NBNS2423 Reflective Nursing Assignment: Enhancing Practice Through Reflection, Reflexivity, Praxis & Practice

Assignment Title:

Transforming Practice through Reflective Thinking, Reflexivity & Practice Development

NBNS2423 INTRODUCTION

In an increasingly complex healthcare environment, nurses are expected to move beyond routine tasks and develop the capacity for critical, reflective, and ethical thinking. Reflective practice plays a central role in enhancing professional competence by allowing nurses to evaluate their clinical experiences, challenge assumptions, and promote personal growth. Reflexivity goes even deeper, encouraging self-awareness of how personal values, emotions, and cultural contexts influence decision-making. Praxis, as the integration of theory, reflection, and ethical action, transforms nursing from a task-oriented role into one that actively shapes and improves care. Practice development (PD), meanwhile, focuses on systematic, team-based efforts to improve quality, safety, and person-centred outcomes through shared learning and reflective inquiry.

This assignment is designed to deepen your understanding of how these interconnected concepts support both individual growth and collective transformation in clinical practice. You will critically analyse real or observed nursing situations and propose strategies to promote reflective improvement at both the personal and unit level.

Instructions:

Write a critical essay (1500–2000 words) addressing the following three components:

Part A: Comparative Reflection

Choose two significant clinical experiences you encountered (or observed) during your recent postings:

• One where reflective practice improved your care or understanding.
• One where lack of reflection or reflexivity led to a challenge or missed opportunity.

Compare and contrast the situations:

• What were the outcomes in each?
• How did reflective or non-reflective thinking impact decision-making, safety, or communication?
• Use Gibbs or Rolfe’s model to structure the analysis for one of the cases (Case 1).
• Generally describe another case (Case 2).

Part B: Reflexivity & Praxis In Nursing

Critically examine:

• How your background, biases, or emotional state affected your interaction in either case.
• What assumptions did you carry?
• How could praxis (reflection + action + ethics) have changed the outcome?

Include:

• Discussion of ethical decision-making, values, and power dynamics in care delivery.
• Integration of nursing philosophy or ethics frameworks.
• Support with at least two scholarly references.

Part C: Practice Development Proposal

Based on your reflection and analysis, propose a mini-practice development initiative for your clinical unit:

• Identify a team-level issue observed (e.g., communication breakdown, rushed care, unclear role boundaries).
• Design a reflective-based improvement strategy (e.g., debriefing sessions, peer reflection, reflective huddles).
• Discuss potential barriers and how to overcome them (e.g., time constraints, resistance to change).
• Describe how to evaluate the effectiveness of your plan.
• Use evidence from journals or local practice guidelines to justify your recommendations.

NBNS2423 Assignment Requirements:

• Assignment to be submitted on 20th July 2025 via LMS.
• Organize and compile your work into PDF file.
• Written assignment guidelines:
• Font style size 12 Times New Roman.
• Margin Normal.
• Line with double spacing.
• All pages should have page numbers.
• Please include cover page and table of content.
• Total marks for written assignments are given based on the marking rubrics.
• Total words count between 1500 – 2000 words.
• Free from grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and plagiarism.
• References style: HAVARD

NBNS2423 Assignment Structure & Student Guide

1. Introduction

• Briefly introduce reflective practice, reflexivity, praxis, and practice development.
• Mention what the assignment will cover.
• Outline the significance of these concepts in professional nursing.

2. Part A: Comparative Reflection

Choose two experiences:

• One where reflection guided good practice.
• One where a lack of reflection or self-awareness led to issues.
• Use Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle or Rolfe’s model for one case.

Include:

• Description
• Feelings
• Evaluation
• Analysis
• Conclusion
• Action Plan
• Then compare both cases (outcomes, insights, what was done differently or not at all).

3. Part B: Reflexivity & Praxis

• Critically analyse how your personal background, culture, values, or emotions influenced your actions in one case.
• Discuss power dynamics, bias, or ethical dilemmas.
• Define and apply praxis: how could your awareness be translated into ethical action?
• Support with at least 2 academic sources (journal articles, ethics frameworks, nursing theory).

4. Part C: Practice Development Proposal

Design a simple team-based improvement plan based on your analysis.

Include:

• A clinical issue that needs change (communication, patient dignity, teamwork)
• Your idea to improve it (e.g., reflection huddles, peer feedback, patient preference flags)
• How to implement it (steps, who’s involved)
• Barriers (e.g., time, resistance) and how to overcome them
• How will you measure improvement? (feedback, audits, patient satisfaction)
• Use supporting evidence from guidelines, research, or best practice examples.

5. Conclusion

• Summarise what you’ve learned from comparing both situations.
• Reflect on how reflexivity and praxis changed your professional thinking.
• Emphasise the importance of team-based reflection and improvement.