Nursing Reflective Analysis

Introduction
This essay is a reflective piece of writing about the critical indecent of a medication error that occurred during my placement. It is a very concise piece of writing due to limited word count of 1500 words. Duke and Appleton (2000) did a literature review and devised a framework of critical reflection, which illustrates eight stages as compare to Gibbs’s (1998) reflective model that consist of six stages. I chose Gibbs reflective model not only it is easy to comprehend but also to illustrate a critical incident. The Gibbs’s reflective cycle comprises of six stages, which are description, feeling, evaluation, analysis of the incident, conclusion and an action plan. I used these stages as a guidance tool during the process of reflective essay about my critical incident (Parsons and White 2008).
Nursing in the past was more habituated and ritualistic than rational and precision. Nurses were not encouraged to question their practice let alone reflective practice. In early 1970s nursing started to move away from routines and rituals towards research-based practice (James and Clarke 1994). Reflection is a broad and complex process (Kenzi-Sampson 2005) therefore there is not a set single definition (Jarvis 1992). According to Reid (1993, p.305) reflection can be defined as a “process of reviewing an experience of practice to describe, analyze, evaluate and so inform learning about practice”. The question is why do we need reflective practice. This essay will try to