STUDENT SUPPLEMENT
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‘IT IS GREAT TO WORK WITH SUCH A TOP TEAM’
Take a good look at yourself Reflective practice is worth finding the time for, even in a nursing student’s hectic timetable, says Lynn Brown One aspect of student life you will undoubtedly hear a lot about on your undergraduate nursing course is the importance of reflection. Reflective practice is an essential cog in the wheel of any nursing student’s learning armoury. It helps students to look objectively at their practice, recognise areas that can be improved, and initiate and execute action plans to redress any deficits. Different models and frameworks of reflection will be discussed at university to help make the process easier to understand. You will be asked to provide evidence for learning and development by completing a piece of reflective writing for an assignment. This will contribute to your nursing degree and permit entry to the register. Reflection also forms an integral part of revalidation, the new process being introduced by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in April 2016 for UK nurses and midwives to demonstrate they can practise safely and renew their registration. Nurses and midwives will have to record a minimum of five written reflections on the NMC Code for nurses and midwives, 74 september 30 :: vol 30 no 5 :: 2015
continuing professional development and practice-related feedback over the three years before renewing their registration. So getting to grips with reflective practice from the outset will stand you in good stead for renewing your registration later.
Unique relationship
Reflecting on practice can also reveal the power of the therapeutic relationship that exists between the nurse and patient, and how this relationship can affect the patient’s health and wellbeing. In the healthcare environment, reflection may be viewed as yet another demand on the nurse’s valuable time and energy. But far from being merely a ‘navel gazing’ exercise or futile introspection, as some critics have suggested, reflection can enable you to grasp what it is that makes the nurse-patient relationship unique. So embrace reflective practice at every opportunity – it will help you get to know your patients better and grow personally as a nursing student NS Lynn Brown is lecturer in health and social care at Ayrshire College
Christian Jones joined Birmingham Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust as a newly-qualified staff nurse after completing his nurse training at Birmingham City University. ‘After working on various wards at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and doing a placement in intensive care in my third year, I was in no doubt that I wanted to work here,’ he says. Since taking up a band 5 post in the hospital’s paediatric intensive care unit in 2012, and completing the trust’s paediatric intensive care foundation programme, Christian has gone on to complete a mentor and assessing course. Now he is about to embark on the trust’s paediatric intensive care specialist course. On successful completion of the course, he will be able to take advantage of development pathways in areas including retrieval, the technical team, family liaison, and education and research. ‘There are so many opportunities for development here,’ Christian says. ‘Everyone is supportive of each other, and it is great to be working with such a top team of people.’
Christian Jones: ‘Everyone is supportive’
NURSING STANDARD
GETTY
‘IT IS GREAT TO WORK WITH SUCH A TOP TEAM’
Take a good look at yourself Reflective practice is worth finding the time for, even in a nursing student’s hectic timetable, says Lynn Brown One aspect of student life you will undoubtedly hear a lot about on your undergraduate nursing course is the importance of reflection. Reflective practice is an essential cog in the wheel of any nursing student’s learning armoury. It helps students to look objectively at their practice, recognise areas that can be improved, and initiate and execute action plans to redress any deficits. Different models and frameworks of reflection will be discussed at university to help make the process easier to understand. You will be asked to provide evidence for learning and development by completing a piece of reflective writing for an assignment. This will contribute to your nursing degree and permit entry to the register. Reflection also forms an integral part of revalidation, the new process being introduced by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in April 2016 for UK nurses and midwives to demonstrate they can practise safely and renew their registration. Nurses and midwives will have to record a minimum of five written reflections on the NMC Code for nurses and midwives, 74 september 30 :: vol 30 no 5 :: 2015
continuing professional development and practice-related feedback over the three years before renewing their registration. So getting to grips with reflective practice from the outset will stand you in good stead for renewing your registration later.
Unique relationship
Reflecting on practice can also reveal the power of the therapeutic relationship that exists between the nurse and patient, and how this relationship can affect the patient’s health and wellbeing. In the healthcare environment, reflection may be viewed as yet another demand on the nurse’s valuable time and energy. But far from being merely a ‘navel gazing’ exercise or futile introspection, as some critics have suggested, reflection can enable you to grasp what it is that makes the nurse-patient relationship unique. So embrace reflective practice at every opportunity – it will help you get to know your patients better and grow personally as a nursing student NS Lynn Brown is lecturer in health and social care at Ayrshire College
Christian Jones joined Birmingham Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust as a newly-qualified staff nurse after completing his nurse training at Birmingham City University. ‘After working on various wards at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and doing a placement in intensive care in my third year, I was in no doubt that I wanted to work here,’ he says. Since taking up a band 5 post in the hospital’s paediatric intensive care unit in 2012, and completing the trust’s paediatric intensive care foundation programme, Christian has gone on to complete a mentor and assessing course. Now he is about to embark on the trust’s paediatric intensive care specialist course. On successful completion of the course, he will be able to take advantage of development pathways in areas including retrieval, the technical team, family liaison, and education and research. ‘There are so many opportunities for development here,’ Christian says. ‘Everyone is supportive of each other, and it is great to be working with such a top team of people.’
Christian Jones: ‘Everyone is supportive’
NURSING STANDARD
