Students Reflection on Their Learning Essay

To start with, this is Nursing students reflection on their learning essay in which will be discussed the importance of reflection practise for nursing students. Reflection is an integral part of the nursing profession. Cotton states in nursing literature the use of reflection and reflective practices are well known for being good for the nursing profession and nurses themselves. Also, Bulman  believes that reflection and being a reflective individual is paramount for effective and person-centered practice. Confidentiality is also a vital part of reflection and reflective practices. As stated in The Code: Professional standards of practice and behaviour for nurses, midwives and nursing associates, hereafter known as The Code “As a nurse, midwife or nursing associate, you owe a duty of confidentiality to all those who are receiving care. This includes making sure that they are informed about their care and that information about them is shared appropriately”. 

This assignment will aim to discuss the various definitions and opinions on reflection and why it is used within the nursing profession, also, discuss the various models and theories of reflection while linking to an incident in practice. Furthermore, this assignment will contain a reflective account of an incident which took place on clinical placement, to ensure the patient’s confidentiality is maintained, the patient will be known as Miss Williams. Miss Williams is in her twenties and came into hospital with severe jaundice after an operation two weeks prior.

Reflection and reflective practices have various definitions and are widely cited in literature; however, they remain ill-defined. Reflection in a general sense is considering something deeply that we may not have given much thought to, however, in relation to healthcare and nursing Jasper and Rosser define reflection as a way for nurses to learn from their experiences and develop their practice. In addition, Bulman defines reflection as reviewing experience from practice and looking at how past events can be used to advise and change future practice in a positive light. Although many describe reflection as positive, there are some barriers to this practice. For example, in relation to nursing students, reflection is often used as part of an assignment or to showcase the achievement of outcomes in practice. Moreover, nursing students may also lack confidence to participate in honest reflection due to wanting to gain approval from a mentor or do well academically. Another barrier to reflection is time, such as, the time needed to develop reflective skills but also the time needed to ensure everything is recorded thoroughly and accurately. Also, there are studies which show young students, under the age of 25, may not have the cognitive abilities needed to reflect. Despite the negatives and barriers to reflection, it continues to be used as a requirement on many of pre-registrations courses such as nursing.

To conclude students' reflection on their learning essay, reflection and reflective practices are used within the nursing profession for various reasons, such as, being a method of learning, which can promote both personal and professional growth. Jootun & McGarry state, via reflection nurses will be able to examine their practice, enhance their professional skills and knowledge, which in turn will allow them to provide high quality care. However, Mann, Gordon and Macleod conducted a systematic review of reflection and reflective practices and found there was no conclusive evidence which suggested reflection and reflective practices improved one's competence within clinical practice or improve patient care.

References

• Bulman C, Schutz S (2008) Reflective Practice in Nursing. Chichester: Blackwell. 
• Burrows DE (1995) The nurse teacher’s role in the promotion of reflective practice. Nurse Education Today; 15: 5, 346-350. 
• Cotton, H. A. (2001). Private thoughts in public spheres: issues in refection and reflective practices in nursing. 
• Hargreaves J (2004) So how do you feel about that? Assessing reflective practice. Nurse Education Today; 24: 3, 196-201.
• Mann K, Gordon J, Macleod A. 2007. Reflection and reflective practice in health professions education: A systematic review. Adv Health Sci Educ Nov 23:1573–1677 [Epub ahead of print].