reflective practice

NICU_Nurse, BSN, RN · Oct 3, 2003

Mira, sorry it took so long to reply to this!

Personally, I do try keep a journal, but a personal journal- not one specifically related to my work. In fact, I rarely write down things that occur at work, and focus more on my interaction and feelings about the babies or parents that I work with, or my emotions in response to something that is hard to deal with.

I attended a legal lecture once where they actually recommended that you NOT keep a journal of specific events, because if a court found out that you had kept a journal during something that was going to trial, they had the right to take it and use it in court. Some nurses have had this work against their favor, implicating them in the trial, and I have basically stuck to that theory since I started nursing.

Additionally, I am a very self-aware person, and frequently go over events at work with my husband or review them mentally, and have found that this is enough to help *me* improve my own practice as a nurse and provide the best care I possibly can. I can't say that that would be effective for someone else who is not willing to admit that, should their care be less than stellar, they might be at fault or contributing to something that needs to be improved or prevented! However, it works for me, and I just do not feel comfortable keeping a day-by-day journal related specifically to my nursing care and the events on the unit. :)

Mira · Oct 3, 2003

Thank you so much Kristi for responding:)

I was thinking abou it and thankful that you reminded me about its potential to be used in a court room. Safer to talk about events with a friend or vent my sentiments in this forum:)

At times,I write about the trauma inflected by others on my patients because I have noticed that some people just don`t admit their faults especially if it happened before my shift, I find it difficult to trace who the culprit is (i.e.burn from tcPO2 monitor)so just to be on the safe side I write it down in details(apart from the usual nursing notes). I write things to remind me about the events and reflect on what were my contributions to the trauma or if I intervened appropriately.I take a mental note on how to prevent future trauma. I think it is ok to keep a diary/journal so long you write things in a sensible way.:)

mercytomy · May 4, 2011

I agree with it .it is remembrance of past.

NicuGal, MSN, RN · May 4, 2011

As it was stated above, if you do keep a journal, make sure no one knows about it because if a suit is brought up and the lawyers find you have a journal, it can be put into evidence. Anything in there can be used. I just sat on a trial and all of us involved were asked if we kept any written records of anything from work. If a co-workers knows, they may inadvertently say to the lawyer...Oh, I know so and so keeps a journal, I bet she knows what happened that day. And there you are now in the hot seat with your journal out there. Most cases are civil cases and are open to the public, so anything in there can be made public knowledge.

Just some food for thought.