reflective journal/diary writing - help!!!!

Nursing Students General Students

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Specializes in medical, surgical, reearch , clinic.

Hi, I am an RN BSN studying to be a child health nurse. As part of my assignment work, I am to complete three reflective journal entries. The problem is, I'm finding this very difficult to put what I have learnt into words. Anyone have any ideas...websites for information?

Thanks

Sarah:chair:

Specializes in psychiatric ER, Mental Health.

Do you have to write about specific procedures, or is it just your feelings about your experiences? I would consider reflective journal enteries about your fellings. Write about how you felt, were you nervous? Was your heart pounding? How did you feel after you met the pt? the family? After you finished a procedure? How did you feel at the begining of the day versus the end of the day?

Just go with what you felt through it all.

I miss writing, I used to journal all the time, now, I just dont have the time to get it all together, someday, I will start again though.......

~ear

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

We had to keep a journal of our clinical experiences at sites where there was no instructor in my BSN program. What I found was that the profs were not only wanting a description of our actual activity, but our reflections on what we learned that day. It indicates your ability to think which is what they are actually looking for. They seemed to be happiest if we made a reference to something that reinforced a textbook concept or some personal discovery in yourself. In other words, "this is what I learned today. . ." Sounds like your profs also want you to include personal feelings as well. So, perhaps things like "it was very difficult for me to be around this child today and not think about the normal life experiences they will probably miss." or "I think I understand how important my role as a nurse can be to help these kind of children feel accepted." That kind of stuff.

Specializes in medical, surgical, reearch , clinic.

We have been told to use an objective, outcome, evaluation and plan in writing our reflective diary...It's really hard to do!

Well for example, the objective is just that ~ what the pt. shows, i.e. BP 200/90. Outcome~BP 160/80, Evaluation~continues to require meds, monitoring, etc. Plan~meds, labs, vs. etc. Basically what your pt presents with, interventions used, response to interventions, and how did the interventions work.

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

Oh! I see. This is really not much different than our writing of nursing care plans here in the states except it's a plan of action for you, the student. Your objective (or goal/s) would be what you had hoped to accomplish at your clinical site that day. You could write that up even before going to the clinical site. The outcome, of course, would be what actually happened at clinicals. Your evaluation will be an analysis of how well your outcome fit your objective. Did you achieve all your objectives? Which ones didn't you get to do? Was it a worthwhile outcome? Or did it stink? Could it have been a better quality experience and why? Would a different patient have achieved the objective you were looking for? That, I think, is what they are looking for. The plan, then, would be what is in store for the next time at the clinical site. Do you plan to try to work toward the same objective(s) by changing something that you'll do the next time? Or, do you have a new objective in mind? Are you happy with the results of this clinical and feel you can move on? This is really a self-analysis kind of tool that your teachers are looking for you to do.

Specializes in medical, surgical, reearch , clinic.

Thankyou so much for all your advice!! This is fantastic!

Sarah

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