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Episode must involve an RN – WHY? This is not saying you can’t see good/poor leadership or mentorship from an EN or AIN – but as you are about to graduate as a RN you need to focus on an RN


Assessment 2: Reflection on leadership

Using the Gibb's Model of Reflection students will reflect on their experiences on a previous placement with leadership or mentorship from a Registered Nurse and how they will integrate this in to their future nursing practice.
Length: 1000 words

Assessment 2: Reflection on leadership: TIP SHEET
General points
Word count = 1000 words
·         This means 1000 words +/- 10% so between approximately 900-1110 words
·         I have provided a guide to word counts in each section – this is a guide only
·         References and reference list are NOT included in the word count
Getting started
Your first step is to think of an episode on placement where you witnessed/experienced good or poor leadership or mentorship from a RN
Key words
·         Episode must involve an RN – WHY? This is not saying you can’t see good/poor leadership or mentorship from an EN or AIN – but as you are about to graduate as a RN you need to focus on an RN
·         Placement – this can be any placement you have been on during your nursing degree
o    NB: This is NOT to come from your work experiences – WHY? We are looking for your experiences as a student RN
·         Leadership – we have discussed leadership a lot in this subject so you should be aware what this encompasses
·         Mentorship – this is your experiences being mentored – i.e.: buddied with a RN
·         Good or poor experiences – you can use either – often we learn more from our poor experiences
·         Think of an episode where you experienced good leadership or mentorship – and what made it good – how this made you feel – you will unpack this using the reflective cycle with the aim to take the best elements – make sure they are grounded in evidence – and incorporate to your own practice
·         OR think of an episode where you experienced poor leadership or mentorship – and what made it bad  – how this made you feel – you will unpack this using the reflective cycle with the aim to take the best elements – make sure they are grounded in evidence – and incorporate to your own practice
Now review Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle as these are the headings that you will use in this assessment – there is a copy in assessment resources

1.       Description (approximately 250 words) 10 marks
·         Thinking of the episode you have chosen - describe this and tell us what happened.
·         This sets the scene for the rest of the assessment – so take your time to choose an appropriate episode
·         This is a narrative – to provide an overview of what happened
·         Be concise – don’t include superfluous information e.g. it isn’t a step-by-step guide to everything that happened on a shift
·         Not academic language – but please still use good grammar and spelling
·         You can use the first person – we want to see how you were involved
·         Make sure you provide specific detail –  don’t just provide generic details e.g. don’t just say the RN showed good mentorship by providing good communication – how did they do this? This is what you want to take away and learn from the encounter
·         NB: Don’t identify the RN or the facility this occurred at – this would be a reach of confidentiality
2.       Feelings (approximately 100 words) 10 marks  
·         Written in the first person
·         What were you thinking and feeling during this episode
·         Use descriptive and honest language – again this is not academic language
·         What impact did this have on you
·         Relate the feelings to what happened in the episode
e.g. “I felt a bit overwhelmed when the RN asked me to manage the situation but at the end of it I felt really proud of myself for stepping up”
OR “I felt really upset and disheartened when the RN made fun of my first attempt at a IMI”
3.       Evaluation (approximately 100 words) 10 marks
·         Based on what you have described above – in the narrative and your feelings section -what were the positive or negative aspects you can identify in the episode
·         This part is not analytical – you are making your own personal judgements about what you thought was good or poor
·         This can be written in the first person
4.       Analysis (approximately 250 words) 15 marks
·         What sense can you make of the situation?
·         This is building on your evaluation - reconsider the things that were good or poor
·         The aim is to explain the causes of things that happened – it asks the question why? E.g. so if mentoring was poor – why might that be the case? If you are saying you saw good leadership relate to the evidence on this
·         This part is analytical – it does not describe – so this is NOT in the first person
·         Use academic writing in this section
·         Here you will go to the literature to back up your argument – so articles on leadership or mentoring in nursing will help
·         Use in-text referencing in this section
·         Try and focus on the things that you think are the most important
·         It is better to write more and a couple of things than a little bit about a lot – you will be able to demonstrated your understanding more if you focus on a couple of points
5.       Conclusions (100 words) 10 marks
·         A summary of what you have learnt from this episode
·         This should be backed up with evidence
·         You can write this in the first person – but evidence still needs to be referenced
6.       Action Plan (100-200 words) 15 marks
·         As a result of this episode what specific actions will you now take in your future nursing practice
·         Choose 2 actions – make sure these are specific – number these as 1 and 2
·         A specific action is something like “I will ensure that I provide students with constructive and timely feedback” as opposed to “I will give feedback”
·         For each  provide a rationale – this is the why you are doing it – so this needs to be backed up with evidence
Reference list  5 marks
·         How many references? Minimum of 5 references
·         You are discussing nursing mentoring and leadership – so aim to use nursing journals
·         As always – peer reviewed journals are favoured
·         Harvard referencing at a 3rd year level
Academic literacy 5 marks
Writing at a 3rd year level expected

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