reflection on placement essay

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Reflecting on my placement year experience

9 August 2023 by Kaylyn

When I heard that I was accepted for the science communication placement I had applied for I had mixed emotions. I was incredibly excited for the break from the regular university grind to work for a year and gain some transferable skills, but I was also nervous as I’d never had a ‘proper’ job before.

Having now almost completed my 12-month placement, I can say wholeheartedly that this experience has been the best thing I have done at university (apart from my actual degree of course). I cannot recommend it enough to other students. I consider myself fortunate that I was able to find a placement in a career field I am incredibly interested in, but even if I realised it was not a field for me, that still is a valuable realisation.

Opportunities to develop skills and strengths

My experience at the STFC’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory has been nothing but full of opportunities to develop new skills and strengthen existing ones. I have been very fortunate that my work team have been open to me trying new things and exploring my interests and passions. The list of skills I’ve developed and strengths I’ve worked on is massive, but I wanted to highlight the two opportunities and certifications that I have found the most valuable and rewarding.

The amazing part? They were completely voluntary, and paid for by work!

I became STEM Ambassador Certified , which is something I deeply cherish from my time on placement. I can continue using this certification once I leave my placement. And by the time I leave, I will have undertaken over 40 hours of STEM Ambassador volunteering. Spending hours with young people and teaching them about science isn’t for everyone, but it is an amazing opportunity to develop patience, communication skills, and see the immediate impact of an activity. All the experiences this certification has opened up for me have been vital to shaping my career aspiration journey on placement, and have given me clear steps for after graduation – doing a PGCE course to get teaching certified!

I also was able to attend four science communication conferences plus two scientific user conferences my work runs. These were great opportunities to develop my networking and socialising skills in a professional setting, and I learned so much from all the talks and workshops. Attending conferences also gave me a lot of exposure to different jobs and career paths in my field of interest (science communication), plus lots of local and international travel experience. This has helped significantly with my ideas around what I want to do after I graduate next year.

Best bits of my year away

There are three things that were the best parts of my year away.

I got to travel to Dublin, Ireland and Portland, U.S.A during my placement to go to really inspiring science communication conferences. Both of these were absolutely amazing learning experiences. I highly recommend other placement students to jump on any opportunities to travel during their placements if they are able and willing.

The next best bit was getting home at the end of a work day and not having to worry about studying or doing more work until I went into the office the next day. If I did have to work outside of working hours, I knew beforehand and was able to claim back the time as what is called “time off in-lieu” at a later date. However, this hardly ever happened outside of voluntary activities.

The experience I consider the “best bit” of my year away, was the public engagement volunteering I did at work. The sense of accomplishment I got from helping with activities and tours of the site for young people (primary to sixth form age) was incomparable to anything I’d ever done before. This experience alone has led to me volunteering with York Students In Schools next academic year, and has informed me so much related to my future career aspirations.

Top tips for making the most of your placement

Now that you’ve heard about my placement experience, I want to give you some tips about how I made the most of my placement experience. Hopefully they help anyone going on placement do the same 🙂

Don’t be afraid to ask for help – there are no ‘stupid’ questions. They know you’re a placement student, they shouldn’t expect you to know everything they do.
If you want to try something out or pursue an interest, ask! You never know, they might say yes and you could weave it into a lot of y our work and projects. This is how I pursued my interest in public engagement and working with young people. I just asked if I could and what opportunities were available.
Have confidence in yourself – they hired you and won’t ask you to do something they don’t think you are capable of doing.

As this is my last blog during my time on placement, I hope you have found hearing about my journey and experiences helpful. 🙂

About Kaylyn

Hello! I’m Kaylyn, a MSci Natural Sciences student who specialises in Physics (CMP pathway). I am incredibly passionate about science and education, particularly when it comes to increasing science accessibility for underrepresented and disadvantaged groups. I am just finishing my 12-month industrial placement as a ‘Science Communication’ student at one of the UK national laboratories in Oxfordshire, and I have absolutely loved it!

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Reflection on Clinical Placement

Info: 2965 words (12 pages) Reflective Nursing Essay Published: 20th Oct 2021

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Reflecting on clinical placement

Clinical placement reflection 1.

Communication with others within the clinical setting – this may include staff members, patients and relatives. From working within in a team I have learnt that communication in health and social care underpins everything that professionals do and can determine the quality of service that patients receive. Poor communication between members of inter-professional teams affects the quality of care patients receive and can result in any number of bad experiences for the patients. I’ve noticed that some of the factors that contribute to poor communication include the use of professional jargon, abbreviations and poor handwriting. Thus I made it a personal objective try and avoid these behaviours and if I did for example, use jargon I made sure its universal so that there is no miscommunication.
Your ability to work within a team. During this time on placement I have been able to witness and participate in multidisciplinary team meetings and have also had the opportunity to work with different healthcare professionals such as physiotherapist and also have been involved in ward rounds with doctors and nurses. The ward I was placed had a great team. I always felt a part of the team, and that I was making a valuable contribution thanks to both my eagerness to take on anything they threw at me, and, their inclusiveness and supportiveness. I learnt that holding back and waiting for people to notice you is not a good strategy. Let everyone know that you’re interested every day, and opportunities will come your way.
Your role and relationship with others within the clinical practice My role and relationship with others within the clinical setting was very important to me. It was important for me to build the team member relationship with others as it helps to establish a mutual understanding and trust with other team members. When reflecting upon my own strengths and weaknesses, in relation to my role and relationship with others, I feel that whilst I am beginning to acquire an in depth understanding of the role of the nurse in the care of the patient, I feel that I lack substantial knowledge of the roles of the other healthcare professionals that I work alongside in the care of these same patients. I have listed the priority of this as being medium to high as I feel that it is not possible to become an effective collaborative healthcare member without having an understanding of the roles of others with whom I am are working with. If there is a lack of understanding of the roles of others, I feel that it would be difficult to see why they are involved in the care of my patient, or even when it is appropriate to involve other healthcare professionals, inevitably leading to the quality of the care for the patient to suffer. Thus I made it in my best interest to interact more with others during the placement so that I could work alongside them confidently and work towards the same goals.
Your problem solving skills. Where possible give examples of how you have used these. Being in acute care setting, the kind of problem-solving that I did tend to be solving were immediate problems rather long-term problems. For example, patients who can’t get up who needs to have a sponge and clean linens on their bed. However each patient is different and often I couldn’t just perform the task without thought. The process of problem solving has guided me in finding solutions to a problem. I have learnt that this process is effective and helps me make the right decisions. I have also learnt to reflect on my decision so that I can see if the decision was the best or not for the situation. To assist me in problem solving more complex situations, I asked my mentor to provide some problem solving stimulations to further develop my problem-solving skills which was very beneficial for my learning process.
Your time management skills I learnt the importance of time management a lot during this placement. On one of the days, I did not wash my patient before 8:00 am in order to prepare her for her family visit later on that day. My patient’s 10:00 am Parkinson’s’ medication administration was delayed by 45 minutes because she was being washed at that time. This event occurred because I did not prioritize the tasks I had to complete during the day properly, and therefore I learned the importance of time management. If I had obtained nursing knowledge and familiarize myself with the daily routine care of the patient I could have handle my time more efficiently. After this event, I learned effective time management strategies to handle my time on clinical and I will definitely utilize the time managing strategies step by step from knowing , planning , prioritizing tasks, gaining support from other nurses, and being flexible with my tasks.
Your ability to understand your competence and scope of practice It was important for me to have an understanding my own competence and scope of practice as it guides me to good clinical practice and the delivery of my care to my patients. As a student enrolled nurse, there were strict practice standards and regulations, especially when medication is involved and supervision from our mentor was required at all times. Reflecting back, there were situations where although the practice was within my scope of practice, the policy and procedures of the facility did not allow it thus it is important to understand and familiarize yourself with the policy and procedures of the hospital as well as working within your scope.
How you adapt and use new technology and reflect on historical changes in nursing As I was quite young and I didn’t have any problems adapting and using new technology. It was very exciting seeing new technology as I believe it will greatly improve nursing practice and make it more efficient. Some of the new technologies I had the opportunities to use include new vital signs machine, lifting machines and computer programs that included online hospital policy and procedures and mims. All documentation was still hand-written and stored in folders. Historically, nursing documentation has been a hand- written. However, today facilities are now introducing new technology aimed to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
Your competency in relation to your nursing skills Competency in relation to my nursing skills had a lot to do with my confidence. For me, confidence is an important aspect of the practice of nursing and plays a major role in development. After an incident, I recognised that despite my lack of confidence the skill set that required to be completed for a particular patient was within my scope of practice, within my ability and within my knowledge base. On reflection it is clear that my lack of confidence in my ability, when put ‘on the spot’ contributed to my feelings of inadequacy which affected my competency in relation to my nursing skills. Through reflection and use of a mentor I was able to clarify that my weakness was not my nursing skills or knowledge level but my inability to effectively perform when under close scrutiny, which in turn led to a lack of confidence in my skill level and clinical knowledge. To develop my confidence and communication skill I became proactive and requested the assistance of a senior clinical educator to critically assess my skills and knowledge base. By doing this I reinforced my knowledge and skills but more importantly developed self-confidence. My efforts in seeking assistance and assessment of my skills could be seen as a step in ‘becoming more independent’. By gaining input and validation from my clinical educator, I ensured that I was able to successfully utilize my nursing skills competently and independently.
An overall reflection of the day and how you can use your reflection to improve your practice Upon starting this placement I didn’t really know what to anticipate as it was my first time in a hospital setting, so when I was asked about my expectations all I could say was “That I wanted to learn all I can…” Thinking back on that not so confident response, now at the end of this placement, gives me good insight into how valuable this placement has been to my professional development. This placement gave me the opportunity to begin to see myself as a professional, as I gradually learnt how to think critically about the patient’s health and managing their care and needs. This led to my becoming increasingly confident in the role I was determined to fill. Although I feel that I have a long way to go in this endeavour and will always continue learning, I know that I have learnt a lot during my time at this placement. To further improve my practice, I will use reflection as it enables me to solve problems or learn from actions through thinking consciously about an activity which would then enable me learn and develop.

Clinical Placement Reflection 2

Communication with others within the clinical setting – this may include staff members, patients and relatives. During my placement I was in a stroke unit. Being on this unit, I worked with many clients who suffered from post-stoke symptoms and many had difficulty with speech. The experience helped me learn the importance of both verbal and non-verbal communication. As an aspiring nurse, I have to continuously sharpen my communication skills because I will be interacting with more diverse range of patients in the future. I have to be able to establish rapport with each new patient and I can do this by communicating with them. I must maximise my communication with my patients because I can do a lot of things by communicating such as motivate, empower, educate and understand my patients.
Your ability to work within a team. Working in a team provides me with a great satisfaction. From this teamwork experience, I strongly feel the importance of teamwork in providing consistent care for patients. It taught me to interact with others and as an individual in order to work towards the same goal. I had witnessed examples of both good and poor inter-professional collaboration and communication whilst in practice and have reflected on those incidents. Also, being self-aware I found was not only essential to nursing as a basis for reflection but it also contributed to how I communicate with others and assisted me in developing inter-personal skills with our colleagues so that I could work better in a team.
Your role and relationship with others within the clinical practice In order to work efficiently together, it was important to understand my role and the roles of others within the clinic setting. My professional relationships with others was good except with occupational therapist (OT) mainly because I never had a fully understand of their role. I felt more clarity was needed surrounding the role of the OT so I made the efforts to research and speak to some of the OT to find out about their roles. As a result I was able to witness some of their work and worked closely with them. Being professional relationships and understand the roles of others has also lead me to understanding about the unique qualities and skills that different professionals bring to the team. In learning about other team members roles, I was also able to enhance my own professional identity which made me comfortable in the clinical setting.
Your problem solving skills. Where possible give examples of how you have used these. I was quite a confident problem-solving however there are times where I’m faced with a situation where I can identify the problem but I’m not able to come up with a solution due to lack of experience. For example performing venepuncture; the patient had very poor vein and my first attempt failed and was very demotivated. We were never taught in school on how to deal with bad veins except to have two attempts and have someone else do it if you fail. Determined to do the venepuncture successful, I suggested to my mentor, if I was able to pull the vein downwards to minimise the movement of the vein. With the approval of my mentor, I went in and was successful on my second attempt.
Your time management skills Prioritizing is a necessary tool for effective time management thus I made sure I prioritize tasks from high to low priority order. However during this placement, a staff had questioned my time management skill because I choose to assist patient who was lying in a soiled bed over researching my medications that was due in half an hour. This experience made me question how I was prioritising my time management skills. I decided to reflect on experience, and I believe that the staff was wrong to question my time management skills. I had thought about which was the greater priority in this situation and I still believe that the patient was. If the same situation arose again I feel that I would not do anything different other than to speak up and justify my decisions. I recognize and knowledge Time management as an important skill in nursing and hope that my skills will further improve with practice.
Your ability to understand your competence and scope of practice My ability to understand my competence and scope of practice is demonstrated through my clinical practice to safely provide care that is in accordance to the competency standards and actively informing others of my scope of practice. I always clarified what the specific activity or task details were from my mentor and obtained any additional information that I may need, such as facility policies or procedures. I also I made sure I expressed the concern to my mentor or educator. An example of this was my knowledge of medication. Although it was in my scope to administer medication, it was important that I do it competently with full understanding of the drug use and why the patient is receiving it. While it was in my scope, I lacked knowledge of the drug therefore I felt incompetent to administer it safely. For this reason, I made it my goal to research the medications prior to administration.
How you adapt and use new technology and reflect on historical changes in nursing During my placement, I adapted well to the new technology. The ward I was on had new software integrated in their computers which allowed me to access patient results and continue my learning through web-based training programs and access to online medical dictionaries and mims. My experience using these was very positive and very efficient. Historically, nursing documentation has been a hand- written. This was still the case in the ward that I was working in. This form of documenting has provided good communication between health care professionals and plan of patient care for the patient for a long period however the increase of medical errors and miscommunication has driven facilities to introduce new technology aimed to improve this and the efficiency and effectiveness of clinical practice.
Your competency in relation to your nursing skills Nursing competency requires accumulation of evidence based knowledge and skills, understanding of cultural diversity and the care provided. During clinical practice I used the ANMC competency standards to reflect on my own practice. Areas that I felt competent in was my providing care in a safely manner and my ability to address the physiological, psychological, physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the patients and significant others. In addition, I continued professional education in order to build up knowledge and skills that will be necessary in coping with the dynamic changes in healthcare. Continuing education ensures that my knowledge is current and level of competency is maintained at a satisfactory level.
An overall reflection of the day and how you can use your reflection to improve your practice My last placement has proved to be a huge progress. Through observations and clinical practice, I managed to develop my nursing skills both as an independent learner, but also as a member of the health team. Having been assigned patient loads, research medications and or reflecting on how I went, I was able to employ a range of skills that could not have found a better environment to develop in; critical thinking and problem solving, working with others and time management are just few examples. I will continue to do reflective practice to evaluate any clinical incident, positive or negative to attempt to better understand and contemplate the events which have taken place, and the behaviour, emotions and actions of not only myself, but the patient and others involved at that time In doing so, It will increase knowledge surrounding that situation and my professional development.

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How to Write a Nursing Reflective Essay (Guide for Nurse Students)

If you are a nursing or medicine student, you are aware that you will come across or have already come across assignments requiring you to write a nursing reflection essay. At first, such a task always appears challenging, but given the understanding of the steps, things flat out, and you can write reflective essays and get better grades.

Reflective practice is highly encouraged in nursing. Reflection entails making sense of situations, events, actions, and phenomena in the workplace.

As a nursing student, you will be asked to write a reflective essay on your clinical placement, practicum, shadowing experience, shadow health DCE activities, personal nursing philosophy, why you want to become a nurse, nursing program, ethical dilemma, knowledge, skills, and abilities, systems, and processes.

The easiest way to complete the reflective essay assignment is by first determining what reflective writing entails, its significance, its steps, and some of the best tips that form the core of this ultimate guide.

Basics of Reflective Writing in Nursing

Reflective writing is an analytical writing practice where the writer describes a real or imaginary event, scene, phenomenon, occurrence, or memory, including their takeaway. It entails the critical analysis of an experience, including recording how it has impacted you and what you intend to do with the new knowledge or how to act when such an occurrence recurs.

As you document the encounter, you can use first-person pronouns and write subjectively and objectively. This means that you can decide to either use personal experiences alone or support these experiences using citations from scholarly sources.

When writing a reflective essay in nursing, you must recount the events and give critical detail of how the events shaped your knowledge acquisition. Reflection helps nursing students develop skills in self-directed learning, which is directly associated with high motivation and improved quality of care .

In most cases, reflection occurs on what went well and what went wrong. It could be a successful operation, a thank you note from a patient, a patient who regained their health faster, or a new nursing care plan that worked. However, it can also be about adverse events such as death, postoperative complications, death of an infant at birth, dissatisfied patient, medical error, or a failed procedure.

As a nursing student, when you learn to reflect on situations, you grow to become a professional nurse who diligently does their noble duty.

When writing a reflective essay, you begin by setting the scene (explaining what, where, how, and who-the situation), detailing how you felt (emotional state), why it happened (making sense of the situation), critical review and development of insights, a note on what was learned, and strategies to address future recurrence.

Your professor may ask you to write a nursing reflective paper about various topics in your course or your experience working in a group, how you solved a problem, a healthcare issue, or clinical practice. Consider the following example of a reflective statement in nursing; in my clinical practices, I realized I focused more on the technical aspects but failed to explain what it was doing to improve their health. I would like to understand more about listening to patience and their concerns to better care for them.

As you will notice later, these reflective stages are structured into different reflective models and frameworks that we will explore in-depth. So, with the understanding of what comprises reflective writing and its importance in nursing, let's now get solid on the structure.

Structure of a Reflective Essay in Nursing

A reflective essay is an analytical writing piece describing and evaluating encounters or experiences. When asked to write one, you should know that an excellent reflective essay consists of different parts, just like a typical academic essay. It comprises the cover or title page, introduction, body paragraphs, conclusions, and a references page.

The title page contains information about the assignment. If you are writing the reflective essay in APA, include these on the title page:

Title of the reflective essay
Course code and name
Instructors name
Name of your institution
Date of submission

When writing in Harvard format, the title or the cover page will consist of the following:

Title of the essay in title case and the page number (upper right margin),
Title of the essay in CAPS,
Name of class or course,
Name of the instructor,
Name of your school,
City and state where your school is located and,
The date of submission.

Introduction

The introduction begins with an attention grabber or a hook sentence to attract readers' attention. It should then explain the essay's purpose and signpost the ideas that will come later in the essay. The introduction also has a thesis statement at the end of the paragraph- the last sentence. The thesis is concise, clear, and relatable and should reflect your position.

Body Paragraphs

The body paragraphs of a reflective essay can be three or more, depending on the length of the essay. Essentially, the body comprises 80% of the total word count.

The first paragraph is where you describe the situation, including the events, why they occurred, how they occurred, and those involved.

The second paragraph entails your personal feelings or reaction to the situation and how it made you feel.

The third paragraph can include making sense of the situation. You have to think about why things happened the way they did. You should also critically review and develop insights based on the situation. Finally, think of the factors that could have influenced the situation.

The next paragraph should explain how the event or situation will change your practice, approach, decisions, perspective, or perception. This is where you evaluate the experience by detailing the knowledge and skills you took from the experience.

The last body paragraph should entail a critical reflection on the learning opportunities. First, describe the situation and what it made you learn. Next, elaborate on how you intend to make yourself better poised to address such situations.

Mostly, you should structure the body of your essay as per the preferred nursing reflective model.

After everything else falls into place, you need to summarize the information you presented in the essay. Then, finally, restate your thesis and have a call to action to bring a sense of closure to your readers.

Steps for Writing a Nursing Reflection Essay ï¿½ The Guide

When assigned to write a reflective essay for your nursing class, here are the surefire steps to get you to success.

Read the instructions

The first step after receiving an assignment is to begin reading the instructions. as you read, note what your instructor or professor expects in the paper you will submit for marking.

Reading instructions helps you to get informed on the scope of the paper, word count, number of references and pages, and the formatting style to use.

Besides, you also get to plan your paper with the deadline highlighted in the instructions.

You need to get a conducive environment where you can start writing.

The first step of writing is to brainstorm about situations during your clinical hours when you were shadowing a Nurse Practitioner or one you have read about.

Assess whether the situation or scenario you have thought, encountered, or chosen can help you write a reflective essay that meets the requirements.

Research and Plan

After choosing a scenario, the next step is researching the best reflective model.

You can use your class text, the instructions, the college library, course readings, and online nursing journals to get articles and resources with information about specific reflective models.

Select the best reflective model and take notes on the steps it entails.

As you research, write down notes on how to address your paper based on your selected framework or model of reflection . Additionally, research nursing journal articles with information you can use when critically analyzing a situation.

Plan how you will handle the paper as well. For instance, as you research, develop a thesis statement that grounds your entire paper, then draft an outline on how to develop the thesis.

Write an Outline

Outlining is a crucial aspect of writing. It helps you envision how you will meet the objective of writing a reflective essay. As an essential part of the essay writing process, outlining helps create a good flow of ideas and can come in handy in helping you overcome writer's block. Your outline should comprise the following:

The hook or attention grabber
Thesis statement
Main points of each body paragraph (topic sentence, evidence, examples, illustrations, etc.)
Conclusion (restated thesis and call-to-action)

With the outline done, you should take a break and resume writing your first draft of the nursing reflection essay. Writing with an outline helps avoid mistakes and also helps you write faster.

Describe the Experience

Once you have identified the relevant experience, begin describing it chronologically.

Describe the experience that prompted you to consider nursing your ideal career goal. Think of this experience's key elements, such as the setting, patient demographics, and significant events that impacted you.

Show how these events changed your perspective on life. Ensure you are as descriptive as possible to paint a clear picture for readers.

Consider the following questions to come up with a good description:

What happened?
Was there someone involved? If yes, what part did they play?
Where did the event take place?
What actions did you take?

Set the context of this experience by giving relevant background information. Ensure you are objective and pay attention to the facts.

Provide a Reflection

Talk about your feelings and thoughts concerning the particular experience you went through. You have to be honest and open up about your initial expectations and challenges you faced at each stage of the experience. The following questions can help you come up with a good reflection:

What was I trying to achieve?
What prompted me to act the way I did?
Are there any consequences for my actions? If yes, what are they?
How did I feel about this event as it was happening?
How did those around me react to it?
How do I know how those around me felt about it?

Analyze the Experience

Description of an experience is essential, but so is analysis. You have to move beyond the surface and give a critical analysis of your experience.

State your actions, and your overall experience will give insights into your experience. Think of how the experience has impacted your actions, feelings, and thoughts.

Give an Evaluation

Evaluate the skills and knowledge you got from the experience. Show how you can apply these skills and knowledge in your nursing practice. Also, state the actions and interventions you took during the nursing experience.

State whether you achieved the desired outcome and if there are any specific areas that you need to improve on.

Talk about how you built or improved skills like communication, teamwork, and critical thinking.

As you evaluate the experience, identify what you believe to be your strengths and weaknesses in the nursing experience. What have you learned from the experience? State the areas where you excelled and what abilities contributed to your success.

Talk about how those you were with during the clinical experience complimented you. Similarly, acknowledge your weaknesses.

What kind of mistakes did you make, and how did you improve them? Talk about the tasks that drain you most during the experience.

Illustrate Learning

Demonstrate elements of deeper thought and reflection levels. This is a great point to include nursing theories in your reflection essay to support analysis of your experience.

Relate your experiences to the theoretical frameworks you were taught in class. This is effective learning and will demonstrate your ability to apply knowledge to real-life nursing situations.

Doing this will also show that you can effectively deduce different things from observations made during the reflection process.

Ensure you also demonstrate a change in perspective, as this will prove that you learned something from the experience.

Write Your Conclusion

Conclude by summarizing your points and highlighting the lessons learned.

The lessons you reached as part of your reflection should support your overall conclusion.

Also, restate your thesis statement.

Come Up with an Action Plan

Now that you have learned from your reflection develop an action plan for future nursing practice.

This part should contain all the details you have learned and actions needed to improve when faced with a similar situation. Consider the following questions:

What would I change if faced with a similar situation?
How can I develop the necessary skills needed to face this situation?
How can I act differently in a similar situation?

Ensure you identify areas to improve and set realistic goals to enhance your nursing skills. Discuss how you intend to seek additional education, training, or mentorship to address your shortcomings.

Finally, end the essay with a happy note so readers know you learned something from the experiences.

Proofread, Edit, and Polish

After doing your first draft, take a break to relax and get out of the writing mood - it helps you to become objective.

You can then resume reading out loud to yourself, make necessary tweaks, and ensure that every part you include meets the rubric requirements.

Edit for grammar, punctuation, tenses, voice, spelling, and use of language. You should also proofread the essay to adhere to the style, organization, and presentation requirements.

Ensure that all the in-text citations are accounted for in the reference list and are up-to-date. You are good to go when you have an essay that meets all the instructions.

Finally, you can submit the paper for grading.

Writing is not everyone's cup of tea. For that reason, you can hire a nursing reflection essay writer from our website to assist you in crafting a top-grade paper. In addition, we have nursing writers whose forte is writing various nursing papers.

Choosing the suitable Reflective Model or Framework

As you can see above, many reflective models are used for your reflective essay. We have not exhaustively listed and expounded on all of them. Other reflective models and frameworks you can also consider when writing a reflective essay in nursing include:

Bouds Reflective Model
Brookfield Reflective Model
Pender's Health Promotion Model
Roper Logan and Tierney Model
Driscoll Reflective Model
The Johari window model

Note that most nursing instructors will often suggest the models they prefer for you to use in your essay.

For example, in most nursing reflective essays. Whichever the case, readily available information expands on each model to make it easier to write a reflection essay on a specific aspect of nursing education or practice.

Read the assignment rubric and instructions to understand the specific model. If it is unclear, ask for clarification from your instructor early enough.

Tips for Writing a Good Nursing Reflective Essay

As you try to figure out how to write a nursing reflective essay, keep the following tips in mind.

Choose the Right Topic

If the instructions from your professors involve choosing a topic for the reflective essay, you must select one that is meaningful to you.

This will ensure you can easily write and easily develop relevant elements about the topic. Therefore, take time to pick a topic that you find interesting.

As you write, ensure you stay on topic, whether sharing a one-off event or a recurrent story.

Use the Right Tone

A reflective essay is more personal, unlike other types of academic essays. This means you don't need a strict or formal tone.

Since this is about your experiences, use personal pronouns such as I and Me.

Be Vulnerable

You must be extremely vulnerable to learn how to write a reflective essay in nursing.

Be open about your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about something you went through that sparked an interest in nursing.

It's okay to share mistakes or things you did wrong that eventually led you to this career path.

Choose the Right Focus

A reflection essay is all about narrating your experience during the nursing experience.

While including other people in your experience is okay, please let them not be the center of your reflection.

This is your essay, so you should be the focus of attention.

Keep it Brief

A good nursing reflection essay should be between 300 and 800 consciously written words. Because of this length, you must only write relevant information about your reflection. Refrain from lengthy reflections, as they make it difficult to pass your points across.

Convey Your Information Wisely

Even though a nursing reflection essay is about your personal experiences, it doesn't mean you should reveal everything about yourself. Ask yourself whether something is appropriate before including it in your paper.

Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a Reflection Essay in Nursing

A good reflection essay involves reflecting on your nursing studies and practices throughout school and career to demonstrate your competence. For this reason, there are certain mistakes you should be aware of when writing an essay.

Not including a Personal Story

Like food tastes bland without salt, so does a reflection essay without a personal story. At the center of a reflection essay is You. This means the essay should focus on your personal story that led you to want a nursing career. A lot of times, students miss out on this instead of talking about their story. You need more than just the personal qualities you think will be a great fit for the nursing program; you must also share a story that shows how well you contributed to nursing care.

Failing to Share Your Experience

You will lose points when you fail to include nursing-related experiences in your reflection essay. Mentioning that you want to be a nurse is great, but failing to show specific events that led to the desire will cost you a great point.

Plagiarizing Your Essay

Plagiarism is a serious academic offense because it is considered taking other people's ideas and using them as your own without crediting the author. So, provide relevant citations and references for any ideas that aren't your own. Also, an AI will not write your essay as a human writer would.

Sample of a Nursing Reflective Essay

The following is a sample of a nursing Reflective essay using Gibb's Model of Reflection. Use this sample to guide you when writing your own.

Introduction Communication is an important element in healthcare practice as it determines patient satisfaction and treatment outcomes. This essay will focus on reflecting on an experience I went through with a 40-year-old diabetic patient who also had a foot infected with an ulcer. When I approached the patient to sign the consent form, I noticed that he wasn't happy because of the news given to him about his health. I concluded that there must be a communication dilemma. I will reflect on the experience using Gibb's Model of Reflection. Using this model, I will identify and discuss the actions taken to resolve the issue. Description This incident happened a few months ago when I was working as a wound nurse in a Methodist hospital in my hometown. I was part of a care team handling the case of a 40-year-old male patient with diabetes and an infected diabetic foot ulcer. After careful examination, a team comprising various specialists concluded that his leg needed amputation below the knee. After making this decision, the team left, and I was asked to give the patient a consent form to sign. When I came back from retrieving the form, I noticed the patient looked sorrowful because of the news given to him. Feelings As soon as I saw the patient, I knew what he was going through. He perceived the situation to be irreparable, but I wasn't sure whether to console the patient or not. I was powerless and couldn't imagine what he was going through. At the same time, I was startled that the team left without showing any compassion. They could have handled the situation more delicately. I, on the other hand, could have relayed the information better. I wasn't sure whether my approach would be acceptable or appropriate. Evaluation I always go back to that particular situation and wonder whether I could have acted better. The situation helped me better understand the importance of good communication in patient care, particularly in therapeutic care. Before the incident, I didn't acknowledge the role of nurses play in caring for patient's emotional needs. I realized nurses must show compassion and console patients in their low moments. Analysis Most healthcare professionals do not know how to deliver bad news to patients. They find the process extremely challenging and always feel psychologically unprepared. This has a negative impact on patients and could lead to bad health outcomes. Furthermore, how information is relayed could impact a patient's adherence to treatment. Because of these effects, multiple protocols and approaches were developed to help with communicating bad news to patients. One of the approaches that was proposed is emotion-centered. This proposes that a healthcare provider acknowledges how sad the patient is and builds a professional relationship based on empathy and sympathy. Action Plan I now understand the essence of communicating bad news with compassion. The experience allowed me to look closely at different aspects of my professional development that needed more improvement. Thus, I plan to be more empathetic and speak up in support of patient's emotional and psychological well-being, especially when presented with traumatic news about their health. Additionally, I now understand I am not powerless when dealing with a sorrowful patient. I believe I have learned from my experience, and I'm not able to communicate well with patients any more. Conclusion The experience allowed me to value good communication in nursing and the need to incorporate it into daily nurse-patient interaction. Nurses must learn how to deliver bad news and manage patient's sorrow. This has been and will continue to be my biggest priority in patient care. References Street Jr, R. L., Makoul, G., Arora, N. K., & Epstein, R. M. (2009). How does communication heal? Pathways linking clinicianpatient communication to health outcomes. Patient education and counselling, 74(3), 295-301. Buckman, R. (1992). Breaking bad news: why is it still so difficult? BMJ: British Medical Journal, 304(6842), 886. Ptacek, J. T., & Eberhardt, T. L. (1996). Breaking bad news: a review of the literature. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 276(6), 496-502.

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MSc/PGDip/PGCert MSK physiotherapy: University of Brighton

Reflection on a clinical placement

Nicolas Bellot is a French physiotherapist working in Brussels, Belgium in a MSK private practice and teaches Musculoskeletal post-graduate courses in France with a company named IAMPT. He is a part time student of the MSK MSc at the University of Brighton. He completed his first clinical placement in October-November 2018 and here is his self-reflective essay about his experience:

I Introduction

In October 2018, I completed my first clinical placement. Thanks to my tutors, it has been a highly enriching experience. It raised my awareness about my strengths and especially my weaknesses within my clinical practice. This reflective essay is an opportunity to look back and analyze an incident that happened with a patient.

To reflect on this experience, I will use Gibbs reflective cycle, described by Gibbs in 1988. It emphasizes the importance of self-reflection on a failed experience to gain a deeper understanding on the reasons it went wrong. With proper analysis, it is also a chance to convert this event into a learning to avoid making the same mistakes if a similar situation reoccurs. This essay is divided by chapters corresponding to the phases described by Gibbs in his cycle:

Description of the event
Feelings during/after it
Action plan

The last paragraph explains how this reflection allowed me to recognize a similar situation and to change my behaviour accordingly to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

II Description

During the formative exam of my placement in November 2018, I saw a patient named John (pseudonym), for his first session. I was under supervision of 2 tutors who stayed in one side of the cubicle while observing the consultation. John sat in front of me and I started my subjective examination. John is a 56 years old male who works as a self-employed stage installer for theaters. In November 2017, he has had an intense low back and right anterior thigh pain episode. During this period, he saw his GP who referred him for a MRI that he only obtained in February 2018. He was then referred in physiotherapy and obtained an appointment with me 9 months later. When I first saw him, his thigh pain was completely resolved, but he was concerned about the fact that his back felt “stiff” [patient’s term] at the end of the day. He wanted to know if it was normal or not, and if I could show him exercises he could do. During the session, I collected most of my subjective markers, but noticed that the interaction wasn’t smooth, and it’s only after the feedback of my tutors; after the session; that I became more aware of what went wrong.

Although his problem and goals were quite clear, I led the subjective exam with my questions but didn’t listen to him actively and didn’t show enough empathy towards his situation. The patient made a few statements and asked a few questions (“what exercises should I do?” for example) about his problem that I didn’t explore or address during the subjective exam. I haven’t been able to react and interact properly with him. I have missed a lot of verbal and non-verbal cues that could have led me to a more holistic and accurate comprehension of his problem. I failed to deliver a patient-centered care because my assessment was centered on my own perception of what he had and needed, and not on the patient himself which led to a mismatch in the interaction.

III Feelings

I had various feelings during and after the session with John.

Although I haven’t been able to transmit it properly, I truly felt sympathy for this patient and also felt sad about his situation. It impacted his quality of life and I reckon it must have been a tough experience. I felt stressed out because I was taking an exam, but also nervous because I was being observed by my tutors. Even if at this point of the placement I got used to it, I still felt their presence and couldn’t act as freely as if I was alone with the patient as highlighted by Roberts and Bucksey (2007). I also felt overwhelmed by the almost infinite number of criteria that must be accounted for during a session. As stated, I noticed the interaction was awkward but I felt powerless and stuck, because I couldn’t find a way to reverse this situation in action. I put myself under too much pressure during this session and I sometimes struggle to keep up with my expectations. It led to frustration and disappointment, I worked hard before and during the placement to improve, but this session showed that I wasn’t ready yet. Retrospectively, I feel both ashamed and angry because I know I could have done better, which left me quite bitter and remorseful immediately after the session.

On the other hand, I also felt satisfied and happy because thanks to this placement I progressed in many areas of my practice and I’ve implemented countless new “features” in my reasoning. Although disappointed in a way, I also felt relieved and grateful to my tutors who helped me to identify short-comings of my practice that I would have struggled to pinpoint on my own otherwise. It will take time, but I now feel excited and renewed to set up new goals to evolve my practice.

IV Evaluation

Looking back at it, some elements of this event were promising.

Firstly, I’ve asked John about his goals, which I rarely did before. Goal-setting fosters the development of patient-centered physiotherapy (Stevens et al 2018). Secondly, thanks to my tutors who raised my attention about this earlier, I didn’t interrupt John while he was talking. Although interrupting patients came from a noble intention to precise some information in patients’ discourses, Roberts and Burrow (2018) found that it may delay patients from expressing their concerns and decreases their feelings to be listened to. Thirdly, some communication elements were satisfying. I opened by giving a brief overview of the plan of the session and asked: “Do you want to tell me a little bit about your problem first of all?”. This opening sentence studied by Chester et al (2014) has many benefits. Later in the anamnesis, I introduced the “cauda equina” questions by briefly explaining how elimination and sexual functions might be linked to a back issue. Indeed, my tutors alerted me that without context, patients with back pain wouldn’t understand why I was asking these questions. I also paid attention to use non-verbal cues such as the proximity of our chairs, keeping my posture opened and slightly leaning forward as advised by Hall et al (1995) to favor a patient-centered behaviour.

Despite these positive elements, others hindered the interaction.

One of the main problems was my lack of active listening. John repeated several times that his back felt “stiff” but I kept steering him on “pain” questions. He even corrected me a few times, sounding a bit annoyed, saying “well, it’s not really pain, it’s more stiffness”. He also clearly stated his goals early in the interaction (Knowing if stiffness was normal or not, and if some exercises could help). However, I kept asking questions and doing physical tests and treatments unrelated with his legitimate interrogations and personal goals. I think the patient didn’t feel listened to, which was detrimental for our therapeutic alliance. Secondly, although essential to build up trust (Hall et al 1995), I also failed to communicate empathy and compassion towards his situation. Albeit his experience was touching, I never acknowledged any of his statements and just said “OK” every time John gave me a new information. Patients described as important for their therapist to understand that they suffered from their symptoms and to recognize how impactful it was on their lives (O’Keefe et al 2016). I clumsily tried to reassure him by saying that there was nothing to worry about, but I said it too early and it probably had an opposite effect. I asked several questions but they were not personalized enough, which prevented me to see how his problem impacted his personal life as recommended by Froud et al (2014). Lastly, both as a consequence and a cause of my lack of active listening, my non-verbal communication wasn’t developed enough. I didn’t nod, didn’t adapt my facial expressions to what John said and the tone of my voice stayed globally even. Moreover, my eye-contacts were limited as I was constantly shifting my eyes on my sheet to write down. These non-verbal cues are important in the therapeutic relationship (Testa and Rossetini 2016).

Overall, the addition of these errors prevented me from delivering a “Patient-centered” care defined by Wijma et al (2017) by five major components: a biopsychosocial approach; considering the patient as a person; sharing power; establishing a therapeutic alliance; and being a clinician as a person.

Reflecting deeper on this incident helps to figure out why things went this way during the appointment.

Essentially, I struggled to listen to John actively for several reasons. Firstly, I was nervous because this session was in the context of an exam and I knew I was being watched. I spent more energy being self-conscious and focused on the way I performed, which decreased my capacity to listen to John actively. It is hypothesized that a higher level of self-consciousness during social interactions can lead to the decrease of potential interaction with other (Tracy and Robbins 2004). Secondly, although graduated for 8 years, I’ve made numerous adjustments on the way I perform subjective exams since the beginning of the placement. Therefore, I had a lot of new elements to focus on, which is often described as difficult to handle by unexperienced physiotherapists. In this case, as described by Roberts and Bucksey (2007) and Ramklass (2015), I’ve spent more energy focusing on my practical abilities, and was then less efficient to listen actively. I focused on “small pieces” but missed the “bigger picture”. Lastly, patient-centeredness is still relatively new to me as it was first introduced when I started my master in 2016. It has transformed the perception of my role and I try to focus more on what patients say, show and feel, to tailor the assessment and treatments to their specific needs. But when I’m stressed or tired, I easily go back into my “default mode”, more paternalistic with less active listening, which was the case here with John. Recent studies show that patient-centered care is linked with a better satisfaction, outcome, and adherence to treatment (Hurley et al 2017). I hope that over time, patient-centeredness will become my new “default mode”.

As described before, the lack of perceived empathy and compassion towards John also had a negative effect on therapeutic alliance; key factor to patient-centeredness (Pinto et al 2012).

The combination of stress and fatigue decreased my capability to be more involved about John’s feelings and to empathize. This placement was a fantastic opportunity; however, it was exhausting. I did it 2 days a week and commuted every week. I invested a lot of energy in it and had to work more in my clinic the rest of the week to compensate the absence. Neumann et al (2011) showed that distress was the main cause of decrease of empathy in medical students. Moreover, in a very positivist way, I’ve always considered emotions as entropy. I used to see emotions as disturbances to neutrality and restraints to objective reality. I under-developed my emotional intelligence to favor my rational intelligence. This false belief decreased my interpersonal sensitivity defined by Hall (2011) as the accuracy in perceiving other people. I therefore became quite inefficient at detecting and processing emotional experiences in others (cognitive empathy), and consequently in sharing emotions (Affective empathy – Allen and Roberts 2017). However, being able to detect, process but also share and express emotions in response to patients would have helped to build up and to deepen the therapeutic relationship with John.

Additionally, other reasons limited the development of a therapeutic alliance. For example, I never acknowledged the difficulty of his experience. Acknowledgement is a simple, yet powerful tool, that I should have used. It shows patients you’re emphaticizing with their problem, key to create a personal bond essential for therapeutic alliance (Babatunde et al 2017). I also didn’t introduce any “non-medical” question. Casual conversations or “small talks” can be encouraged to break the rhythm from serious questions and “oil the social wheel” (Hiller et al 2015). My lack of personal implication created a disconnection between his complaints and wishes, and my questions and answers. Poor reassurance made me look detached as if I tried to diminish the impact of his problem, which increased the gap in our relationship even more. It created a distance between us, hindered the therapeutic relationship, and decreased his trust in my role. I failed to make him feel as he was a real person which has been rated as crucial by patients in a physiotherapy interactions (Kidd et al 2011)

VI Conclusion

Reflecting back served to highlight what I should have done differently. I should have listened to John actively by being attentive to his words, by exploring his beliefs but also by trying the understand his expectations from this appointment. I must have asked more questions to apprehend the impact of his problem on his personal life. I should have maximized the potential to create a therapeutic alliance by improving my verbal and non-verbal communication. For example, by reusing his words and by doing a less scripted and more interactive subjective exam. I also should have empathized more by acknowledging the difficulty of his experience early in the interaction and by being more expressive, replying “I understand” for example instead of “OK”. Non-verbally, I must have adapted my facial expressions to his sayings to look more compassionate and involved. I also should have spent less time writing on my sheet which would have given more rhythm and smoothness to the interaction.

VII Action plan

This action plan, is elaborated around 2 main lines: gaining some additional knowledge and training my experience by practicing at the clinic.

To educate myself, I audio-record one interaction with a patient per week and analyze it during the weekends. I read numerous scientific articles for this essay, with a particular interest to Lisa Roberts’, Paulo Ferreira’s, Judith Hall’s articles (among others). I purchased and started to read “Motivational Interviewing – Third Edition” by Miller and Rollnick.

I registered to a communication/education course in October 2019: “Let’s talk pain” by Osinski T. and listened to a free podcast by Mike Stewart on communication and pain education. In the future, I plan to keep increasing my knowledge on these topics.

Practically, I need to keep improving my fundamentals in musculoskeletal to be more patient-centered. It can be achieved by two main steps. The first step is to practice more active listening, and to try to be more focused on the patient by paying attention to words used, personal goals, expectations and non-verbal language. I also need to ask more questions about the impact of the problem on patients’ personal lives, but also about their perception of the situation as recommended by Diener et al (2016). I need to increase my empathic motivation – the will to engage with the patient – but also my empathic skills by trying to deduce emotions from patient’s verbal and non-verbal language. The second step is to establish a therapeutic alliance with the patient as soon as possible. I work on my verbal communication by asking open questions, summarizing, and clarifying when needed. Non-verbally, I try to use more body language and to have a warmer behaviour. I try to be more enthusiastic, using more acknowledgment and reassurance.

These two main steps can create a baseline towards patient-centeredness.

VIII Similar situation

Lately, I’ve had more success with my interactions and feel like I’ve improved.

I recently saw a 58 years old female patient for right shoulder pain that she’s had for 7 months. Initially, I noticed cues indicating anxiety about her situation. Her face was worried, and she expressed her frustration about not improving. During the examination, I spent minimal time looking at my sheet to keep more eye contact and tried to behave in a more enthusiastic way. During the physical exam, I reused her words by saying “Show me how you reach your hand up” (one of the aggravating factors she mentioned), instead of “Show me your shoulder elevation”. I think it was clearer and gave her the indication that I listened to what she told me during the anamnesis. This time, I empathized by acknowledging her experience quite early by saying “It’s been quite a tough year for you, wasn’t it?”. This sentence was very powerful and her face changed almost immediately. I think she felt relieved that I took her problem seriously. I continued by asking more questions on her social history to determine more precisely the areas of her personal life impacted by her problem. I feel like I had established a therapeutic bond within the first session.

Albeit promising, the interaction wasn’t perfect. For example, I explored her beliefs around her shoulder problem and did a bit of pain education, which didn’t seem to resonate with her. It was probably too confusing after what she’s been told for the last months, or maybe a bit too soon in the interaction. I also tried to be more expressive by saying “Wow, your mobility in elevation is very good” as she had her hand up for example. It sounded a bit artificial, and the terms used could have been less technical.

The lessons learnt with the case of John helped me to avoid repeating the same mistakes with her and although I still lack consistency, I feel that I start to be on the right tracks.

IX Conclusion

Improving my listening and communication skills is a complex journey. It requires constant effort to prepare the second placement, and ultimately to become a better clinician. This journey opens new ways to trigger a true philosophical shift to patient-centeredness to put patients back in the center of the interaction and to try to see their problem through their eyes.

Gibbs, G., 1988 . Learning by doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Further Education Unit. Oxford Polytechnic: Oxford

Roberts, L., Bucksey, S.J., 2007. Communicating With Patients: What Happens in Practice? Physical Therapy; Washington 87, 586–94.

Stevens, A., Köke, A., Weijden, T. van der, Beurskens, A., 2018. The development of a patient-specific method for physiotherapy goal setting: a user-centered design. Disability and Rehabilitation 40, 2048–2055.

Roberts, L.C., Burrow, F.A., 2018. Interruption and rapport disruption: measuring the prevalence and nature of verbal interruptions during back pain consultations. Journal of Communication in Healthcare 11, 95–105.

Chester, E.C., Robinson, N.C., Roberts, L.C., 2014. Opening clinical encounters in an adult musculoskeletal setting. Manual Therapy 19, 306–310.

Hall, J.A., Harrigan, J.A., Rosenthal, R., 1995. Nonverbal behavior in clinician—patient interaction. Applied and Preventive Psychology 4, 21–37.

O’Keeffe, M., Cullinane, P., Hurley, J., Leahy, I., Bunzli, S., O’Sullivan, P.B., O’Sullivan, K., 2016. What Influences Patient-Therapist Interactions in Musculoskeletal Physical Therapy? Qualitative Systematic Review and Meta-Synthesis. Phys Ther 96, 609–622.

Froud, R., Patterson, S., Eldridge, S., Seale, C., Pincus, T., Rajendran, D., Fossum, C., Underwood, M., 2014. A systematic review and meta-synthesis of the impact of low back pain on people’s lives. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders; London 15, 50.

Testa, M., Rossettini, G., 2016. Enhance placebo, avoid nocebo: How contextual factors affect physiotherapy outcomes. Manual Therapy 24, 65–74.

Wijma, A.J., Bletterman, A.N., Clark, J.R., Vervoort, S.C.J.., Beetsma, A., Keizer, D., Nijs, J., Van Wilgen, C.P., 2017. Patient-centeredness in physiotherapy: What does it entail? A systematic review of qualitative studies. Physiotherapy Theory and Practice 33, 825–840.

Tracy, J.L., Robins, R.W., 2004. TARGET ARTICLE: “Putting the Self Into Self-Conscious Emotions: A Theoretical Model.” Psychological Inquiry 15, 103–125.

Ramklass, S., 2015. A framework for caring in physiotherapy education and practice. South African Family Practice 57, 126–130.

Hurley, J., Bunzli, S., Synnott, A., Leahy, I., O’Keeffe, M., Purtill, H., McCreesh, K., O’Sullivan, P., O’Sullivan, K., 2017. The importance of the clinician-patient interaction on outcomes in musculoskeletal pain: A systematic review. Musculoskeletal Science and Practice 28, e9.

Pinto, R.Z., Ferreira, M.L., Oliveira, V.C., Franco, M.R., Adams, R., Maher, C.G., Ferreira, P.H., 2012. Patient-centred communication is associated with positive therapeutic alliance: a systematic review. Journal of Physiotherapy 58, 77–87.

Neumann, M., Edelhäuser, F., Tauschel, D., Fischer, M.R., 2011. Empathy decline and its reasons: a systematic review of studies with medical students and residents. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges 86, 996.

Hall, J.A., 2011. Clinicians’ accuracy in perceiving patients: Its relevance for clinical practice and a narrative review of methods and correlates. Patient Education and Counseling, Enhancing the patient position in the world of health care: Contributions from the EACH 2010 conference in Verona 84, 319–324.

Allen, M.V., Roberts, L.C., 2017. Perceived acquisition, development and delivery of empathy in musculoskeletal physiotherapy encounters. Journal of Communication in Healthcare 10, 304–312.

Babatunde, F., MacDermid, J., MacIntyre, N., 2017. Characteristics of therapeutic alliance in musculoskeletal physiotherapy and occupational therapy practice: a scoping review of the literature. BMC Health Services Research; London 17.

Hiller, A., Delany, C., Guillemin, M., 2015. Exploring the applicability of healthcare communication theories in private physiotherapy practice: implications for teaching communication. Physiotherapy, World Confederation for Physical Therapy Congress 2015 Abstracts, Singapore, 1-4 May 2015 101, e566.

Kidd, M.O., Bond, C.H., Bell, M.L., 2011. Patients’ perspectives of patient-centredness as important in musculoskeletal physiotherapy interactions: a qualitative study. Physiotherapy 97, 154–162.

Diener, I., Kargela, M., Louw, A., 2016. Listening is therapy: Patient interviewing from a pain science perspective. Physiotherapy Theory and Practice 32, 356–367.

Miller, WR., Rollnick, S. 2013. Motivational interviewing: Helping People Change. Guilford Press: New York

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Riann Aartsma January 13, 2020 - 8:16 pm Reply

I want to thank you for expressing your experience with the patient in the framework that you have used. I have recently started learning more about clinical reflection. I do a lot of reflection after treating patients, but I do now realise that there is a lot of value in putting it into words. I always try to treat patients with best possible care, but in doing so I sometimes also come off as not being very empathetic. Your blog post has shown me that I am not alone on this journey.

Nicolas Bellot January 15, 2020 - 2:01 pm Reply

Dear Riann, thanks for your kind words, I’m really glad to hear that it resonated with you 🙂 I totally agree with you, putting it in words after the experience (treating a patient for example) following a reflective cycle truly helps to organise your thoughts and to learn from this experience. Otherwise I caught myself several times thinking about an experience without putting it into words, and therefore without establishing a plan of action, just to redo the same mistake again in a similar situation later on… I wrote this essay a year ago, and as I consolidate my clinical reasoning and improve my communication, it saves a lot of energy to let my empathy gradually (and effectively!) go up. As several studies showed, empathy and compassion can effectively be learnt which is highly reassuring if your base level of empathy (as mine was) isn’t too high 🙂 Best wishes for your journey ! Nick

Counseling Reflection on Placement - Essay Example

Subject: Psychology
Type: Essay
Level: Undergraduate
Pages: 8 (2000 words)
Downloads: 5

Extract of sample "Counseling Reflection on Placement"

The goal of this session was also to improve my assertiveness in convincing her to comply with the proceedings in court where she had been charged with the use of drugs. There are a number of engagement tasks that I undertook so that I could achieve the goal of improving my assertiveness. For instance, I entered into a conversation with her where I emphasized that she should draft a resume and a cover letter that enabled her get casual jobs. In addition, I received a call from her mother about her being needed in court for drug charge and persuaded her to attend the court session.

I also exercised my assertiveness my calling her and informing her about the seriousness of the court matter and how it would have an impact on her. I addition, I was assertive on the need for her to come to a talk session with me where we were supposed o discuss about how she could get comply with the demands of court. When Carolyn showed unwillingness to attend court session in preference to go to the shopping mall, I was assertive that she should attend the court session first. Addition, I engaged her in a talk where I was assertive that she should talk about what she wanted out of the case which involved her.

The aspects of placement that influenced the outcomes of the learning goal include the existence of a case where she was charged with the use of drugs. Through this placement, I was able to be assertive that she should attend the court session despite being adamant that she wanted to go for shopping. Another aspect of placement that enabled achievement of the learning goal of assertiveness is that the client was interested in finding a job and I was assertive that she could only find a job by making a resume and c over letter so that she could apply for casual jobs.

Client experiences that influenced the outcome of the achievement of learning goal of enhancing my assertiveness is the unwillingness of Carolyn to cooperate with her mother in her demand that she attends the court session. Due to the fact that I and her mother were of the opinion that she should attend the court session first, she disregarded my views and believed that we were of the same ideas regarding the way she should carry herself. As a result, she was unwilling to listen to me and I was unable to convince her to attend the court session first.

Supervision experiences that influenced the learning goals of improving my assertiveness are my attempt to establish what she wanted out of the court case. However, she was uncooperative and I was unable to create a rapport with her so that she could come up with a better solution to what she wanted to do in the future in terms of her long-term goals. As a result, I felt that I had not achieved any learning outcomes assertiveness in this session. Learning Goal 3: To be able to develop my boundaries with client and better self-awareness of my feelings The goal of this session was to develop boundaries with the client so that I could determine areas where I could intervene and those that I could not and ensure I controlled my feelings.

This goal could be achieved by the manner in which I reacted to the way Carolyn related with her mother. This is because, they were members of the same family and there was the need to ensure I developed a boundary by not interfering with their relationships. I also wanted to create a boundary on her mother’s reaction as a result of Carolyn’s refusal to attend to court order so that could not interfere with their attempt to solve their domestic issues. In addition, I wanted to ensure I control my reactions to the client by not making her emotional as a result of her lack of compliance to my ideas on how she should control herself or her refusal to comply with court orders.

The main tasks that I engaged in so that the learning goal could be achieved is finding out about how her mother felt about her refusal to attend the court sessions but avoided being emotional about her lack of compliance. I listened to what she said but did not react to her statements because I wanted to develop boundaries so that I do no create emotion between me and her.

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First Year Student Placement Reflection

As October ended for another year I found myself beginning my first placement as a student teacher in a local primary school. I was placed in an energetic, busy and almost hectic at times primary 2 class for a week where I was fortunate enough to experience two different teachers work with the same class; the class remaining a constant and the teacher being the altering variable made it a very interesting and valuable experience. Due to this setting, I could observe the teachers’ different approaches to teaching and controlling the class.

On my first day of placement there was an imminent feeling of being unprepared and out of my depth. However, I quickly warmed to the class as they did to me. Within a few hours I knew the majority of the 27 pupils names’ and had a reasonable idea of their abilities. I was regularly asked to work with small groups in which I had to work through number stories for numeracy as well as literal stories for literacy tasks.

An area of strength that myself, the teachers and my peer noted was that I communicated well with the children and was comfortable projecting my voice and leading small groups. As the week went on I eventually felt like less of a visitor and more as part of the school community and the class itself. I was comfortable asking pupils to join in with tasks and made sure no pupil dominated any group activities.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my placement experience and it further confirmed to me that I am following a career path that I am suited to. My placement highlighted some areas I need to improve on in order to progress as a student teacher. At times I may seem to convey a negative body language by having my arms folded. I will strive to be more aware of how my body language is perceived. In addition to this I am not yet comfortable speaking to larger audiences particularly in front of other staff as I still find it quite daunting. I am full prepared to take any opportunity to speak in front of an audience, such as presentations in university, and to let my confidence grow by getting more work experience in schools.

A complete guide to writing a reflective essay

(Last updated: 3 June 2024)

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“The overwhelming burden of writing my first ever reflective essay loomed over me as I sat as still as a statue, as my fingers nervously poised over the intimidating buttons on my laptop keyboard. Where would I begin? Where would I end? Nerve wracking thoughts filled my mind as I fretted over the seemingly impossible journey on which I was about to embark.”

Reflective essays may seem simple on the surface, but they can be a real stumbling block if you're not quite sure how to go about them. In simple terms, reflective essays constitute a critical examination of a life experience and, with the right guidance, they're not too challenging to put together. A reflective essay is similar to other essays in that it needs to be easily understood and well structured, but the content is more akin to something personal like a diary entry.

In this guide, we explore in detail how to write a great reflective essay , including what makes a good structure and some advice on the writing process. We’ve even thrown in an example reflective essay to inspire you too, making this the ultimate guide for anyone needing reflective essay help.

Types of Reflection Papers

There are several types of reflective papers, each serving a unique purpose. Educational reflection papers focus on your learning experiences, such as a course or a lecture, and how they have impacted your understanding. Professional reflection papers often relate to work experiences, discussing what you have learned in a professional setting and how it has shaped your skills and perspectives. Personal reflection papers delve into personal experiences and their influence on your personal growth and development.

Each of these requires a slightly different approach, but all aim to provide insight into your thoughts and experiences, demonstrating your ability to analyse and learn from them. Understanding the specific requirements of each type can help you tailor your writing to effectively convey your reflections.

Reflective Essay Format

In a reflective essay, a writer primarily examines his or her life experiences, hence the term ‘reflective’. The purpose of writing a reflective essay is to provide a platform for the author to not only recount a particular life experience, but to also explore how he or she has changed or learned from those experiences. Reflective writing can be presented in various formats, but you’ll most often see it in a learning log format or diary entry. Diary entries in particular are used to convey how the author’s thoughts have developed and evolved over the course of a particular period.

The format of a reflective essay may change depending on the target audience. Reflective essays can be academic, or may feature more broadly as a part of a general piece of writing for a magazine, for instance. For class assignments, while the presentation format can vary, the purpose generally remains the same: tutors aim to inspire students to think deeply and critically about a particular learning experience or set of experiences. Here are some typical examples of reflective essay formats that you may have to write:

A focus on personal growth:

A type of reflective essay often used by tutors as a strategy for helping students to learn how to analyse their personal life experiences to promote emotional growth and development. The essay gives the student a better understanding of both themselves and their behaviours.

A focus on the literature:

This kind of essay requires students to provide a summary of the literature, after which it is applied to the student’s own life experiences.

Pre-Writing Tips: How to Start Writing the Reflection Essay?

As you go about deciding on the content of your essay, you need to keep in mind that a reflective essay is highly personal and aimed at engaging the reader or target audience. And there’s much more to a reflective essay than just recounting a story. You need to be able to reflect (more on this later) on your experience by showing how it influenced your subsequent behaviours and how your life has been particularly changed as a result.

As a starting point, you might want to think about some important experiences in your life that have really impacted you, either positively, negatively, or both. Some typical reflection essay topics include: a real-life experience, an imagined experience, a special object or place, a person who had an influence on you, or something you have watched or read. If you are writing a reflective essay as part of an academic exercise, chances are your tutor will ask you to focus on a particular episode – such as a time when you had to make an important decision – and reflect on what the outcomes were. Note also, that the aftermath of the experience is especially important in a reflective essay; miss this out and you will simply be storytelling.

What Do You Mean By Reflection Essay?

It sounds obvious, but the reflective process forms the core of writing this type of essay, so it’s important you get it right from the outset. You need to really think about how the personal experience you have chosen to focus on impacted or changed you. Use your memories and feelings of the experience to determine the implications for you on a personal level.

Once you’ve chosen the topic of your essay, it’s really important you study it thoroughly and spend a lot of time trying to think about it vividly. Write down everything you can remember about it, describing it as clearly and fully as you can. Keep your five senses in mind as you do this, and be sure to use adjectives to describe your experience. At this stage, you can simply make notes using short phrases, but you need to ensure that you’re recording your responses, perceptions, and your experience of the event(s).

Once you’ve successfully emptied the contents of your memory, you need to start reflecting. A great way to do this is to pick out some reflection questions which will help you think deeper about the impact and lasting effects of your experience. Here are some useful questions that you can consider:

What have you learned about yourself as a result of the experience?
Have you developed because of it? How?
Did it have any positive or negative bearing on your life?
Looking back, what would you have done differently?
Why do you think you made the particular choices that you did? Do you think these were the right choices?
What are your thoughts on the experience in general? Was it a useful learning experience? What specific skills or perspectives did you acquire as a result?

These signpost questions should help kick-start your reflective process. Remember, asking yourself lots of questions is key to ensuring that you think deeply and critically about your experiences – a skill that is at the heart of writing a great reflective essay.

Consider using models of reflection (like the Gibbs or Kolb cycles) before, during, and after the learning process to ensure that you maintain a high standard of analysis. For example, before you really get stuck into the process, consider questions such as: what might happen (regarding the experience)? Are there any possible challenges to keep in mind? What knowledge is needed to be best prepared to approach the experience? Then, as you’re planning and writing, these questions may be useful: what is happening within the learning process? Is the process working out as expected? Am I dealing with the accompanying challenges successfully? Is there anything that needs to be done additionally to ensure that the learning process is successful? What am I learning from this? By adopting such a framework, you’ll be ensuring that you are keeping tabs on the reflective process that should underpin your work.

How to Strategically Plan Out the Reflective Essay Structure?

Here’s a very useful tip: although you may feel well prepared with all that time spent reflecting in your arsenal, do not, start writing your essay until you have worked out a comprehensive, well-rounded plan . Your writing will be so much more coherent, your ideas conveyed with structure and clarity, and your essay will likely achieve higher marks.

This is an especially important step when you’re tackling a reflective essay – there can be a tendency for people to get a little ‘lost’ or disorganised as they recount their life experiences in an erratic and often unsystematic manner as it is a topic so close to their hearts. But if you develop a thorough outline (this is the same as a ‘plan’) and ensure you stick to it like Christopher Columbus to a map, you should do just fine as you embark on the ultimate step of writing your essay. If you need further convincing on how important planning is, we’ve summarised the key benefits of creating a detailed essay outline below:

Now you’re familiar with the benefits of using an outline for your reflective essay, it is essential that you know how to craft one. It can be considerably different from other typical essay outlines, mostly because of the varying subjects. But what remains the same, is that you need to start your outline by drafting the introduction, body and conclusion. More on this below.

Introduction

As is the case with all essays, your reflective essay must begin within an introduction that contains both a hook and a thesis statement. The point of having a ‘hook’ is to grab the attention of your audience or reader from the very beginning. You must portray the exciting aspects of your story in the initial paragraph so that you stand the best chances of holding your reader’s interest. Refer back to the opening quote of this article – did it grab your attention and encourage you to read more? The thesis statement is a brief summary of the focus of the essay, which in this case is a particular experience that influenced you significantly. Remember to give a quick overview of your experience – don’t give too much information away or you risk your reader becoming disinterested.

Next up is planning the body of your essay. This can be the hardest part of the entire paper; it’s easy to waffle and repeat yourself both in the plan and in the actual writing. Have you ever tried recounting a story to a friend only for them to tell you to ‘cut the long story short’? They key here is to put plenty of time and effort into planning the body, and you can draw on the following tips to help you do this well:

Try adopting a chronological approach. This means working through everything you want to touch upon as it happened in time. This kind of approach will ensure that your work is systematic and coherent. Keep in mind that a reflective essay doesn’t necessarily have to be linear, but working chronologically will prevent you from providing a haphazard recollection of your experience. Lay out the important elements of your experience in a timeline – this will then help you clearly see how to piece your narrative together.

Ensure the body of your reflective essay is well focused and contains appropriate critique and reflection. The body should not only summarise your experience, it should explore the impact that the experience has had on your life, as well as the lessons that you have learned as a result. The emphasis should generally be on reflection as opposed to summation. A reflective posture will not only provide readers with insight on your experience, it’ll highlight your personality and your ability to deal with or adapt to particular situations.

In the conclusion of your reflective essay, you should focus on bringing your piece together by providing a summary of both the points made throughout, and what you have learned as a result. Try to include a few points on why and how your attitudes and behaviours have been changed. Consider also how your character and skills have been affected, for example: what conclusions can be drawn about your problem-solving skills? What can be concluded about your approach to specific situations? What might you do differently in similar situations in the future? What steps have you taken to consolidate everything that you have learned from your experience? Keep in mind that your tutor will be looking out for evidence of reflection at a very high standard.

Congratulations – you now have the tools to create a thorough and accurate plan which should put you in good stead for the ultimate phase indeed of any essay, the writing process.

Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Your Reflective Essay

As with all written assignments, sitting down to put pen to paper (or more likely fingers to keyboard) can be daunting. But if you have put in the time and effort fleshing out a thorough plan, you should be well prepared, which will make the writing process as smooth as possible. The following points should also help ease the writing process:

To get a feel for the tone and format in which your writing should be, read other typically reflective pieces in magazines and newspapers, for instance.
Don’t think too much about how to start your first sentence or paragraph; just start writing and you can always come back later to edit anything you’re not keen on. Your first draft won’t necessarily be your best essay writing work but it’s important to remember that the earlier you start writing, the more time you will have to keep reworking your paper until it’s perfect. Don’t shy away from using a free-flow method, writing and recording your thoughts and feelings on your experiences as and when they come to mind. But make sure you stick to your plan. Your plan is your roadmap which will ensure your writing doesn’t meander too far off course.
For every point you make about an experience or event, support it by describing how you were directly impacted, using specific as opposed to vague words to convey exactly how you felt.
Write using the first-person narrative, ensuring that the tone of your essay is very personal and reflective of your character.
If you need to, refer back to our notes earlier on creating an outline. As you work through your essay, present your thoughts systematically, remembering to focus on your key learning outcomes.
Consider starting your introduction with a short anecdote or quote to grasp your readers’ attention, or other engaging techniques such as flashbacks.
Choose your vocabulary carefully to properly convey your feelings and emotions. Remember that reflective writing has a descriptive component and so must have a wide range of adjectives to draw from. Avoid vague adjectives such as ‘okay’ or ‘nice’ as they don’t really offer much insight into your feelings and personality. Be more specific – this will make your writing more engaging.
Be honest with your feelings and opinions. Remember that this is a reflective task, and is the one place you can freely admit – without any repercussions – that you failed at a particular task. When assessing your essay, your tutor will expect a deep level of reflection, not a simple review of your experiences and emotion. Showing deep reflection requires you to move beyond the descriptive. Be extremely critical about your experience and your response to it. In your evaluation and analysis, ensure that you make value judgements, incorporating ideas from outside the experience you had to guide your analysis. Remember that you can be honest about your feelings without writing in a direct way. Use words that work for you and are aligned with your personality.
Once you’ve finished learning about and reflecting on your experience, consider asking yourself these questions: what did I particularly value from the experience and why? Looking back, how successful has the process been? Think about your opinions immediately after the experience and how they differ now, so that you can evaluate the difference between your immediate and current perceptions. Asking yourself such questions will help you achieve reflective writing effectively and efficiently.
Don’t shy away from using a variety of punctuation. It helps keeps your writing dynamic! Doesn’t it?
If you really want to awaken your reader’s imagination, you can use imagery to create a vivid picture of your experiences.
Ensure that you highlight your turning point, or what we like to call your “Aha!” moment. Without this moment, your resulting feelings and thoughts aren’t as valid and your argument not as strong.
Don’t forget to keep reiterating the lessons you have learned from your experience.

Bonus Tip - Using Wider Sources

Although a reflective piece of writing is focused on personal experience, it’s important you draw on other sources to demonstrate your understanding of your experience from a theoretical perspective. It’ll show a level of analysis – and a standard of reliability in what you’re claiming – if you’re also able to validate your work against other perspectives that you find. Think about possible sources, like newspapers, surveys, books and even journal articles. Generally, the additional sources you decide to include in your work are highly dependent on your field of study. Analysing a wide range of sources, will show that you have read widely on your subject area, that you have nuanced insight into the available literature on the subject of your essay, and that you have considered the broader implications of the literature for your essay. The incorporation of other sources into your essay also helps to show that you are aware of the multi-dimensional nature of both the learning and problem-solving process.

Reflective Essay Example

If you want some inspiration for writing, take a look at our example of a short reflective essay , which can serve as a useful starting point for you when you set out to write your own.

Some Final Notes to Remember

To recap, the key to writing a reflective essay is demonstrating what lessons you have taken away from your experiences, and why and how you have been shaped by these lessons.

The reflective thinking process begins with you – you must consciously make an effort to identify and examine your own thoughts in relation to a particular experience. Don’t hesitate to explore any prior knowledge or experience of the topic, which will help you identify why you have formed certain opinions on the subject. Remember that central to reflective essay writing is the examination of your attitudes, assumptions and values, so be upfront about how you feel. Reflective writing can be quite therapeutic, helping you identify and clarify your strengths and weaknesses, particularly in terms of any knowledge gaps that you may have. It’s a pretty good way of improving your critical thinking skills, too. It enables you to adopt an introspective posture in analysing your experiences and how you learn/make sense of them.

If you are still having difficulties with starting the writing process, why not try mind-mapping which will help you to structure your thinking and ideas, enabling you to produce a coherent piece. Creating a mind map will ensure that your argument is written in a very systematic way that will be easy for your tutor to follow. Here’s a recap of the contents of this article, which also serves as a way to create a mind map:

1. Identify the topic you will be writing on.

2. Note down any ideas that are related to the topic and if you want to, try drawing a diagram to link together any topics, theories, and ideas.

3. Allow your ideas to flow freely, knowing that you will always have time to edit your reflective essay .

4. Consider how your ideas are connected to each other, then begin the writing process.

And finally, keep in mind that although there are descriptive elements in a reflective essay, we can’t emphasise enough how crucial it is that your work is critical, analytical, and adopts a reflective posture in terms of your experience and the lessons you have learned from it.

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(PDF) A reflection on my placement in General Practice: The morning service

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A complete guide to writing a reflective essay
Identify the topic you will be writing on. 2. Note down any ideas that are related to the topic and if you want to, try drawing a diagram to link together any topics, theories, and ideas. 3. Allow your ideas to flow freely, knowing that you will always have time to edit your reflective essay. 4.
Reflection on Clinical Placement
Clinical Placement Reflection 2. Communication with others within the clinical setting - this may include staff members, patients and relatives. During my placement I was in a stroke unit. Being on this unit, I worked with many clients who suffered from post-stoke symptoms and many had difficulty with speech. The experience helped me learn ...
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How to Write a Nursing Reflective Essay (Guide for Nurse Students)

Basics of Reflective Writing in Nursing

Structure of a Reflective Essay in Nursing

Introduction

Body Paragraphs

Steps for Writing a Nursing Reflection Essay ï¿½ The Guide

Read the instructions

Research and Plan

Write an Outline

Describe the Experience

Provide a Reflection

Analyze the Experience

Give an Evaluation

Illustrate Learning

Write Your Conclusion

Come Up with an Action Plan

Proofread, Edit, and Polish

Choosing the suitable Reflective Model or Framework

Tips for Writing a Good Nursing Reflective Essay

Choose the Right Topic

Use the Right Tone

Be Vulnerable

Choose the Right Focus

Keep it Brief

Convey Your Information Wisely

Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a Reflection Essay in Nursing

Not including a Personal Story

Failing to Share Your Experience

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A complete guide to writing a reflective essay

Since 2006, Oxbridge Essays has been the UK’s leading paid essay-writing and dissertation service

Types of Reflection Papers

Reflective Essay Format

A focus on personal growth:

A focus on the literature:

Pre-Writing Tips: How to Start Writing the Reflection Essay?

What Do You Mean By Reflection Essay?

How to Strategically Plan Out the Reflective Essay Structure?

Introduction

Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Your Reflective Essay

Bonus Tip - Using Wider Sources

Reflective Essay Example

Some Final Notes to Remember

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