Is Reflection in Nursing Worth It for Nurses - Essay Example

Nursing, as a profession, must have multiple sources of knowledge to inform its practice. These sources of knowledge are important to have an effective and efficient service. Reflective practice helps nurses analyze situations in care of patients. A good reflective practice creates good rapport between nurse and patients. Reflection helps nurses to analyze nursing patterns of knowing and theories which are very important in the practice of their profession. Rowntree (1988) says reflection is studying one's own study methods as seriously as one studies the subject and thinking about a learning task after you have done it. Unless you do this, he says, the task will almost certainly be wasted (practicebaselearning). Nurses are encouraged to be systematic and rigorous in their practice, to be trained from their actions and to test practical and hypothetical knowledge. Clamp (1980) noted that nurses' attitudes largely govern how care is administered to their client and the commonest causes of poor care are ignorance and inappropriate attitudes. This process of reflection, if then related into practice, can assist the individual in gaining the required knowledge, leading to a potential improvement in the quality of the care received from that individual (practicebaselearning). Reflection means awareness of what we think, feel and act. It is having an attitude of "beware-and-be-aware attitude." Reflection is asking one's self on what he/she is thinking and feeling, evaluating it, making a conclusion, doing a possible action, analyzing the action and describing what happens-whether it was effective or not. Critical Reflection for Nursing and the Helping Professions seeks to offer comprehensible ideas from which practitioners can learn to make a real difference to their practice. Reflective practice for nurses and healthcare professionals at all levels is very important because it helps in saving lives of sick people. "It is generally accepted that nurses who engage in reflective activity do so to develop their practice. However, there is little empirical evidence to suggest that practice development or improved patient care occurs as a direct result of reflection." (Andrews, Gidman, Humphreys, n.d). Jack Mezirow in "Fostering critical reflection in adulthood: a guide to transformative and emancipatory learning," he describes perspective transformation in reflection-Critical reflectivity and Theoretical reflectivity. According to him, Critical reflectivity is where you can use to analyze your development as a reflective practitioner and to locate the focus of different reflective experiences and it provides the following stages: Reflectivity - having a level of consciousness and being able to examine and describe. Affective reflectivity - consciousness of how we feel about ourselves and how we think and act. Discriminant reflectivity - consciousness of the process of decision making and the effectiveness of our perceptions. Judgmental reflectivity - consciousness of value judgments and assumptions made in our practice. Conceptual reflectivity - consciousness and perceptive of the concepts involved in clinical decision making and the identification of the need for further learning. On the other hand, Theoretical Reflectivity is using experience to generate personal or common-sense theories; awareness of how practice is influenced by formal theory; recognition of the various forces that influence our perceptions, thoughts and actions. Using these theories purposefully and deliberately. It could be assumed that reflective practice is a skill that practitioners need to acquire in order to develop expertise in practice and respond effectively to practice. It is more than an academic activity. It answers the following questions: Reflectivity - What happened Describe what you experienced. Affective reflectivity - How did you feel about yourself How did you feel about your participation How were you thinking about the session Discriminant reflectivity - What decisions did you make How did you make them How effective were your perceptions and decisions How do you know Judgmental reflectivity - What value judgments and assumptions did you make What were the values underpinning your judgments Where do they come from Did you check out your values and assumptions Conceptual reflectivity - What were the key concepts you used Now do you make sense of them How did you use them What are your needs for further learning Theoretical reflectivity - What common-sense theories, if any, have you developed recently Have any formal theories presented in this pack influenced your thinking, behavior, your actions or your being-in-the-world recently If so, how What are the various forces or factors that have influenced your perceptions, thoughts, feelings and actions recently In the practice of their profession, nurses are expected to have a sense of values, intellectual interests, and physical skills as well as good learning habits and social behavior patterns. That is why a reflective practice plays a significant role in the nursing profession. As quoted by Rodgers 2002, "Reflection is a systematic, rigorous, disciplined way of thinking, with its roots in scientific inquiry," it tries to explain that reflection in nursing profession must be done in organized method to be efficient and effective. It is a regimented forming of ideas and putting them into actions. It creates an atmosphere of well-ordered practice of profession. Reflection, as impliedly explained in the quote of Rodgers, is related with scientific theories in applying with the nursing profession. It is a dispensation of the skills and knowledge which are acquired by an individual through service. A proper reflective activity helps an individual with his/her service and provides him/her positive personal aspects. Reflection being a disciplined way of thinking also means learning efficiently and effectively. It is vital in personal development and social relationship. It fosters civic responsibility. It is systematic and rigorous because it follows a step-by-step method of analyzing thoughts and actions in the conduct of service. As a whole, reflection is self-awareness. It creates an order of thoughts and actions. Reflection encourages intellectual, ethical and personal growth in nursing profession. It helps in the acquisition of knowledge and the expansion of such knowledge. Through reflection, nurses will be able to test their abilities and skills in their practice. The knowledge obtained through reflection is the key to understanding new ideas in the science of nursing. REFERENCES: Andrews M., Gidman J., & Humphreys A. N.d., Profession: does it enhance professional nursing practice From http://www.internurse.com/cgi-bin/go.pl/library/article.cgiuid=5722;article=BJN_7_7_413_417 Alexander. M, Fawcett. N. & Runciman. P, (1994), Nursing Practice - Hospital and Home - The Adult. Churchill Livingstone:London Gibbs.G, (1988) Learning by doing, a guide to teaching and learning methods. The Geography Discipline Network (GDN): Cheltenham. Mezirow, Jack, 1990. Fostering critical reflect in adulthood : a guide to transformative and emancipatory learning. San Francisco : Jossey-Bass. Read More