The purpose of this essay is to reflect upon a recent clinical placement focusing on the development of my own communication skills. For the purpose of reflection the essay will be written in the first person, In accordance with the School of Health and Social Care and NMC (2010) Code of professional conduct, confidentiality shall be maintained and no names will be mentioned to protect identity.
The Purpose of reflection was started by John’s (1995) this was to promote valuable practice though the practitioners understanding and learning about their lived experiences. Bengtsson (1998) suggests that reflection can be understood and used as self reflecting. Self-reflection helps the nurses to learn about the actual practices of the profession and helps them to evaluate their own practice and performance. Maggs and Biley (2000) state that evaluating practice through reflection can bring advantages to the individual. The challenge is to recongnise and use these advantages, together with the knowledge they generate. The UKCC’s reports that Fitness to Practice (1998) reaffirmed support for the idea of reflection declaring that student nurses should be able to demonstrate critical awareness and reflective practice.
I will use a reflective model to discuss how I have achieved this competency. The reflective model I have chosen to use is Gibbs model (Gibbs Cycle of Reflection 1988). This model incorporates the following; descriptions, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and an action plan (Gibbs 1988). The model will be applied to the essay to facilitate critical though, relating to evidence based theory to my reflective skill acknowledging my competence and expanding my personal and professional development.
Gibbs is clear and precise allowing for description, analysis and evaluation of the experience helping the reflector to make sense of