Diabetic Patient - Report Example

Introduction

In nursing practice, one goes through the motions of learning and teaching at different times. One must be reflective all through the academic journey and professional career to ensure that growth and development are assured. A reflective registered nurse improves significantly in the care delivery system by gaining more insight and growing in expertise. Using Gibbs reflective study method, one can realize that reflective practice is not a luxury approach, rather a necessity in the pursuance of excellence in healthcare (Beam et al., 2010). This reflection essay explores how a registered nurse would make a better expert on caring for diabetic patients through learning, teaching and assessment practice.

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The Gibbs reflective cycle helps one to analytically reflect on a clinical teaching activity, evaluating the different aspects of the session (Wilding, 2013). The reflective essay looks into the description, feeling, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, action plan and summary; which are reminiscent of the stages of Gibbs’ reflective cycle. Through the different stages of the model, the experience is well analyzed and critically describes how a student-nurse prepares to become a nursing teacher. Jacobs (2016) insisted that reflective learning and practice is part of the holistic practice of nursing, which must not be ignored. It aids professional development that every nurse needs to gain.

The Reflection Through Gibbs’ Stages

I am a nurse at a medical facility, and it happened that Mr. Star, a 53-year old white man, was admitted with type 2 diabetes. I was assigned the patient as the nurse-in-charge of the patient. While serving him, it triggered the idea of helping diabetes patients with self-management in controlling the blood sugar. Accordingly, I sought relevant information that would guide my preparation for such a teaching session, which would incorporate Mr. Star and nineteen other persons living with diabetes. The information on diabetes management and patient education was sought from scholarly articles.

Fornasini (2019) posited that the management of diabetes has primarily shifted to self-care by patients. In order to ensure successful self-management of the illness, there needs to be significant participation of registered nurses in training the patients. They have to ensure that the self-management procedures are well-understood by the patients. Lambrinou et al. (2019) advised that a teaching plan should contain learning outcomes, audience and context, theories involved and teaching strategy to be effective. The session also requires materials, student preparations and an evaluation strategy at the end of the session. Delivering a session of teaching must be comprehensive and well-orchestrated to meet the intended goals and objectives (Liao et al., 2018). The session targeted twenty diabetes patients and they needed to uptake the information and utilize it. In this case, the nurse is the teacher passing across important information to the patients. The nurse is also in a learning phase because patient experiences shall be shared in such a session. The nurse will gain further knowledge about the pathophysiology of diabetes.

Feelings

When preparing for this session, I was committed to ensuring that I deliver the best. I have a passion for assisting people living with chronic illnesses, and diabetes is one such illness. Therefore, other than being a matter of testing and assessment, it is something that was coming out of me passionately. According to Taylor (2003), when preparing for the session, one should do a background check very well, and gather as much as information as possible; which I did. In the presentation, I knew the best approach that would help the patients get the best insight about self-management of diabetes. Therefore, I can confidently say that I believe the session will go a long way in helping the participants manage their illness better, and lead a lifestyle of fewer challenge than they would without the lesson. With the considerable background check and consultation with other members, there was an air of certainty that the class would be delivered in the best way possible.

Evaluation

Every part of skill assessment should be a chance to learn and become better as a nurse (Asselin & Fain, 2013). It was not any different from this teaching and learning scenario. During the session, the evaluation was done through true/false questions to the participants. This way, it is always easy to understand whether the contents of the session are well transmitted to the audience. Response from learners is fundamental to the success of the learning process. Adler (1990) commented that reflective teaching must involve an evaluation procedure, where the teacher assesses personal ability to teach. Adler (1990) recommended that critical enquiry of the subject matter of a session should be a good measure of successful teaching.

Despite all the positives, there were nervous moments when a patient asked a question that I was not quite comfortable in responding. The situation manifested a couple of times, and all I could do was promise to give a detailed response in due course. Coulson and Harvey (2012) warned that such moments are common in teaching sessions. They occur because the student is also a learner, and may not have everything figured out. However, Loughran (2002) posited that a student-nurse should learn how to think quickly and critically in such situations. As such, it becomes possible to respond to learners instantly.

Analysis

The program was faced by challenges like different education levels of the patients and lack of prior teaching experience. How well one teaches could affect the outcomes of the whole program. As such, I felt the delivery of the content was not top notch. Azami et al. (2018) assessed the effect of a nurse-led diabetes self-management education program, which resonates well with my program. In the assessment, Azami et al. (2018) posited that such a program leads to sustained improvements in clinical, lifestyle, and psychosocial outcomes if well delivered. The doubts of the delivery thus put question marks on the effectiveness. Different levels of literacy demanded repetition for those who could not learn quickly, which was quite boring for the quick learners.

The team was well prepared to deliver the program. Therefore, even if it never reached the highest level of professional teaching, there was great confidence in what was offered to the twenty patients. Fearon-Lynch et al. (2018) said that guided reflection on self-care builds confidence in the treatment. The bullish mood of program, delivery is in synergy with that view. The program is a fundamental element of reflective practice, which improves professional know-how and is a psychological boost.

Conclusion

In the whole process of preparing the session, delivering the teaching and receiving feedback, there was a lot more that could have been done to make it better. The use of a projector may not have been adequate on its own. In future, brochures containing the session’s activities should be prepared and disturbed to the attendees for easier teaching. Further, feedback should be collected and made part of another session to ensure that every question gets a comprehensive response. The implementation and evaluation of a subsequent session should be aided by the performance and delivery of the previous one (McGrath & Higgins, 2006).