Reflection on my Nursing Experience - Essay Example

Reflection on my nursing experience: This paper presents my reflection on my clinical experiences of interactions with my patients which required meto make use of my interpersonal skills. I shall explain my experience with reference to the Gibbs Model of Reflection (1988). Gibbs model is a six stage circle that encourages thinking analytically about the chapters of an experience or action. To reflects is not sufficient, putting into practice the learning and the understanding gained is what is important. Getting into action is crucial; Gibbs heads-up the medical practitioner to articulate an action strategy. This allows the reflective nurse to look at the exercise and understand what they need to alter in the future, and how they would mature their practice. Thus, Gibbs model gives a practitioner to mentor his/her routine job at each and every level and with an ease as described by the Oxford University Brookes, 2011. To reflect upon this particular incident, it’s helped me to rationalize my approach in the future matters. In the capacity of being a human, everybody commits mistakes. Learning from mistakes is the better way to improve oneself. Reflection upon past experiences provides one with an opportunity to see where one went wrong so that the unfavorable consequences would not have to be faced ever again (Lewis, 2011). The practice increased my work experience along with the knowledge which helped me gain allot in the future. Likewise, it helped me enhance my nursing competencies at a whole new level. The goal of conducting this reflection for me is to improve my therapeutic relationship with patients being a nurse. Therapeutic relationship with patients is controlled by a nurse’s interpersonal skills. Both verbal and body language play a role in it. Description: I hereby choose to reflect upon my experience with Mr. X who suffers from brain tumor. In those days, I was placed in the surgical ward for two weeks in the third semester. One day, all patients moved towards the cafeteria for lunch except for Mr. X. who was lost in some thoughts. I approached him, and asked his permission to help him. He could not understand my language because he had a different language. At that moment, I felt the uneasiness about my situation, I wasn’t in a good mood either, but as it was my duty I had to be patient and at the best of my behavior. Here, the fourth stage of Gibbs reflective model helped me solve the issue and I used eating gestures to deliver my message. As affirmed by Hill and Howlett (2005), an individual should work out the most rational option which is consistent with the desired result in order to be successful as a nurse. I asked him if he understands my body language, he nodded and that was one sigh of relief. I checked his diet schedule and fed him accordingly. The feeling was so heavenly, as I was able to find the solution to the problem. As endorsed by many studies; body language is considered a strong means of conveyance of messages to the patients. Cherry and Jacob (2005) Feelings: While feeding him, I smiled at him so that he would feel comfortable and cared-for. Based on some of my experiences or what I have learned, eye contact with patient or with just anyone transfers a feeling of sincerity, honesty and truth of emotions to the other person that is encouraging for the building up of a bond. I wanted him to feel respected. I was trying to do so despite the linguistic barriers through my body language. I realize how important body language is in therapeutic interaction with patients. While feeding Mr. X, I put a piece of cloth under his chin so that his clothes would not get any stains. From the expression on his face, I knew that he felt gratified with my service. Evaluation: At this stage I thought a little introduction would not do any harm so I asked him his name. He smiled for the first time and told me his name with an innocent excitement and it felt like we shared a father-son bond. And I was certain that he felt the same way. When I was done, he pursed his lips into a smile and pointed his finger towards me, saying “Thank you, son!” My communication with Mr. X was mainly patient centered. I freely approached him to help him while it was lunch time, though, while doing it, I also fulfilled all the requirements of the task centered communication. I used gestures to communicate with him. Nonverbal communication even conveys things that are left unsaid in verbal communication (Timbe, 2009). My constant eye contact with him and the smile on my lips reassured both myself and Mr. X of my interest in serving him. I can tell that my interpersonal communication with Mr. X was effective and it helps me to improve a professional skill on me. Analysis: One of the most important lessons that I learnt from my meeting with Mr. X was that a nurse should have at least a very basic understanding of the secondary languages. Mr. X spoke Chinese and unfortunately I did not know a word of it. So I had to put a lot of effort in conveying my message to him. At several times I tried to make hand gestures but still at times he got annoyed when he was unable to comprehend my message. It came to me as a surprise as Chinese are very good at understanding. At times, I blamed myself for being such a bad communicator that I was unable to make an old man at ease. I got so confused and frustrated that it was hard to help him out. The other thing bothering me was how I improve my gestures as my placement required taking care of the Chinese man. That day when I came home, I spent a quality time reading Chinese culture. The standard gestures have been developed through extensive research and have been practiced over a lot of people, thus validating their value. And I realized Chinese believe in strong facial expressions (Non-verbal Gestures: Chinese Emotion and Gesture). Next day onwards, I tried to help him out through both facial expressions and hand gestures. Mr. X told me when he perceived my meaning with his facial expressions. “A sender, receiver, message and channel are the basic elements of communication” (Roath, 2011). In my communication, I was the sender of the message and Mr. X was the receiver of it. Our body languages were the medium of communication and eyes were the channel of communication. Thus, all principles of communication were essentially met as communication is fundamentally about giving, receiving and interpretation of messages between two or more individuals (Rosdahl and Kowalski, 2008). Conclusion: Concluding the analysis, I can say that the experience had been a great help.I learnt how to communicate with a foreign language patient and Mr. X took his meal which he would otherwise have skipped. I approach Mr. X, conveyed my readiness to feed him despite the lack of verbal communication. He felt respected and honored and so did I to have fed him. I was able to help him take his meal. He was thankful and most importantly, we developed a bond that felt like a father-son relationship. This for all intents and purposes tells that I did well with the patient. Sheldon (2009) in his theory “Communication with nurses” gives the impression that what matters more is what a nurse does with the patient than to a patient (Sheldon,2009). At the end, I realized how much of help Gibbs model had been throughout the experience. The stage two where I realized Mr. X is unable to understand me mad me believe that my communication skills need to polished and the whole day I felt so annoyed just because a patient was annoyed at me. Likewise, Gibbs model help me with the self-evaluation on where did I go wrong. I knew my gestures were right but somehow, something lacked in my non-verbal Communication. The analysis of the whole episode, again another stage of Gibbs model, forced me to take help from the internet, which I eventually did and found out the area where problem lied. All it needed was a little facial expressions and the whole uncomfortable encounter with the old man changed. I came to the conclusion (Gibbs model 1988) that patients from different cultures perceive things differently. Therefore, in order to be a good communicator, nurses should frequently go through extensive literature on different cultures so as to have an in-depth understanding of each. And being a health care professional, I want to take care of patients in the best way I can because my job is not just a job but also my passion. In order to achieve his/her goals, a nurse needs to master communication skills (Klakovich, 2009). Action Plan: Last stage of the Gibbs model, i.e. Action Plan, helped me in the way that it was obvious that nurses usually don’t pay due attention to learning new languages. I realized that having knowledge of some other languages is important. At a hospital, I encounter people belonging to different cultures and ethnicities; therefore, French Chinese are some of the languages that need to be known. If not fully, at least a little bit of grip on a few languages will help me understand people of different cultures, and likewise, they will feel that their culture is respected. Lastly, a grip on some other foreign languages will save me from such awkward future encounters. References: About Gibbs Reflective Cycle, 2011.The Reflective Cycle: Oxford Brookes University. Web. Available at http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/upgrade/a-z/reflective_gibbs.html. Barker, Philip J., 2001.Patient assessment in psychiatric nursing.Australia: Croom Helm Ltd,Print. Bosher, Susan D., and Pharris, Margaret D. 2009, Transforming nursing education: the culturally inclusive environment. NY: Springer Publishing Company, Cherry, Barbara, and Jacob, Susan R. 2005.Contemporary nursing: issues, trends, & Management, Elsevier Inc. Print. Faulkner, Ann. 2000. Nursing: The Reflective Approach to Adult Nursing Practice.UK: Stanley Thornes Publishers, Print. Klakovich, Marilyn. 2009. “Interpersonal Communication: An Essential Skill for Nursing Students.” Web. Available at Lenburg, Carrie B. 2000.“Promoting Competence through Critical Self-Reflection and Portfolio Development: The Inside Evaluator and the Outside Context.”Tennessee Nurse. vol. 63.no. 9. Available at Lewis, Beth. 2011. The Value of Self-Reflection - Any Time Of Year, Its Important To Self- Reflect. Available at Roath, Seeta S. 2011. Interpersonal Communication in Nursing: Theory & Practice. Available at Rosdahl, B., and Kowalski, T. 2008. Textbook of basic nursing. 9th Ed. Wolters Kluwer Health, Print. Sheldon, Lisa K. 2009. Communication for nurses: talking with patient. 2nd Ed. Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Print. Timbe, Barbara K. 2009. Fundamental Nursing Skills and Concepts. Wolters Kluwer Health, Print. Read More