Reflection on an incident is a process which will enable me to assess my experiences so that I can improve my practice in future. By practicing reflection, I can continue learning throughout my life. Further, reflecting on past incidents enhances the confidence and I can become more active and competent working professional. Further by reflecting on a critical incident, I can deconstruct and reconstruct that incident to have a better understanding of my role in the service provision. Reflection and consistent critical thinking on an incident will be valuable for me to incorporate the theoretical lessons that I learnt in theory with practice which will lead to improved service delivery and personal and professional development. Reflection on the critical incident will further enable me to share my knowledge with others especially with group members in challenging and difficult situation of group presentation. For the purpose of group presentation, we formed a multidisciplinary team called Acute Medicare Team of five members which included an Occupational Therapist, a consultant, physiotherapist, nurse and a social worker. I was the social worker. The legislations which draw on the importance of collaborative working in health and social care are The Health and Social Care Act 2012 and NHS and Community Care Act 1990. By using a model or framework of reflection during reflective practice, I can ensure that it makes sense of what I am reflecting on and gain a constructive action plan for future. The model will also assist me in giving an analytical thought to the incident (Stonehouse, 2011). There are several models that can be used for the purpose of reflective practice such as Gibb’s reflective practice, Flanagan Critical Incident, etc. I am using Kolb’s learning cycle for reflecting on the critical incident that occurred during the multidisciplinary working. A personal action plan is also developed in the assignment in which I have set smart goals for myself.
There were five tasks in the group presentation and I had to complete task five. At the initial age only we faced the problem in formation of the team. Two of the team members named Amy and Jill (pseudonyms) backed out at the initial stage which made preparation of presentation more difficult since the beginning and our group lagged behind. We struggled to get two other individuals into our group. One of the new members named Natasha (pseudonym) did not attend the lecture or rehearsal and only communicates via WhatsApp. Two of the group members Daniel and John (pseudonyms) did not submit their slides in time and one of them named Bill (pseudonym) did it separately which delayed the printing of Hardcover. The amount of work couldn’t be distributed equally and some of us had to face the burden of extra work as other team members did not cooperate and coordinate well. It was the reason the rest of the group members built up frustration. We also faced issues in lighting during our presentation. The lectures kept asking us to press the light bottom consistently which caused confusion among us. So we faced problems in the group presentation right from the formation of group, working on the presentation, submission of the slides and even during conducting our presentation. Theories which suggest the importance of professional culture in multidisciplinary working are Ethics of care and Utilitarianism.
Kolb proposed a framework in the form of a learning cycle for the purpose of learning from our life experiences on daily basis. This cycle considers the practice of reflection as an essential part of learning. As per Kolb, activity of learning has a four-staged cycle in which is ‘reflective observation’ (Kolb, 1984).
First stage is called as Concrete Experience. It is the stage at which an individual or a group is given a task to perform. Active involvement is central to learning. So, as per Kolb’s cycle, an individual cannot learn by just watching or reading about a task. To learn efficiently, group or the individual should actually perform the task. On experiencing an incident, one can reflect on it so that he/she can learn something new or improve on the existing skill and practice. In this stage the individual or the team notice a particular incident and simply explain what they see, feel and think.
Second stage in Kolb’s learning cycle Reflective observation. Reflection begins with comprehending about what one did or experienced, which is followed reviewing the experiences and recording them. It is done by asking a range of line of questions and open communication means with other group members. This stage can be conducted by making use of various activities such as report writing of the incident, seeking or giving feedback, taking breaks for thinking time, maintaining learning journal, discussion, etc.
Third stage is the Abstract conceptualization. Kolb termed the process of going from thinking about the experiences to interpreting as conceptualization. Conceptualisation is the creation of a hypothesis regarding the making sense of the experiences. The leading question at this stage is how the incident could be improved by practicing differently in a better way. It can be done by identifying different ways for handling the situations and later find out strategies when a similar situation comes across. Other team members and literature should be consulted to get an improved understanding and additional ideas. The reflector will draw comparisons between what he did, reflect upon it and what they learnt previously. It is done by referring to the theories, facts and models from the textbooks to explain the incident.
Final stage in the Kolb’s learning cycle is of the Active experimentation. At this stage the hypothesis formulated in the previous stage is tested. It is considered the how the learner is going to put what he/she has ascertained into practice. Planning facilitates using the new found interpretation and translates it into estimation of future in order to plan action for improving the practice or dealing with a situation. The newly gained knowledge and improvements is used in practice and this will again form the basis of new cycle (Dennison, 2009).
Therefore, all the experience has the possibility to generate learning, but it must be done strategically by Kolb’s cycle by reflecting on the experiences, interpreting them and testing the interpretations. Learning from the experiences included the core component of reflection (McLeod, 2017).
For the purpose of group presentation, we formed a multidisciplinary team called Acute Medicare Team of five members which included an Occupational Therapist, a consultant, physiotherapist, nurse and a social worker. I was the social worker. There were five tasks in the group presentation and I had to complete task five. At the initial age only we faced the problem in formation of the team. Two of the team members named Amy and Jill (pseudonyms) backed out at the initial stage which made preparation of presentation more difficult since the beginning and our group lagged behind. We struggled to get two other individuals into our group. One of the new members named Natasha (pseudonym) did not attend the lecture or rehearsal and only communicates via WhatsApp. Two of the group members Daniel and John (pseudonyms) did not submit their slides in time and one of them named Bill (pseudonym) did it separately which delayed the printing of Hardcover. The amount of work couldn’t be distributed equally and some of us had to face the burden of extra work as other team members did not cooperate and coordinate well. It was the reason the rest of the group members built up frustration. We also faced issues in lighting during our presentation. The lectures kept asking us to press the light bottom consistently which caused confusion among us. In spite of rehearsals, we faced a technical issue while presenting.
In a multidisciplinary team, professionals from multiple disciplines learn about, from and with each other to promote efficient collaboration so that improved outcomes for the service-users can be gained. But I felt that the multidisciplinary team for my group presentation lacked in effective collaboration which led to a poor presentation. Although we had the clear goal of preparing and giving the presentation but there was insufficient clarity of roles and responsibilities as initially Amy and Jill did not maintain professionalism and fell out at the initial phase only. Incompetence of team members was also an issue in our team as Daniel and John couldn’t meet the deadlines set for submission of deadlines. I believe the major factor for the ineffective team functioning was poor participation level of the team members. It felt like everyone was doing their own thing and no coherent approach was adopted by us to maintain workflow. One of the reasons for this could be poor communication between us. Further, I feel we didn’t have good interrelationships between us which led to poor team functioning. Natasha showed a lack of willingness to collaborate with us missing the lectures and rehearsals. I also felt that Bill didn’t trust the team as he submitted the slides independently. I believe all the factors are bound to the primary aspect of effective leadership. Due to lack of a good leader, we lacked a direction and did not have a proper guidance to prepare or conduct the presentation.
If I had been given the chance of group presentation again then I will make use of better alternative option than the previous experience. I will ensure that prior to start preparing for the presentation, a leader is appointed amongst us. The leader can form the team by adopting a suitable framework such as Belbin theory. While team formation, I will ensure that all the members are formally or informally bound to the group so that they remain a part of it until the presentation is over. I believe to achieve this an interpersonal relationship based on trust will be required. Lack of trust leads to withdrawal and conflicts among the team members. In addition, I will ensure that all the team members have a common shared goal and we work together towards accomplishing it. It is essential that personal goals of every group member is identified and corresponded with the team goal. Evidence suggest that effective flow of communication is the key to effective collaboration of a team. I will ensure that we will have improved flow of communication through communication channels that are convenient for all the group members. The leader must also use the motivational approach to maintain the enthusiasm and willingness of the group members to work on the presentation throughout the project period. I will also conduct team meetings to promote learning so that the group can work on the incompetence of individual team member and develop the skill required for the presentation. For myself, I will make sure that I do not get overwhelmed by the difficulties that came up during the entire activity. I got extremely frustrated which led to stress and anxiety and hampered by performance as a social worker during the presentation. I understand it was vital that I maintain calm and professional attitude so that the impending barriers could be removed, so that other members could be encouraged. I felt that I didn’t work up to a good level to play the role of a good team member. Further, I feel I did not communicate suitably to address the doubts and issues which if discussed could have been resolved and our presentation would have been better.
Since I did not act efficiently as a group member and instead got overwhelmed with the challenges we faced during preparation and presentation, I will prepare an action plan which will have smart goals based on the critical incident analysis to enhance my professional development and improve my practice.
Goal 1
S- I will improve my knowledge and practice of multidisciplinary working. I will get myself aware with the legislations, policies and theories of collaborative working from government websites, journal articles and textbooks.
M- I will give about 4 hours a week for this purpose.
A- I will make use of internet connection and library to get access to the relevant books and websites.
R- This knowledge will help me in having a better understanding of different aspects of multidisciplinary team working which could be incorporated in my practice. Enhanced theoretical knowledge will improve my practice as I will have an idea of what is right to do next.
T- I will ensure that I find one hour in a day four times a week for this purpose.
Goal 2
S- I will also work on my communication skills.
M- I will ask my mentor to have monthly discussions with me to track my progress.
A- I will attain it with the help of activities like roleplaying, debates, group discussions, reading books on communication skills, etc.
R- With improved communication skills, I can perform my role as a team member more efficiently and as a social worker, it is essential to be a good team player in order to be a good practitioner.
T- I will devote 6 months to it so that by next semester I have an improved set of communication skills.
For my personal improvement which in turn will aid my professional growth, I will also focus on my psychological learning needs. I will remind myself that I am looking to make positive progress with each day, and not get bothered over each and every issue which is out of my hands to handle (Stewart, et al., 2015). I will practice being more patient in times of stress. I will also aim to build resilience in myself by asking my mentor to supervise me.
Conclusion
Reflecting on an incident assists in identifying the importance and relevance of the incident in practice and in future implications. Reflection on this particular critical incident of group presentation helped me translating the thoughts into insight which promoted the critical enquiry and helped me in learning by reviewing and assessing a situation. During the complete incident of group presentation, I learnt various factors and skills relevant to my personal and professional development. There are several frameworks available to pursue reflection and each has its own relevance. I also felt that if I critically analysed the model without application of any model, there was a possibility that I might have focused on just one aspect particularly inabilities of my team members which would have limited the scope of the benefits of detailed and wider exploration (Ashby, 2006). Kolb’s learning cycle was an appropriate choice of model for reflection as I could identify the incompetence and inabilities of my team members as well as my own. Like I could identify issues of lack of trust, lack of willingness, poor communication and absence of leadership as some of the barriers from my team members. While I got stressed and overwhelmed and couldn’t perform well in the team. Further, it helped me in developing an action plan to improve my learning, skills and behavior.
References
Ashby, C., 2006. Models for reflective practice. Nurse Practice, 32(10), pp. 28-30.
Dennison, P., 2009. Reflective practice: The enduring influence of Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory. Compass: Journal of Learning and Teaching, 1(1).
Kolb, D. A., 1984. Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
McLeod, S., 2017. Kolb’s Learning Styles and Experiential Learning Cycle. [Online]
Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html
[Accessed 8 December 2018].
Stewart, Seifert & Rolheiser, 2015. Anxiety and self-efficacy’s relationship with undergraduate students’ perceptions of the use of metacognitive writing strategies. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 6(1), pp. 4-12.
Stonehouse, D., 2011. Using reflective practice to ensure high standards of care. British Journal of Healthcare Assistants , 5(6), pp. 229-302.
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download