Reflection on the Development and Application of a Fundamental Nursing Essay

Reflection on the Development and Application of a Fundamental Nursing Skill in Nursing Practice - Essay Example This is why it is very essential for nurses to be able to carry out an analysis and clearly respond to these new challenges that keep arising in a very proactive way. As such, development of critical reflective and thinking skills does assist nurses in meeting the ever emerging challenges related to giving needed care in context of a dynamic and rapid change of environment so as to develop into a critically reflective nursing practitioner. There are different approaches to critical thinking and reflective practices. My model for this paper is the Gibb’s Reflective cycle. This paper focuses on a patient with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy; he suffers from epilepsy and also scoliosis. Cerebral palsy is a condition whereby there is a brain damage disrupting normal functioning of the body muscles. Spastic quadriplegia is one of the nine forms of cerebral palsy and which is quite common (Banta, 2003, pp.2-18). It disables and a very serious form of cerebral palsy compared to o thers because it affects the whole body. It causes muscle stiffness or paralysis of all the four quadrants of the body. Such patients cannot walk and have impaired speech functions (Rucker, 1985, pp.206-207). Their necks are floppy due to lack of control and are prone to constant seizures. Epilepsy on the other hand is still a brain disorder that causes repeated seizures which occur as a result of episodes of disturbance to the brain. While Scoliosis is the curving of the spine away from the middle hence goes sideways (Burtner, et al., 1999, pp.748-57). During my recent nursing placement, I undertook a five week program at a learning disability care home situated on the northwest of England. It was quite an experience and worked as an eye opener in my nursing career. At the time of my placement and throughout the period, I happened to observe and took part in a program aimed at feeding the residents within the learning disability care home. In this program, I focused mainly on a res ident called James (real name withheld for patient confidentiality reasons). This patient has a medical history of spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy; he suffers from epilepsy and also scoliosis. As a result of his health condition, James has developed dysphagia, which is a swallowing difficulty and for that reason he has to eat and drink in a way that does not harm him since he has no control of the process and relies on nursing help. About the Gibb’s Reflective Cycle I learnt about the Gibb’s reflective cycle during my nursing study practice. The cycle involves various stages starting with stage one which involves the description of a given event under study. Here, I have to describe in clear detail the kind of event under reflection. This stage includes details such as the place, whoever was there, the reason as to why I was there, what I was doing, the kind of context the event had, the happenings, my part that I played in the event, and others including the resul ts (Stephenson, 1993, pp.1-18). Stage 2 is about how I felt. Here, I try recalling the things that did go on inside my mind and try explaining why this event stuck in my mind. This could entail how I felt before the event took place, what I was thinking at that time, how the event made me feel, how others made me feel, and my take on the outcome, among others. The 3rd stage has more to do with the evaluation process where I try to make a personal judgment of what took place regarding what I felt was good or bad about my experience. This leads to the 4th stage in which case I try to carry out an analysis of the event.