GIBBS REFLECTIVE CYCLE

Gibbs Reflective Cycle

Gibbs Reflective Cycle

Introduction

As my profession is a community mental health nurse (CMHN), I will put light on a personal experience using GIBBS's reflective cycle. It occurred with one of my clients. I would highlight my learning and development which I gained through this experience. I would reflect upon this incident that how it made me effective in achieving my preferred practice. I would describe my opinion, thinking and approach about the incident that occurred. It will also show the quality care I provided; the skills that I developed during my training and what I learned from the incident thereafter. To show how this incident developed and what I learned, I would demonstrate it through GIBBS model. It would guide my reflective process (Oborne, 2002, 103).

Importance of GIBBS Model

The reason for choosing GIBBS model (1998) is because it is a reflection model which is structured on six different stages. This helps in describing the incident thoroughly and its development and after effects. This model travels around six phases, which provides a reflection process. The six points include a description of the incident, personal feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and finally action plan. Reflection refers to an active flow where the development of understanding takes place that how social, historical, cognitive, cultural and personal experience contributes towards professional knowledge and practice (McNulty, 1999, 12).

Gibbs model of reflection uses a reflection on-action approach as the critical incident to be reflected on must be chosen. Gibbs model allows one to think about encountering the same situation again and to plan what one would do the next time. Gibbs model was chosen for this assignment as it allows anticipated action thereafter once the cycle stops. By going through the stages of analysis and conclusion, this allows one to learn from the experiences one has made. Although Gibbs provides a useful framework for reflecting in the abstract and usually away from the scene of practice, Gibbs does not provide the means for the cycle to be closed. Reflection in-action occurs when you are thinking simultaneously as practice occurs. Meanwhile, reflection on-action occurs as retrospective thinking about an experience (Mayne, 2004, 36).

Description of the Incident

The patient I was charged for was Pete who was a Caucasian man in his early sixties. He was known to mental health services for the last twenty years or so, and he was accepting treatment. He was regularly seen by the doctors in the out-patient clinic, by a support worker and me, as his CMHN. Pete used to abuse alcohol and on numerous occasions had been referred to local drug and alcohol services, although he inevitably failed to attend his appointments. In the past year, he was transferred from the third floor to ground floor flat, which he had been wanting because he was suffering from chronic obstructive airways disease.

However, within nine months of his move, he was admitted to a local mental health unit on three separate occasions, reporting suicidal ideas on each ...