
Some of the weakness that I have realized is that I am soft spoken and therefore many of the
elderly patients could not understand me clearly. Therefore, I need to develop a loud as well as a
clear voice with which I can communicate effectively with the patients. Moreover, I have
realized during the working hours that many of the theoretical concepts that I have developed
during the course time was completely forgotten by me. This might be mainly because I am not
always in touch with all the theories and concepts everyday that resulted in forgetting them. I
have realized that as I remain in the position of the observer when my supervisors are mainly
performing the tasks, my level of interaction reduced with them that affected my confidence and
made me think that I was coming in the way of the professionals. I felt that I could not apply my
abilities in the best way, as I could have been able to. This identification of my strengths and
weakness would help me to conduct activities that would help me to overcome such skills and
thereby develop as one of the best expert in the future.
Description:
This placement helped me in distinguishing the basis differences between a 2 week placement,
introductory placement as well as the 5 week clinical placement. This placement gave me the
opportunity to interact with a huge number of patients from different backgrounds and of
different ages as well. There was another patient who was of my age and we bonded really well
where she developed trust on me. Another patient of 4 years old had developed left breast cancer

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that was non-palpable. I interacted with the patient very confidently and helped her to gain
confidence by being encouraging to her and helped het to be stable and not lose hope. I was calm
and composed in my approach, took the medical history of the patient in a calm and composed
manner, and conducted the full life narratives. However, when I faced a strenuous situation when
I was getting through the imaging of the patient when the patient broke down emotionally and I
became nervous, as there was no supervisor in the room. However, I got the opportunities to
participate in two nuclear medicine studies that intrigued my learning as well as enhanced my
passion for the work. One of the scans was the lacrimal study and the other was the cerebrospinal
fluid study. These scans are quite interesting and taught me many new things but these studies
are not conducted much often and hence I was fortunate enough to do so. However, I also
noticed many of the practices of the supervisors that are not some of the best evidence based
studies that should be conducted.
Feelings:
I was quite confident in my second placement and could conduct the instructions of the
supervisors effectively. The supervisors were happy and acknowledged my actions and skills and
knowledge. This made me more confident and motivated to work more hard and with dedication
in order to ensure patient satisfaction and not give anyone to get a scope of complain about me.
However, where I completely broke down one arena. While treating the patient with breast
cancer, I checked her reports and understood that it was newly diagnose. Understanding the
sensitivity of the case, I initiated the conversation with different light tics where she engaged
with them regarding the gems she used to play when she was well. I made her understand the
procedures of bone scan and she was seen to be happy and showed positive signs through her
behavior and was compliant. However when i asked her to get prepared for SPECT/CT of the

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entire spine, I saw tears in her eyes which immediately broke me down. I got emotional with the
patient as she started sobbing and I also could not prevent my emotions to flow out. However,
somehow I controlled my emotions and understood that my breaking down is not only against
my code of conduct but also would make the patient weak. I tried to make her confident and
clam her down by stating that the pictures are important, as it would help the doctors to assess
how much the cancer had spread. This would be done to make sure that she is well and that there
is nothing to be scared of when the professionals are with her. This helped her develop courage
and she started smiling once again. In another instances, I had seen that many of the
professionals did not instruct the patient to remove their shoes, belts and other, metals under the
camera during imaging. I got confused as this was not the right way but I applied this method
only when I took the patient to the imaging room. To this, my immediate mentor advised me it is
not the right practice as it affects the image quality and impinges on the anatomy. I was upset as
it would make the patient feel disappointed and harm his emotions thinking that the professionals
are not enough careful with the patient. Moreover, I also got the cope to practice lacrimal study
and the CSF study. All these scams were unique and motivated me to look forward to my future
endeavors in medicine. Different hospitals provide different types of scans and this hospital was
een to conduct many rare scans with expertise. This interests me largely and I was inspired,
intrigued by the level of variety in comparison to my first placement.
Evaluation:
During the time of interaction with the patient of the breast cancer, who underwent a whole body
scan, I was quite confident with my approach and believe that I had applied the best practice that
was possible. However, I also believe that although I was confident and self-assured, somewhere
I still believed that I had the capability of dealing with the situation prior to scanning of the

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patient. One of the most interesting things that I noted was that the technicians approached each
of the patients with a delightful and pleasing manner that made the patients very comfortable and
equally participative in the interactions. These made the patients forget their pain for sometime
and participate in interesting discussions before they had to come back to reality to discuss the
sessions. The therapeutic relationship that they developed with the patient with easy interaction
helped the patient to develop their moods and trust and bonding with the professionals. These in
turn ensured compliance from the patients. I believe that I also would be able to achieve this
through continuous practices and more experiences as I gradually go through different situations.
They preferred informed decision making effectively by making the patient understand what is
happening with her. During treating of the patient with the breast cancer, I saw my supervisors
declare the entire minor as well as the major details of the interventions that would be conducted
for her. They explain the bone scan procedures stating to her that it mainly helps in looking for
the different metastatic spread. They also explained why the 3d pictures were taken sating that
such pictures are important of the spine so that the supervisors can have a closer look as the
standard images do not ensure high level of quality for effective assessment of the suspected
metastasis. Although I made the patient know that the doctors might need ore, [pictures of they
are not satisfied with the pictures but I failed to say to her that it is a normal practice and that she
should not be afraid. Although, I noticed that the healthcare centre called the royal Melbourne
hospital conducted some unique and rare type of scas that were not done in any other hospitals of
Victoria.
Analysis:
The entire phase of the clinical placement helped me in developing my confidence as well as
comfort in working in the real hospital situations and helped me learn how to prioritize the

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different words and attend them accordingly. I was highly involved with the patients and was
successful in developing a therapeutic relationship based on trust and bonding. I was constantly
eager to know about the rational of the activities of different supervisors and in this way, I came
to understand their experiences, the incidents that my supervisors have faced, the way they
handle crisis and emergency situations and many others. I also become able to understand the
different knowledge gaps that I possessed. Through the days of the placement, i had been able to
identify the different types of gaps that noted them in my dairy so that I can ask my teacher to
explain them so that I can bridge the gaps. Another important thing was that I had forgotten
many of the important things that were taught in the classes due to lack of brushing the study
concepts. Therefore, I realized that as a professional, I cannot afford to be this casual and
therefore, I need to be thorough with everything that is taught in the classes. Our supervisors
contributed their valuable solutions to me that helped me to get an idea about the ways by which
I need to proceed. However, I noticed that one of the biggest weakness that might create issues in
my profession. This is my soft-spoken voice that makes it much difficult for many of the patient
to hear. Most of the patients are middle aged, they might not be able to follow my soft voice, and
this might lead to different misunderstanding that can result in legal obligations. Therefore, the
professionals who are my supervisors instructed me to be slow but loud in my voice and to
repeat instructions to patients until they have understood completely.
Action plan:
One of the most important things that I need to focus on is my communication skills. In my
future professional life, I might need to come across many of the patients who are aged and they
may not hear my soft voice. Therefore, I need to take action regarding my voice and develop
communication skulls that satisfy the patient. Therefore, I not only need to be very careful about

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the way I speak but I can also join workshop classes where my mentor would help me develop
my communication skills effectively. I will also participate in role-play sessions in the
workshops to understand how well I have developed in my communication skills. I would also
take feedback from my mentor regarding the development of such skills. Another thing is that i
should be more focused while interacting with patients so that I do not miss any information
when i ma discussing the medical history of the patients. I should develop my questioning skills
as professionals say that better the questioning skills, the better will be the patient participation
and more number of information can be gathered. Moreover, i also have to go through the
different theories and concepts that are taught in class at regular interval so that I do not forget
the concepts. While treating patients, I might face with different types of situations when such
knowledge would become extremely important although the information might not be required
on daily basis. Therefore, to become an effective and successful professional, I should revise the
concepts regularly and undertake evidence based readings so that I can develop my knowledge
and skills according to modern practice.
Conclusion: