A nursing student’s reflective account of decision-making in a school nursing setting

Abstract

Reflection is integral to professional revalidation and enhancing nursing practice; it is an art and a science to be learned. Learning the art of reflection begins as a student in clinical placement settings. Drawing on a reflective model, this article presents an account of one second-year children's nursing student's experiences in a community-based placement with a school nursing team. A school nurse appointment was reflected on where advice was offered to a 13-year-old student with sleep difficulties, low affect and lethargy, which included avoiding caffeinated drinks, reducing use of a laptop and mobile phone before going to sleep, and establishing a regular bedtime routine. Providing nursing care to this young person enabled the nursing student to improve their decision-making skills, become more self-aware, increase their confidence when communicating with a patient and reinforce the importance of applying theory to practice.

Review of the Clinical Decision-Making Skills in Undergraduate Nursing Students

“…[28,29] Furthermore, clinical decision making is a keystone skill and essential for undergraduate student nurses because it Clinical decisionmaking skill enables the nursing student to complete nursing interventions and provide nursing care aligned with course learning objectives. [13,18,23,25,30,31] In line with this, decision making is a central skill necessitated and identified by the Nursing Council and must be achieved in preregistration nursing programs. [9] Nursing schools and nurse educators must help nursing students enhance learning clinical decisionmaking.…”