Reflective Practice Essay

1. Understand how to reflect on practice in adult social care 1.1 Reflective practice is the ability to constantly monitor one’s own performance in a given role and make adjustments where necessary. For me as carer, reflective practice is particularly important because no two cases will ever be the same and it is vitally important to remain reactive and reflective at all times. Reflective practice has been demonstrated to have significant benefits when it comes to the delivery of person centred care, and can help me to ensure that I am able to accurately assess the needs of each resident as an individual rather than as a case number to be merely care for. With reflective practice widely regarded as one of the most important elements of modern care work, it is essential that all care workers become familiar with reflective practice methods. 1.2 Reflective practise is important because it helps me develop and imrpove my practise by thinking about what am I doing. It is about thinking hings over. It can help me to understand feelings and the wider issues involved. By reflecting on events it can allow me to make sense of something that has happened or been said and and possibly see the meaning and reason behind someone else’s actions or words. By reflecting on our own actions we are able to see areas where we could improve, change strategies or actions. It is great tool to aid our learning. This is explained by ,,Kolb’s learning theory’’. David Kolb proposed a 4-stage experiental learning cycle that applies to all learners. He sugested that immediate or concrete experiences provide a basis for observation and reflection. 1.3 It is my responsibility to ensure my knowledge and skills ate up to date. It is important to regulary attend training. Legislations and procedures are constanly changing and it is important to maintain my knowledge and keep it current. The GSCC code of practise states that carers should: – Be accountable for quality of their work and take responsibility for maintaining and improving their knowledge and skills – Undertake relevant  training to maintain and improve their knowledge and skills + contribute to the learning and development of others. – Seek assistance from employer o appropriate authority if there is any doubt about how to proceed in work matter. 1.4 Beliefs systems can be method for understanding, organising and making sense of the world around us. By exploring our own peronal values and beliefs we are able to understand our own individual perspectives of life and world around us. As a care assistant I need to be careful not to impose my own values upon the service user. I can easily fail to recognise service user’s rights to their own standards and beliefs because I held too rigidly to my own beliefs. There may be many differences between my values and standards and service user’s such as: – Having a bath only once a week – Different sexual preferences – Wearing thick, winter clothes in summer – Refusing medication†¦ Im responsible for providing an equal, not discriminatory and inclusive service to all service users no matter what how different are their values from mines. 2. Understand the importance of feedback in improving own practice 2.1 Constructive feedback should include both positive feedback and opportunities for development. Giving both positive and negative feedback enables others to fully understand the impact of what it is they are doing, so that they can continue the effective and correct the ineffective. Feedback is intended to improve an individual’s contribution and develop better staff morale. When feedback is given constructively, people will often respond positively. After all, most people are keen to improve. However, because feedback can be seen as criticism, they sometimes react by: – trying to defend themselves – choosing not to hear what is said – selective reception – doubting the motives of the person giving feedback – denying the validity of the feedback – rationalising why they behaved the way they did – making excuses for their behaviour Because of this, careful consideration needs to be given to how feedback is delivered, making it positive and helpful. 2.2 Feedback is important because: – sets up target and the person knows what to improve on – gets the person motivated and focused – help identify weaknesses and strengths – express and stress what is important to the organisation and the job and hence what the person concerned should prioritise – builds moral and relationship between examiner and worker (depending on how the feedback is given and what sort of work culture there is), in turn, this builds on the credibility of the feedback – induces competition and challenge – a form of motivation – encourages a learning environment, as oppose to a win-lose performance environment – encourages initiatives and ‘risk’/taking chances  confident. I asked her everything I wasn’t sure about and explained to her my feelings. Supervision and feedback is very useful and help me to improve my practise. Informal: should be given to me by my service users, colleagues of family members. It can be just a little comment about my-self, about work I am doing. I always need to be ready to listen. Who can give me better feedback on my work if not my service users? If I’m not sure if I’m doing my job properly, I can always ask my customers. I can prepare a box and tell them to write comments on my work. Then I should read it carefully and apply it in my work. 3. Understand how a personal development plan can contribute to own learning and development 3.1 A personal development plan is a tool that helps one to organise their life activities in terms of certain objectives. It can constitute of personal or professional goals or both e.g. goals on career, relationships, education and health. It is advantageous as one can transform their goals into an achievement. Components may include: – Objectives: What do I want to be able to do or do better? – Actions: What methods will I use to achieve my learning objectives? – Success criteria: How will I recognise success? How will I review and measure my improvement? – Achievement date: When do I expect to achieve my objectives? – Implementation: How will I practise and apply what I learn? 3.2 Everyone should have their own personal development plan. This should be an up to date record showing trainings attended and any training and development needs identified. These needs should have been identified by my-self, my manager or assessor. During my I work I can find out that I need more training in administration of medication, my manger can feel that I need some more training in moving and handling due new equipment need to be used in my workplace. Also my assessor can realise during y supervision that my health and safety training needs to be up dated. This is all kind of support for me in planning and reviewing my development plan. I can also learn from observing more experienced colleagues, working and discussing  issues as a team, reading books/newspaper or searching for support on internet. 3.3 Others may include: – The individual: my service users have the most important role in my personal development because they are the ones I am doing it for. To provide the best care and support for them. Their reactions on my work, satisfaction/ not satisfaction will show me where the gaps are or what my strengths are. – Carers /colleagues: Because my work is mostly teamwork my colleagues play an important role in my personal development plan. Working in team improves my communication skills, common sense†¦ If I find out that I am a role model for one of my colleagues I should know I do my job well. – Supervisor/ line manager: my manger is here to support me with all my needs, doubts and questions. By observing me she can find areas in my work which needs developing so she can provide training for me. – NVQ assessor: comes to observe me and helps me with my work. By observing and working with me she can find gaps in my knowledge and advise me where to find information to develop my skills. 3.4 Benefits of PDP to professional life – Clearer ideas about the kind of life and work I want. – Greater confidence in the choices I make. – Greater confidence in the skills, qualities and attributes I bring to the career of my choice. – Being in a better position to compete for jobs. – Being better able to discuss my skills, personal qualities and competences with employers. – Better problem-solving and planning skills. – Developing the positive attitudes and approaches associated with successful professional life. Many employers now expect employees to understand their own performance – and to know how to adapt to meet times of increased workload, stressful situations or conditions of change. Employees are expected to respond well to change. Whilst some employers offer training, it is more typical for employers to expect graduates to arrive ready to manage both their own performance and the performance of other people. Time devoted to understanding what influences your own performance can be very well spent. It is also important to be aware of how your behaviour affects other people. Employees are often expected to show personal commitment to their continuous professional development (CPD), actively seeking out information, training and events that will keep their skills and knowledge up-to-date. Knowing how to learn, and how you learn best, will be invaluable in the work place. Benefits of PDP to personal life – A better understanding of myself – Being in a better position to make appropriate choices to meet my aspirations. – Greater awareness of my needs and how to meet these. – Greater awareness of the unique contribution I can make. – Developing a positive, forward-looking approach.