ON THE
LEARNING CONTRACT CONSIDERING THE SURGICAL AND ANAESTHETICS ROLES OF ODP FOR AN ABDOMINAL HYSTERECTOMY. By AKINYEMI AKINTARO
0711964
Dip of HE (ODP)
Enhanced Theatre Practice
OPE09-1
REFLECTION ON THE LEARNING CONTRACT.
This is a reflective essay based on my experience of participating in delivery of anaesthetic and surgical care to a patient undergoing abdominal hysterectomy under general and regional anaesthesia. I will be describing the process involved, my participation and contributions, what I learnt during the experience and how this gained knowledge will improve my professional competency.
Reflection is a way in which health professionals can bring theory into practice because reflection has a potential to uncover knowledge and promote action. Reflection also promotes better clinical judgement. Dyke (1999) emphasised that reflection is a vital part of the practitioner’s daily work.
Johns(2000) also described reflection as a window through which the practitioner can view and focus self within the context of his/her own lived experience in a way that enable him/her to confront, understand and work towards resolving the contradictions within him/her between what is desirable and actual practice.
The use of a recognised frame work allows for a more structured interpretation when reflecting upon practice (Dyke, 1999). For the purpose of this essay I am going to use Gibbs’ (1998) mode of reflecting. This is a reflective cycle which provides a straight forward and structured framework and encourages a clear description of the situation, analysis to make sense of the experience, conclusion where other options are considered and reflection upon experience to examine what the professional would do should the situation arise again. It must be noted however that any reflective practice is reliant on memory and interpretation of events - selective memory is a particular problem especially following a negative event
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