Using no more than 2000 words reflect on your experience of working in this placement area. You should consider what you have learned about the specific practice area, for example whether it is forensic, community nursing speciality, what you have learned about yourself and the complexity of the Learning Disability nurse’s role within it.
You are expected to apply a reflective framework of your choice and support your reflection with appropriate references.

This piece of reflection will focus on my experiences whilst on practice placement; I will be using the (Gibbs 1988, cited in Jasper 2003) model of reflection. Gibbs cycle is set out in order of categories made up of different headings (See appendix 1). By using this cycle it allows …show more content…

Peplau (cited in Hinchliff et al 2003) also views the nurse/patient relationship as passing through the four phases of orientation, identification, exploitation and resolution, with identification being when the patient finds out more about the reason for their care needs and the people who can be relied upon for help and advice and how the patient can become more involved in their own care.

In this reflection I did not have to obtain consent from patients as I generalised and have not discussed individual cases. However confidentiality is of major importance whilst treating a patient and it is essential that informed consent is valid as each patient has the right to keep their caring needs private. Riley (cited in Cutcliffe et al 2005) suggests that therapeutic relationships are about patient’s disclosure of personal and occasionally painful feelings with the nurse at a calculated emotional distance near enough to be involved but objective enough to be of help. Neal (cited in Hinchliffe et al 2003) states that confidentiality and trust are two sides to the same coin and trust is another important attribute to the therapeutic relationship as the patient will ultimately place their trust in the nurse.
This element is important as in the nurse patient relationship the patient is in a vulnerable position. People become vulnerable whenever their health or usual function is compromised. This vulnerability increases when they enter unfamiliar surroundings, situations or