Foundations in Nursing and Health Care: Beginning Reflective Practice

AORN Journal,  Feb, 2007  by Ellen O'Connor

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Foundations in Nursing and Health Care: Beginning Reflective Practice Melanie Jasper 2003, 206 pages 12 [pounds sterling] softcover

This book gives an accessible and practical explanation of why reflective practice is necessary and when health care practitioners should use it. The book begins by examining reflective practice as a concept. Reflective practice is thinking about things that have happened and seeing them in a different way, which enables a person to take some kind of action. Taking action involves decision making, and learning to reflect on a situation before acting gives one an opportunity to plan what the action will be. Different levels of reflection are discussed in the chapters. Depending on the situation, reflection sometimes is done quickly, though the process may take longer, for example, when making a plan of care for a patient.

The second chapter begins with recognizing personal strengths and weaknesses. Readers are encouraged to recognize and explore their previous experiences and reflect on how they dealt with those experiences. The author believes that self-knowledge will help one reflect on situations in the clinical setting.

Another chapter discusses frameworks for reflection. Readers can work through some of their experiences by using the frameworks and then applying them to clinical experiences. The book then considers the clinical environment, encouraging readers to think about the challenges they have encountered there in the past.

The last two chapters present practical ways of actually being a reflective practitioner. Readers learn ways of reflecting on their own as well as ways of reflecting with others.

The book has six chapters, and each chapter includes key points, top tips, reflective activities, keywords, and case studies. In each chapter there also are learning outcomes and rapid recap (ie, short answer) questions with the correct answer provided in an appendix. Most chapters contain references, though some of the references are outdated. The book also includes cartoons and incorporates an attractive two-color design, which lead the reader to want to read further and glean more information about reflective practice.

This well-written book is intended for first-level health care students or health care workers returning to practice. I would recommend it to any nursing instructor or health care educator.

This book is available from Nelson Thornes Ltd, Delta Place, 27 Bath Rd, Cheltenham GL53 7TH, United Kingdom.

ELLEN O'CONNOR

RN, BSN, CNOR(E)

ADJUNCT CLINICAL INSTRUCTOR

SNEAD STATE NURSING PROGRAM

SCOTTSBORO, ALA

COPYRIGHT 2007 Association of Operating Room Nurses, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning