Reflection Is a Process of Analyzing Ones Thoughts - Essay Example

How to manage, delegate and teach in a nursing environment, using a cycle of reflection Introduction Reflection is a process of analyzing one’s thoughts and actions to increase one’s competency and working capability. This process is used nowadays in professional courses related to health and social care studies and is now a part of the traditional mode of teaching practice to integrate theory and practical exercises. Reflective processes occur in the human mind almost all the time as one looks back on everyday experiences and events, and tries to learn from those incidents. The thoughts that normally cross our minds while trying to reflect on a situation are, ‘what was right?’, or ‘what went wrong?’ or may be ‘how did I feel after the incident.’ This process does not follow any formula or any set series of calculations, and just happen to come naturally in one’s thoughts, as one ponders over an incident. However, to deal with problems often this very reflective process can be made to fit in a structured form and the person reflecting needs to take time and go over the problematic issue in an objective manner. Thus, we find reflection is an important process through which one can learn by examining his past thoughts and actions. Body To manage oneself, ones practice and that of others: Reflection as a process has many steps by which a person can learn. The first step is analyzing a situation. It is not humanely possible to always learn from one’s daily experiences. It is only when that person mentally analyses the experience, he learns as to what his mistakes were. The next step in a reflection is to give time and analyze the incident objectively. Next one must also go over the incident many times so as to have a correct perspective. After this the next step would be analyze the incident honestly and without any bias what so ever. After this, one will have to form a fair and balanced judgment, weighing all the options available on the problematic scenario. Therefore, we can see that a reflective process involves analyzing and understanding a scenario, in this case a medical scenario, being able to see it with clarity, and then applying a fair judgment to it. The entire process would help one to learn from the experience and if needed, change his approach to the problem. Similarly, applying a cycle of reflection to the process of learning in a nursing environment will help a person to think and observe objectively the direction of his progress. The learner will be then able to understand how well he has progressed in his work and what part needs improvement and how to work in future under similar circumstances. Once a learner is competent and skilled enough to work and take decisions independently, he is also ready to help and work with others in a shared work environment. Shared critical reflective practice is important to work in a shared environment. It will help one to create interpersonal skills and open dialogue and communication in a shared work environment. Here one will follow the Gibb’s cycle and describe his experiences and share the emotions felt during an incident, with his fellow practitioners. He will relive the whole incident, analyse his feelings and actions with the help of his colleagues, and discuss future action plans if faced with a similar incident, making it an altogether shared learning process. This will help, not only to manage one’s own practice but will also help one to understand other people’s work. In future, it would also help in managing oneself and others more efficiently. Such shared experiences can help a practitioner to explore, acknowledge and remonstrance and move beyond the boundaries of work related disciplines. Self-knowledge and self-awareness is also important in the process of learning, which is also achieved by following the Gibb’s cycle of reflection. Gibb’s reflective cycle involves 6 steps or processes that include emotions as a part of reflection. It was created by Graham Gibbs in 1988, a professor at the Oxford University. Fig: Gibb’s cycle (in Bulman and Schutz, 2004: 166-fig.9.1) To teach using Gibb’s cycle of reflection: Bulman and Schutz (2004: 73) explain the need for reflection in a nursing environment, “nursing is a complex discipline and the facets of the nursing role are manifold. Some of the qualities and skills necessary to accomplish the role successfully include the ability to communicate and collaborate with other health professionals and to make effective decisions…reflective practice can help nurses to make sense of their experiences, can help them in their decision making…and can be a catalyst to professional development.” As a teacher, one will have to keep in mind the well-being of the patient and the amount of help the student nurses can provide for the benefit of these patients. As a student in a practitioner course doing clinical studies, one will have to face situations almost on a daily basis, that will bring in a range of emotions of all kind. Here at a later stage, the nursing student with the help if his teacher or mentor, will have to re examine the whole situation and the emotions that were aroused at that particular moment. The learner will have to analyze the entire scenario and understand the entire clinical aspect of it and also fathom the meaning behind the emotions felt at that time. This is what is outlined in the first part of Gibb’s cycle. A student describes the incident to the teacher, and also outlines his feelings during that time. The teacher then asks the student to evaluate and analyze the situation and also jot down as to what went wrong or what was done correctly in that particular situation. He will ask the student to make sense of the entire incident and then tell him to find out if he could have responded and handled it in a different way. The student will then have to work out an action plan where he will outline how he will handle if faced with the same scenario in the future. Thus, we can see handling a reflective process is not possible by a student alone and requires the help of a support in the form of a good mentor who will help the student comprehend the emotional feelings during the experience. Delegation of duties: The term delegation, is defined by NMC in 2008, ‘as the transfer to a competent individual, the authority to perform a specific task in a specified situation that can be carried out in the absence of that nurse or midwife and without direct supervision’. To delegate duties one will have to keep in mind that there must be a good amount of grade mix and skill mix in the staff. The delegatee must be willing to carrying out instructions, all delegatees must be properly supervised and supported by an expert guide and the end result of a duty delegated must meet a certain standard. One has to be careful to select people who will have the requisite knowledge and skills to perform the delegated duty. To acquire this knowledge level one will have to develop a strong relationship with the mentor or the supervisor concerned. Here again the cycle of reflection will help one to acquire the requisite knowledge with the mentor or delegator and will also develop a strong relationship between the delegatee and delegator. As he learns along with his supervisor and develops his knowledge, the later who in the meanwhile also learns about the student, will be able to delegate duties better, more suitable to the skills of his students. Any problems faced while doing the duty must be discussed with the supervisor and Gibb’s cycle applied to the situation, so that the delegatee understands his position better and in future does not commit the same mistake. Conclusion Gibb’s cycle of reflection is pertinent to all situations in life. It can be applied to solve problems, to learn well and acquire good knowledge and high skill levels. Nursing environment demands one to develop clinical skills based on high practical knowledge. Such knowledge and skills can be developed to perfection by applying Gibb’s cycle of reflection to the various processes of learning. References Bulman, C and Scutz, S. (2004). Reflective Practice in Nursing. Cornwall: Wiley-Blackwell Read More