This assignment will help you to:
• Consider the relationship between reflection and professional development and how each contributes to nursing practice
• Further develop your identity and personal philosophy as a nurse through reflective practice;
• Consider how deep and critical reflection can contribute to new ways of thinking that can transform learning/practice
Assessment task: According to Plato, ?�the unreflected life is not worth living’. Thinking is an integral component of reflection and in complex situations; critical thinking, clinical reasoning and reflection come together.
Think back to a critical incident in clinical practice which you have either observed or were a part of. It is preferable to use one in which you were involved. If it is one that you observed, it should be one involving another nurse if possible. This might encompass an incident involving unprofessional behaviour, missed cues in nursing assessment that have impacted negatively, potentially serious medication errors etc.
Consider the following questions, and provide a thoughtful response that includes analytical comment as well as description. You should use the following points to guide you.
• What factors led up to the critical incident?
• What happened and what was involved?
• Why was critical thinking necessary?
• How did it contribute to your personal and/or professional growth? What, if anything, might you do differently in the future? In other words, what have you learned from the incident?
To be meaningful and to encourage deeper rather than superficial learning, critical reflection benefits from a framework. Use the Gibbs cycle of reflection as a framework and refer to it in your journal response
You should draw on current literature on reflection and critical thinking as part of your reflective deliberations and include it in your journal.