Running Header: CRITICAL INCIDENCE IN OPERATING THEATRES

Critical Incidence in Operating Theatres

Critical Incidence in Operating Theatres

Introduction

Reflection has been defined as the process of internally examining and exploring an issue of concern (Boyd and Fales, 1983) this has been prompted by an experience and the concept of terms of self is clarified and its meaning is also created and changed into a conceptual perspective. Another definition of reflection is that it is a reflective and a reconstructive experience, which leads to the identification of a new possible action (Grimmet and Ercikson 1988). There has been an argument that the practitioner can assess his own behavior if he reflects on his own experience, this will identify the contradictions between the ways the practitioner practices.

Burns and Bulmans (2000) argued that reflective practice is a process of reviewing an experience of practice in order to describe, analyze and inform learning and practice. Gibbs' (1988) reflective model consist of six stages: description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and an action plan. This framework is being acknowledged as one of the principal approaches to reflection; however, this is similar to that of Boyd and Fales (1983). As it stated that learning from experience or experiential learning can be very personal and that nurses are expected to ask question related to their experience, however, these questions are designed to initiate the process of both reflection and learning from experience. It helps to understand the impact of our action and improves our professional skills.

I am a second year student and became a Qualified Assistant Scrub Practitioner after finishing my first year. One of my roles/duties in the operating theatre/perioperative is to scrub with the surgeon under the supervision of a registered scrub nurse/practitioner. My job is also to circulate with the scrub nurse / surgical team during patient's surgical procedure. This essay will include the critical incidence during my placement as a scrub practitioner in an operation theatre. This essay will address my feelings, thoughts and beliefs about this incident along with my quality of care and skills, developed during my training and my learning from this incident.

For this purpose, I have selected the Gibbs model (1988) to guide my writing. Gibbs (1998) model is divided into six different stages which includes incident's description, followed by feelings, then evaluation, later on analysis, conclusion and finally action plan. As stated by Wilkinson (1996) Reflection is a process through which professional gets an idea of how cultural, social, historical, cognitive and experiences have made a contribution to professional practice and knowledge

Discussion

Surgery requires that a group of people having a variety of skills should effectively work together in order to deliver patient care. Apart from their technical expertise, non technical skills are also important for the members of an operating theatre (OT). These are social and cognitive skills that complement technical skills for achieving efficient and safe practice. The main skill categories are communication situation awareness, teamwork, decision-making, leadership and managing fatigue and stress (Flin, 2008). Non-technical skills are entirely distinct from ...