Writing a Good Reflective Nursing Essay
Writing a Good Reflective Nursing Essay
Tips for writing a good reflective nursing essay. Reflective essays aim at testing the critical reflective ability of students. Nurses are required to go for various practices before completing their coursework. At these clinical practices, the nursing students experience multiple experiences, which they may be asked to commemorate in a reflective nursing essay. Are you stuck with your reflective essay writing? Well, here are the top five tips to use to reflect on an encounter at a healthcare setting critically;
Be Specific when Writing the Description
The description refers to the incident or event. Although a student may denote the fact they are reflecting on, they tend to miss some points due to lack of thorough description of the event. For example, a nursing student may indicate that they are commemorating an incident that occurred when they were at an intern program in the oncology ward. Although they had stated when and where they were at the occurrence of the event, they have not specified details such as why they were in the ward in the first place, and what circumstances led upon to the incident in the oncology ward.
Reveal Your Feelings During the Event
The unique thing about a reflective essay is that it gives the writer the power to show their feelings. Some students may think that all nursing essays tend to be serious, and therefore, one cannot reveal their emotions. In a reflective essay, it is mandatory to tell the reader how you felt during the event being described. For example, ‘since I had only been an intern for two months, I felt powerless to intervene in the fight between the patient and my colleague. I did not feel confident enough or experienced enough to intervene. Fear and anxiety got the better part of me, resulting in me standing there dumbfounded.’
Evaluate the Incident
When evaluating the event, ensure you explain both the bad and good elements that came from the experience. From our previous example, a student may indicate that from the experience, they learnt to quickly communicate to the securities, to avoid matters escalating and leading to worse scenarios such as injuries. A student may indicate that the best element of the experience was learning their weakness, which they have working on since the event occurred.
Write a Distinct Conclusion
It is vital to write a reasonable conclusion, which entails what one has learnt from the incident. Do not introduce an aspect that was not mentioned in the body since the conclusion is merely a summary of the body and introduction. In the conclusion, a student can also highlight a recommendation or action plan that they believe can mitigate scenarios such as those they encountered in the healthcare facility.
Proofread your Essay
Although most people tend to think they make no grammatical or spelling mistakes, the reality is no one is perfect. A student must always re-read their work to ensure they correct any grammatical, transitioning, or spelling errors that are present in their nursing reflective essay.
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