Reflective Assignment Essay Example for Free

Reflective Assignment Essay This essay is a reflective account on my experience within the introductory period of my practice when caring for a patient. The essay will give the definition of reflection. This reflective essay will help me demonstrate how my experience in practice has helped me achieve one of the learning outcomes in my learning plan, (appendix 1). Driscoll (2000) will be used as a reflective model. The essay will explore what (description of events) so what (analysis) and now what (action plan). This essay is going to reflect on the importance of good communication with patients. Names in this essay have been changed, to respect the confidentiality of the patient and other healthcare professionals (NMC 2008). Reflection is ‘reviewing experience from practice so that it may be described, analysed, evaluated and consequently used to inform and change future practice’ (Bulman and Schutz, 2008: page 6). I was placed in an acute admissions ward at a Mental hospital. The ward is an admission ward for assessment and it admits all patients between 16-65 years for psychiatric treatment. What happened was one morning in this ward a male patient, Joe was brought in by the police, detained under Section 2 of the Mental Health Act 1983. I was assigned to admit the patient; NMC 2010a states that it is a requirement of nurses to have up-to-date and accurate records of patients. When my mentor Sarah, asked me to admit the patient, I agreed to do the admission process even though I felt I was not confident to do it, I had only observed Sarah admit a patient once. I felt I would be deemed incompetent if I turned down the opportunity to admit this patient even though I was not really confident in doing so I did not want to allow anything to work against me on this placement. I went to Joe and attempted to inform him that I was to take him through the admission process as well as to check his baseline observations. He looked at me and as if taking no notice of what I had just said started talking about how his wife betrayed him, he went on and on talking about his wife. I repeated myself but he kept on talking about his wife. In my head I thought he was just being difficult and it was time for me to check the observations of other patients. I repeated myself again telling him what I intended to do and this time Joe jumped from his sit and came very close to my face. Whilst standing very close to my personal space he shouted loudly saying â€Å"I am not going to talk to you monkeys until I speak with my GP and my Lawyer†, he then pushed me to the side and he walked off. In a state of shock I went back to Sarah and explained everything that had happened. This incident left me feeling confused and incompetent; I blamed myself for failing to perform what appeared like a simple task that my mentor had asked of me. Sarah sat down with me and explained to me that the patient was well known having been admitted on the ward several times before and is familiar to most of the staff. She thought Joe was behaving in such a way because I was new to him and also the fear of just being in a hospital away from his family contributed to his presentation. According to Chapman and Kimberly B. (2009) most patients experience the stress of being hospitalized and good communication has been identified as one of the tactics which will relieve them. Sarah took me with her to Joe, she wanted me to observe how closely she communicated with him and made him to relax. When we approached him he pointed at me and asked, ‘who is she? ’ Sarah introduced me to Joe then she asked him to come to a separate room with us. Surprisingly to me Joe did not refuse, Sarah spoke with him in an assertive but calm manner, she stated to him the importance of having his physical observations checked, this was to ensure that Joe understood the procedure for him to be able to give us his consent (NMC 2008). Joe was very co-operative and the admission process went on smoothly. I made sure I documented the procedures clearly. The second stage of Driscoll (2002) is the analysis of the events. Looking back at the way I had communicated with Joe and realized that might have contributed to the way he reacted. According to Sheldon (2004) ‘communication in nursing is a sharing of health-related information between a patient and a nurse, with both participants as sources and receivers’. Sully and Dallas (2010) also points out that communication is not just one way, it is a two way process. I realised that my communication with Joe was just one way. He was saying something to me, instead of listening I was telling him something and vice versa. No one was receiving information we were both encoding words that were not being decoded by any one. Sully and Dallas (2010) highlight how communication has need for a sender, a messenger, a receiver and a channel. When Joe asked Sarah, who I was, I realised that I had not introduced myself to him; this could be one of the reasons why he did not want to cooperate. Delvaux et al. 2004 states that to promote patient satisfaction ensure that the patient understands who you are and your specific role. Also Joe might have not understood me because when l said I wanted to check his physical observations he looked puzzled, he might not have known what an admission is nor what physical are. It was important for me to establish mutual understanding; this would have improved the outcome and help reduce his stress, (Fellowes et al 2004) From this experience l learnt that listening is an important skill to have in communication. Joe perhaps became angry about not being listened to, he did not feel valued. I realised that I should have listened to him and shown him some empathy. According to Rogers (1967) ‘empathy is the ability to feel a continuing desire to understand the client’s feelings and communications as they seem to him at the moment’. Roger (1967) also highlights that communication occurs when we listen with understanding. Just listening and trying to understand what Joe was saying could have helped me establish a therapeutic understanding with him. When Sarah was communicating with Joe she showed she was not only listening but also empathizing with him. When he mentioned about his wife betraying him Sarah was nodding her head to show she understood what he was saying. Words and language that we use sometimes only play a small part in passing on any message compared to body language, facial expressions and gestures. These will have an impact on the total sum of communication. (Hargie and Dickson 2004). Thirds stage of Driscoll is the Now what, which is my action plan, Since effective communication is extensively regarded as a key determinant of patient satisfaction, compliance and recovery it is important for me to have the suitable communication skills and to be adequately confident to use them in my clinical practice. From now when I am a student to the time I qualify my responsibility lies in improving my knowledge and skills on good communication and to be a good role model to others. Communication is a skill that I have to learn and it requires me to continually improve. In order for me to improve on my communication skills when I get back to my placement I need to have the commitment to listen more to what the patients are saying and to understand them fully. I also need to show them that I am listening and understanding them I must communicate this understanding to the patient. (Sully and Dallas, 2010). In my learning plan I stated that in order to improve my communication skills I must learn from my mentor and other health care professional as well as to research by reading more on communication. This incident has taught me that I can never say because I have been reading and learning from my mentor my communication skills are perfect. I am still learning on communication, it’s an ongoing process so I will still need to use my learning plan as well as all the information I have learnt from this incident as my primary plan. If my communication skills are well developed I will be able to manage situations now as a student as well as in the future when I qualify. Being able to manage situations can provide greater job satisfaction and it also reduces stress. (Dougherty, L. and Lister, S. 2011) In conclusion my experience taught me that communication is not just about talking, it involves, listening, looking and understanding what’s being said. Good communication builds confidence and understanding between nurse and patients and works well in improving their relationship. Communication is the basis of the relationship between the nurse and other members of the multi disciplinary team. If ever I get another opportunity to admit a patient I will start off by introducing myself and make sure that the patient understands what I am saying by giving him the opportunity to ask questions. I also learnt that if I am not confident in doing something I should talk to my mentor or any senior member of staff present and be sure on how to proceed with the allocated task. What I liked is on the same day another patient came and I was asked to do admit another patient again and I managed to do it confidently and the patient was very co operative.

Brontës Depiction of Women in Jane Eyre :: essays research papers

In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontà « uses the female characters to convey her views on Victorian conventions of womanhood. She does this initially by using first-person narrative to help us see the characters in their true form. In this essay I'm going to explain how Brontà « uses the character Jane as porthole for her own views and beliefs. During the period Jane Eyre was set, the 1840's, it was conventional that women were inferior to men and were not entitled to their own opinions or freedom of mind. Brontà « uses Blanche Ingram as an example of a typical woman of the time and the consequences of being so are shown throughout. Brontà « argues this view in her preface that ?conventionality is not morality,? this means that what society may think is widely accepted and respectable, is not necessarily what is right, and she creates Jane Eyre as an example of a woman who believes just this but who has, in the end, become more successful than Blanche. Women in the 19th Century were expected to be beautiful and accomplished or they were nothing. Their decisions were made for them and their work was in the home. Charlotte Brontà « thought this immoral and believed that women should be admired for who they are, not what they look like. To highlight this point she uses the character Blanche Ingram, a young lady ?moulded like a Dian?. When reading of Blanche, we are not presented with a complimentary description, for although many other people may describe her as a beautiful, young and accomplished woman, we hear her description from the voice of Jane, who evidently tends to analyse people with a much deeper meaning than just their appearance, and although Jane does admit that Blanche is young and beautiful, she also describes her to be self-centred and inconsiderate towards others - including Mr. Rochester - to who she appears to show no emotion. This is noticeably illustrated when Jane has been observing Blanche and notes that ?her laugh was satirical and so was the habitual expression of her arched and haughty lip?. The choice of the word ?habitual? shows us that this sort of action is typical of her and that she often acts haughty and satirical. The reader immediately feels contempt for Blanche after this observation, as it portrays her to be arrogant and pretentious, especially as it was an action made towards Adele, who is a described to be a sweet young girl who Jane is fond of. Brontà «'s Depiction of Women in Jane Eyre :: essays research papers In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontà « uses the female characters to convey her views on Victorian conventions of womanhood. She does this initially by using first-person narrative to help us see the characters in their true form. In this essay I'm going to explain how Brontà « uses the character Jane as porthole for her own views and beliefs. During the period Jane Eyre was set, the 1840's, it was conventional that women were inferior to men and were not entitled to their own opinions or freedom of mind. Brontà « uses Blanche Ingram as an example of a typical woman of the time and the consequences of being so are shown throughout. Brontà « argues this view in her preface that ?conventionality is not morality,? this means that what society may think is widely accepted and respectable, is not necessarily what is right, and she creates Jane Eyre as an example of a woman who believes just this but who has, in the end, become more successful than Blanche. Women in the 19th Century were expected to be beautiful and accomplished or they were nothing. Their decisions were made for them and their work was in the home. Charlotte Brontà « thought this immoral and believed that women should be admired for who they are, not what they look like. To highlight this point she uses the character Blanche Ingram, a young lady ?moulded like a Dian?. When reading of Blanche, we are not presented with a complimentary description, for although many other people may describe her as a beautiful, young and accomplished woman, we hear her description from the voice of Jane, who evidently tends to analyse people with a much deeper meaning than just their appearance, and although Jane does admit that Blanche is young and beautiful, she also describes her to be self-centred and inconsiderate towards others - including Mr. Rochester - to who she appears to show no emotion. This is noticeably illustrated when Jane has been observing Blanche and notes that ?her laugh was satirical and so was the habitual expression of her arched and haughty lip?. The choice of the word ?habitual? shows us that this sort of action is typical of her and that she often acts haughty and satirical. The reader immediately feels contempt for Blanche after this observation, as it portrays her to be arrogant and pretentious, especially as it was an action made towards Adele, who is a described to be a sweet young girl who Jane is fond of.

Personal Financial Advisors Essay

I want to live the good life. By that I mean a life of wealth, privilege, loving family relationships, and warm friendships. At the end of my life I will be satisfied if my spouse and children are still by my side and if I have a close circle of friends. I intend to earn a lot of money and I intend to give generously to charity. To achieve this, I need time and money. I intend to marry and have three children. My spouse and I, who are still passionately in love with each other, are building an art collection. Both sets of grandparents live no more than an hour away. We visit frequently and the kids adore them. I own my own hedge fund and earn $25 million a year. My spouse owns a business—maybe an art gallery– or a professional practice. We live in a spacious penthouse apartment, probably in New York. We have floor to ceiling windows, views in every direction, a clean, sleek, modern decor, with lots of space for entertaining, which we do frequently. The kids each have their own bedrooms and share a playroom. We have a live-in nanny for the kids, a live-in cook, and help with the cleaning. We have a beach house, probably in South Hampton. We go there most weekends by helicopter. We all have busy lives so the quality time we spend together on the weekends is incredibly important to us. We take exotic vacations two times a year as a family—usually involving some kind of adventure travel pertaining to my love for scuba diving and for studying the ecology of coral reefs. Once a year my spouse and I go some place romantic on vacation together. Each year I take a vacation with one of the kids, just the two of us. The kids go to great schools with small classes and a progressive curriculum that lets them follow their own interests: there is no teaching for the exams in this school. The kids are learning to ride, and to play tennis, squash, and polo. I play these sports regularly. I have a lot of physical energy so I run or bike each day. I also work out every day in the gym in our apartment. I have given up smoking. My spouse and I are active in charity work. We are each on the board of a prestigious charity and when we go to their annual fundraising events we get our pictures in the gossip columns. We give 10% of our income to charity each year. I am a member of the Explorer’s Club because I have contributed something important to the scientific study of coral reefs. I spent a year studying the coral reefs in the Similan Islands in Thailand before starting my career. While there, I also studied Vipassna meditation, which I still practice. I am confident and gregarious. I don’t sweat the small stuff. I plan for the future and I work my plan, but I am flexible enough to enjoy surprising opportunities when they come along. 2. Career goals My long-term career goal is to own my own hedge fund and earn at least $25 million a year. The top hedge fund owners can earn considerably more than this (Story B1). To achieve this I need three things: proven skill at investing (or the skill to hire someone with skill at investing), connections to the kind of wealthy investors who put their money in hedge funds, and the ability to convince potential clients to trust me with their money. 3. A Strategic Plan for My Future I have four major goals: to stop smoking, to learn more about coral reefs, to start a hedge fund, and to find the right spouse and start a family. I can quit smoking this year. I have decided to join a smoking cessation program at a local hospital this summer. I have consulted with my doctor and he thinks this is a good option for me. I am determined to succeed. I don’t know how long, or if, I will, as a devoted amateur, ever be able to make a scientific discovery significant to earn me admittance into the Explorer’s Club, but I intend to proceed as though this is possible (Explorer’s Club). So far, my experience with scuba diving and studying coral reefs has only been as a tourist and an avid reader. I would very much like to participate in a real scientific research expedition. One of the world’s leading organizations for research into the ecology of coral reefs is the ARC Center for Excellence in Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia (ARC Center of Excellence). My plan is to contact the scientists at the Center to learn what kind of opportunities there are for amateurs to participate in research projects. I am also considering participating in a research expedition, sponsored by the Earthwatch Institute, to Thailand’s coral reefs in December 2009 (Earthwatch Institute). I have another motive for doing this, which is that I can imagine meeting my future spouse on such an excursion. I would like to meet someone with whom I have interests in common. I think it will take me ten years to get the experience and contacts I need to start a hedge fund. I would like to apprentice myself to a leading hedge fund operator such as James Simons of Renaissance Technologies, John Paulson, or John Arnold of Centaurus Energy (Story B2). I am pursuing an education in finance. I have also been studying investment methods and I seem to have an affinity for technical analysis. I am managing a fictional portfolio as if it were real—tracking trades and so forth—and I am doing reasonably well. I am planning to join the Marketing Technicans Association and to earn the CMT credential. This involves a course of self-study and passing three challenging exams (Marketing Technican’s Association). Preparing for all three tests is said to take a total of 400 hours of study (Marketing Technician’s Association). I also intend to be active in the association—to meet others in the field and hopefully to network my way into a job in finance. As everyone knows, this is not an ideal time to be looking for a job in finance. The sector has cut 400,000 jobs in the past two years (Bowley & Story). I plan on being persistent. To start a hedge fund, I will need clients. To find them, I need to go where rich people and people who manage portfolios for large institutions go. I plan to be active in fundraising for our alumna association. I play squash and tennis. I plan to learn to play polo, an expensive sport. I also plan to be active in several charitable organizations. I hope this networking will put me in touch with the right people. Salesmanship is very important in the hedge fund business. Why should a potential client trust me with their money? I intend to build a reputation as an ethical, dependable, solid person. People will trust me because I will be trustworthy. This may sound obvious, but one thing that is sorely missing right now in the financial community is trust. Too many people have been too badly burned by the people they trusted to give them financial advice. Probably the goal that matters most to me is meeting a life partner. I hope I can do this in the next five years. I know how to meet people—that’s easy. But what I want to do is form strong, lasting relationships based on honestly knowing each other. The best way for me to do that is to be considerate and honest. In the past I have noticed in myself a tendency to play to the crowd. I will do what is necessary to get a laugh or to make someone like me, even if it means saying something about my thoughts, feelings, or opinions that isn’t really true. This is not going to work when it comes to finding a life partner. I need to be funny, considerate and honest at the same time. I am somewhat afraid of doing this. 4. A Strategic Plan â€Å"B† for My Future What if my plans don’t work out? I find this very hard to imagine. If I put myself in the right place, frequently enough, I know something good will happen, even if it isn’t exactly what I have in mind now. There are always options. I intend to follow my heart so I make the right choices. Suppose I can’t get a job in finance when I want to? I will probably consider going to work for one of the government regulatory agencies; they will probably be hiring. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is one possibility, especially since the CMT credential takes me part of the way towards the FINRA Registered Research Analyst credential (Marketing Technicians Association). This would open more doors. I am very ambitious, but if ten years pass and my dream of starting a hedge fund begins to look like an impossible goal, I will probably consider starting my own personal financial advisor practice. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is forecasting that demand for personal financial advisors will increase by 44% over the next seven years (Bureau of Labor Statistics). I am very interested in the idea of starting my own business, even if it can’t be a hedge fund. Right now, I can’t say what other kind of company I might start but it could be anything. I believe that I have to put myself in the way of opportunities. I will do this by becoming an avid watcher of the economy and an avid investigator of business conditions. I know what I am looking for: a product or service that is necessary and nonexistent. This is how the great fortunes are made. In a general sense, I am most interested in ways in which the internet can be used to deliver new services. Netflix is an inspiration. The question to ask is how could computing and networking be applied to get people this service. If you are talking about a service or product that can be delivered globally over the internet, so much the better. Amazon changed the way people shop for books. Fresh Direct has changed the way New Yorkers shop for groceries. Seamless Web has changed the way people order meals in from restaurants. I see the world as being endlessly full of possibilities. I know my dream is of extreme wealth and privilege. Maybe it is more of a fantasy than something that can be planned for. But I know all the steps I take in pursuing my dream—networking, CMT certification, building a reputation as trustworthy—will open opportunities for me. I can’t know what these opportunities are in advance. My plan â€Å"B† really is much more strategic than tactical. My plan â€Å"A† is tactical. But for plan â€Å"B† I intend to do things that I am really interested in, to take advantage of all opportunities to meet others with similar interests, especially those with a track record of achievement, and to continue studying and learning. There will be opportunities and I will have my eyes open so I can see them. The CMT isn’t the only certification I can pursue; it is just the one that interests me the most right now. The CFA Institute offers the CFA certification which is one of the most prestigious on Wall Street (CFA Institute). This is another course of self-study followed punctuated by three exams (CFA Institute). The more I try to make a plan for the future, the more convinced I become that preparation is the most important thing I can do. This is regarding my love life, my family life, my interest in coral reefs, and my career. If I study and if I seek out other people, I will discover opportunities. You can’t study for love, but you can understand yourself and what you desire. The more I learn about who I am and what I have to give to a life partner, the more likely I will be to find that special someone. I want intimacy, depth, and trust. I want to know and be known as much as possible. I don’t want secrets and I don’t want lies. I am convinced that the only way I will find a person who wants what I do, and with me, is if I give these things first. Works Cited ARC Centre of Excellence. â€Å"Coral Reefs on Brink of Disaster, Scientists Urge Action Now. † Science Daily. 22 October 2007. 28 April 2009 . Bowley, G. & Story, S. â€Å"Crisis Altering Wall Street as Big Banks Lose Top Talent. The New York Times. 12 April 2009. 27 April 2009 . Bureau of Labor Statistics. â€Å"Financial Analysts and Personal Financial Advisors. † Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-2009 Edition. 27 April 2009 . CFA Institute. â€Å"What Is the CFA Program? † 28 April 2009 . â€Å"Coral Reefs of Thailand. † Earthwatch Institute. 28 April 2009 . Explorer’s Club. 28 April 2009 . Marketing Technicians Association. â€Å"CMT Program. † 28 April 2009 . Story, Louise. March, 25, 2009. â€Å"Top Hedge Fund Managers Do Well in a Down Year. † New York Times, p. B1.

The Industrial Revolution Evolution or Revolution

Three of the main battlegrounds between historians concerning the Industrial Revolution have been over the speed of the transformation, the key reason(s) behind it, and even whether there really was one. Most historians now agree that there was an industrial revolution (which is a start), although there has been discussion over what exactly constitutes a ‘revolution’ in industry. Phyliss Deane described an ongoing, self-sustaining period of economic growth with large generational increases in productivity and consumption. If we assume there was a revolution, and leaving speed aside for the moment, then the obvious question is what caused it? For historians, there are two schools of thought when it comes to this. One looks at a single industry triggering a take off among the others, while a second theory argues for a slower, longer-term evolution of many interlinked factors. Cotton’s Take Off Historians like Rostow have argued that the revolution was a sudden event stimulated by one industry surging ahead, dragging the rest of the economy along with it. Rostow used the analogy of an airplane, ‘taking off’ the runway and swiftly rising high, and for him–and other historians–the cause was the cotton industry. This commodity grew in popularity during the eighteenth century, and the demand for cotton is seen to have prompted investment, which stimulated invention and in turn improved productivity. This, the argument goes, stimulated transport, iron, urbanization, and other effects. Cotton led to new machines to make it, new transport to move it, and new money to be spent on improving the industry. Cotton led a massive change in the world but only if you accept the theory. There is another option: evolution. Evolution Historians such as Deane, Crafts, and Nef have argued for a more gradual change, albeit over different time periods. Deane claims that gradual changes in a multitude of industries all occurred simultaneously, each subtly stimulating the other further, so the industrial change was an incremental, group affair. Iron developments allowed steam production which improved factory production and long distant demand for goods provoked investment in steam railways which allowed greater movement of iron’s materials. Deane tends to put the revolution as starting in the eighteenth-century, but Nef has argued that the beginnings of the revolution can be seen in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, meaning it may be inaccurate to speak of an eighteenth-century revolution with preconditions. Other historians have seen the revolution as a gradual, ongoing process from before the traditional eighteenth-century date right up until the present day.