Reflective: Gibbs Model (Essay Sample)

Reflective
Name
Institution
Introduction
The main objective of the essay is to reflect and critically study an event from a clinical setting using a model of reflection. Therefore, it will allow the analysis of the event also drawing conclusions that relate to personal learning outcomes. The importance of the clinical analysis and incidents will be discussed in the paper followed by the process of reflection using the chosen model, which is the Gibbs Model.
According to Bulman, & Schutz (2008), critical incidents refers to snapshots of the something that happens mainly to patients, family members or clinical staff, in this case, it can be positive or a situation where a person has fallen victim in some way. That is why reflection and the analysis of the incidents are significant learning tools for nurses, where it allows nurses explore on their actions, feelings, and study available evidence-based literature; therefore, bridging the gap between practice and theory. The reflection paper will make use of Gibbs reflection model; this is because it is precise and simple thus allowing for description, analysis, and the evaluation of a nurse’s experience in ensuring the experiences they had make sense also examining their practice.
Gibbs Model
According to Delany & Molloy (2009), Gibbs model consist of six main stages that completes one cycle, which has the capability of improving nursing practice significantly and learning from the experience for better practices in the future. First, the Gibbs Model starts with a description of the situation, second, is the analysis of the nurse’s feelings, third, is the evaluation of the experience the nurse had. Fourth, is the analysis that make sense of the experience, the fifth stage is the conclusion of what could have been done, and the last stage is the action plan where it highlights strategies that could be used if the situation happened again. These stages are helpful in a nursing experience since they generate the practice knowledge, develop self-esteem for the nurses, develop professionalizing practice, and assist in the nurse’s capability to adapt to situations as they arise (Delany, & Molloy, 2009).
Description
I am an enrolled nurse in a hospital; therefore, my reflection is about a patient whom I cared for in my course of duty in the hospital. In this case, I will name my patient as Mr. Chris; this is to ensure that his patient confidentiality is protected. In this section of the Gibbs model, I will describe an event that took place during my line of duty as a nurse. It happened this day I was in the surgical ward in the hospital attending to patients under the supervision of the senior nurse in the hospital also taking my rounds, when I was asked to remove the dressing on Mr. Chris’s wound so that it could be assessed. Therefore, I detached the dressing using aseptic method and later cleansed the wound carefully. I sat there with the patient as the senior nurse attended at another patient across the room.
When the attending doctor arrived from visiting another patient, I watched him as he came straight to attend Mr. Chris’s wound without washing his hands first or without using an alcohol gel that would disinfect his hands. Moreover, the doctor was wearing loose watch on his hand, thus I was concerned that this circumstances would lead to further infection of Mr. Chris’s wound. In this situation, I was in a dilemma of whether to speak, but then on the other hand, I did not enough courage to confront the doctor since I thought it was too late since the doctor had already started attending to Mr. Chris’s wound.
Feelings
This section of the Gibbs Reflective Model will discuss the feelings I had, or the thoughts I had when this event unfolded. First, I was shocked that a fully trained doctor would not wash his hands or use a disinfectant gel before attending to Mr. Chris. This means that, if he did this I this occasion, he might have done it in several other occasions with patients and this would put them in risk of infection. In spite of this event, I did not have the courage, confidence, and a feeling of intimidation by the fact that the doctor had over 10 years experience working in the hospital, also the fear of making him uncomfortable even though I also had a little experience in the field.
Soon after the doctor left, I went to the senior nurse and told her of what I had observed when the doctor was attending the patient. The senior nurse decided that she should confront the doctor on the next day. Therefore, the next day the senior nurse talked to the doctor in private and confronted him of whether he had disinfected his hands or washed them before attending Mr. Chris. Though the doctor appeared astonished about the conversation, he admitted that he had not washed his hands, but responded by justifying his action by saying that he was in a rush to go somewhere. However, the senior nurse discussed the significance of hands disinfection and hygiene, and later the doctor promised to follow protocol and cleanliness before attending to patients in the future occasions.
Evaluation
First, this event was challenging and difficult for me as an enrolled nurse, since I felt disappointed by the fact that I lacked the confidence of not confronting the doctor before he started attending the patient. Second, I also felt content by the way the doctor responded so positively to the confrontation by the senior nurse. Moreover, over the times the doctor and I has had an encounter in the patients ward, he had changed his practices, and this is because of the event in the ward. In addition, I have also learnt the significance of acting aggressively with the hospital staff members in a more responsive approach with the purpose of safeguarding each patient’s health. Generally, the senior nurse showed a sense of leadership when he decided to take up her role and confront the doctor on the poor practices that was not in accordance to the hospitals guidelines.
Description and Action Plan
Generally, nurses have the responsibility to protect and maintain the interests of each patient in the hospital. Some of these responsibilities include ensuring that the nurse’s knowledge and their competencies correspond with the tasks undertaken. Therefore, this trickle down to the leadership of the hospital, where the leaders such as the senior nurse ensures that all the nursing guidelines are followed to the letter to ensure there is not complications with the patients. According to Bulman, & Schutz (2008), research, infections are responsible for world’s increased mortality and morbidity, thus a comprehensive knowledge of controlling infections, precautions, and basic microbiology should be some of the important requirements of all healthcare professionals. In this cas...