Unit 6 : P5 Reflect on own personal and professional development

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P5 Reflect on own personal and professional development:

To begin with I feel that it is important to define what reflect actual is. To reflect means to look back, and that is what I am going to do in regards to my personal and professional development. Reflection is a key skill to even have and is important to the health and social care environment as it helps to improve and skills which are what Kolb suggested.  Through this short account I will reflect on my own personal and professional development mainly using the principles of Gibbs cycle of reflection which includes principles such as. I believe I have made positive progress and overcome any mistakes that I have previously made, to themselves myself as an individual.

I did my placement within a nursery and which was responsible for caring for children between 0-5 years. I was responsible for caring and interacting with the children as well as supporting the staff in planning activities for the children, I was not however involved in the intimate care of the children. My feelings for the placement varied as I originally did not want to work with the children, as I would of preferred to work within a hospital type environment. However my feelings gradually changed the further as the placement went on and in the end I was quite happy. I believe that the placement helped me professionally develop as it allowed me to put theory into practice. I believe the placement was good in some aspects and bad in some aspects, but both of these aspects helped me professionally develop. It was a positive experience due to the fact that it allowed me to put theory into practice, which is a opportunity which I haven’t had before. It was also a positive experience as I had professionals in the placement that also helped me develop, as they pointed out areas which I may need to improve in. For example one of the nursery nurses suggested that I speak more simply when dealing with children rather than use complicated language. This therefore helped me develop professional develop as they pointed out areas in which I need to work in. it also was a positive experience on my professional development as it allowed me to work in a professional team learn how to communicate effectively as well as how to communicate and interact with children as it is likely as a nurse I will come into contact with children. This all aids in my professional develop of becoming a nurse, as those skills are very necessary so that experience helped me develop those skills needed to be a nurse. With that said in some ways the work placement did not aid on my professional development as it was a limited experience. For example there was a limit to what I could do as all I mainly did was play and support the children, which slightly hindered my professional development.  With that said I think the entire placement aided my professional development due to the reasons mentioned above. With all that said I think the overall experience helped me develop professional and prepare for future professional relationships ahead, such of between nurse and service user. The placement is the main cause for my professional development as it for a formal learning opportunity; however at the same time my academic work has helped me develop professionally as well. This is because it helped me develop my strengths as well as increase my self-awareness. However with all that said I believe that I developed professionally within the placement rather than anywhere else. This is due to the reasons above and also because of other areas that the work placement helped me develop which is are linked to professional development. for example it taught me about time keeping and how to manage my time, for example it taught me that I needed to leave with sufficient time in case there were delays or due to other reasons. It also taught me the appropriate use of language when talking to colleagues. Another thing that should be mention is that my placement helped me link practice and theory. For example link theory to practice, for example I applied the communication cycle (unit 1) while on practice. With that said the placement also allowed me to recognise how certain practices can be linked to theory. More of my reflecting on my professional development can be seen in my reflective diary, which will also be included as evidence of my professional development. Also more of my professional development can be seen within my work experience diary which will also be submitted as evidence. However with that said an extract of my reflective journal from my work placement can be seen below which is based upon a particular incident. It is based upon Gibbs model of reflection. Gibbs model of reflection is based upon 6 stages; description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and action plan.

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Description: My placement took place within Mudchute Nursery. This nursery supports and cares for children ages 0-5 year old. I am just a work experience student so I do not carry much responsibility or able to do much. On the 4th day of my placement I was asked by Ingrid to help plan an activity for the children. I managed to plan an activity that I thought the children would enjoy but still aid their development. Once I prepared the activity I presented it to Ingrid and received some slight criticism as she thought it wasn’t productive enough.

Feelings: I was extremely ...

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