Reflective Practice

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1. Sentence completeness: sentence includes subject, verb and complete thought.
2. Sentence length: length is appropriate to context or discipline.
3. Phrase/clause order: parts of the sentence (phrases and clauses) are ordered logically.
4. Use of conjunctions: linking words are used correctly to show the relationship between ideas.
5. Word order: words are ordered correctly in a sentence.
6. Punctuation: the correct use of full stops, commas, semicolons, colons and capitals.

 

 

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7. Word choice: words are correct and appropriate for the context.
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11. Spelling: correct spelling is used.
12. Apostrophes: indicate ownership or contraction

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No.	Content	Page
1	Cover page	1-2
2	Introduction	3
3	Advantages of reflective practice	3-6
4	Impacts of reflective practice	6-7
5	References	8

Table of contents

 

 

Reflective practice

Introduction

Reflective practice is the process in which the one involved stops and thinks about his/ her practice. It involves doing an analysis on the decision-making process and then relating it to the practice (Bulman & Schutz,2013, p.104). In this case, it is helpful to the nursing profession. Both to the students and practitioners. Reflective thinking assists students to refocus on their thinking in that consequently triggers them to come up with new ideas. This paper is going to focus on the advantages of the process to a nursing student and what it impacts on the student by looking at examples of the studies that have been recently carried out.

The main advantage of the reflective thinking is that it plays a significant role in helping the students relate their theoretical knowledge to practical work. The practice helps them in their nursing practice a great deal. From the fact that the reflective practice helps the students to view different situations in the nursing profession from all perspectives. It also helps the students to be practical reducing the possibility of having nursing students who possess theoretical knowledge and no technical expertise in health care.

Studies have been made to explore the benefits of the practice for the nursing students. From the studies, it has been seen that the method improves decision-making skills in students. Many students, while in school have a problem determining what to follow or how to do some things. While in internships, the nursing students, therefore, have an easy time in making a decision on required prescriptions in the health centers (Hamric & O’Grady, 2014 p.43) This results from the capability of reflective thinking to increase the sense of responsibility in the practice. The overall result of this is making the students more accountable nurses in the coming future.

Another advantage of the reflective thinking is that it is a very critical component in the nursing students’ life. It improves the skills in nursing for the students and reassures competency in the clinical field. From the changed way of thinking, confidence built in the process. Confidence comes from the practice since it enhances the celebration of good conduct from the reflected achievements (Courtney & McCutcheon, 2010, p.57).

The practice is also known to shift the actions and the way of thinking of the students. This comes in in a way that helps the students see what they have achieved already, and this makes them more outgoing. This helps them in seeing the light in what they are pursuing since nursing is all about commitment (Sherwood & Sigma, 2012, p.104). This leads to them being able to give top notch patient care and this is vital in their career path.

Moreover, the other advantage of the reflective strategy is that it makes the students in nursing positively about things in life. This is achieved by making them aware and more realistic. Regarding political liberation, the students being more aware helps them to be at a better position in the political representation. From recent studies, it has been proved that the students who used the reflective strategy practice were more informed and involved in other practitioners including their agendas and organizations. This help the students to keep pushing for the nursing representations and plan and not forgetting the nursing practice (Jasper & Mooney, 2013, p.32).

Finally, reflective practice helps students to understand the nursing curriculum and preceptors.  This is because they can understand the role of the preceptors in the facilitation of the process of learning. This makes it easy to elate well with them since they become more experienced on how to handle the students. This allows the students to be free with the assisters, and this means better results since there is increased levels of trust. This results in a smooth transition of the knowledge from the preceptors to the students and when this so makes it easier and better, and this is an advantage to the students.

Impacts

Reflective practice has numerous effects on the student. One of the major ones is that it makes it easy to deal with the emotional challenges that at times encompass students. In the study of the implications of reflective practice, a good case will be Mary’s. While she was in her practice, she experienced fear; which was a big emotional challenge for her. Through the reflective practice approach, she was able to reflect on the experiences that caused her fear and state of uneasiness; she was able to gain a better understanding of these experiences (Bager-Charleson, 2010, p.80).  This was a positive way dealing with fear since it was one way she increased her confidence in handling issues.

As earlier seen, the practice causes better understanding, and this has impacts on the nursing students. It reduces the mental load by helping the students to have a deeper understanding of the content they have learned be it concerning nursing practice or what they have learned about themselves. It can be only said that it makes them know the real meaning of being a nurse. A good example is the ability to be able to handle patients. They can do so well either based on the patient experience or their way from the reflective practice of reacting to different events (Spencer, 2010, p.17).

Reflective practice leads to more intelligent nurses. An example is a study that was carried among several nursing students and in this what was found. The students admitted to the practice to have impacted on the level of their awareness of the actions involving them and the thoughts. There were all raised to a whole new level while fear and anxiety were reduced (O’Lynn, 2013, p.31).

Conclusion

Reflective thinking is a practice that is crucial since it helps to provide an opportunity to explore the nursing practice and instil knowledge to all those who are concerned. Nursing students get motivation and insight through the practice enabling to become better and do their best in the field. This is the learning of experiences and self-examination making them competent. In the article, the impacts of the practice have also been looked at since it is well known that the field of nursing could be emotionally draining. The practice is crucial in helping students cope by understanding the prevailing conditions and be able to adapt to them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Bulman, C., & Schutz, S. (2013). Reflective practice in nursing. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.

Courtney, M. D., & McCutcheon, H. (2010). Using evidence to guide nursing practice. Sydney: Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier.

Hamric, A. B., In Hanson, C. M., In Tracy, M. F., & In O’Grady, E. T. (2014). Advanced practice nursing: An integrative approach.

Sherwood, G., Horton-Deutsch, S., & Sigma Theta Tau International. (2012). Reflective practice: Transforming education and improving outcomes. Indianapolis, IN: Sigma Theta Tau International.

Jasper, M., Rosser, M., Mooney, G. P., & Jasper, M. (2013). Professional development, reflection, and decision-making in nursing and health care. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell

Bager-Charleson, S. (2010). Reflective practice in counselling and psychotherapy. Exeter: Learning Matters.

Salend, Spencer J. (2010). Creating Inclusive Classrooms: Effective and Reflective Practices + My education lab. Prentice Hall.

O’Lynn, C. E. (2013). A man’s guide to a nursing career. New York: Springer Pub. Co.