Participating in university placement at Lizard Island was both a challenging and rewarding experience. I initially hoped to gain new skills and assist clients in clinical complex cases. But during the four-week placement program I gained an extraordinary amount of experience in understanding and participating in team work processes during an emotionally raw time. Throughout my university education reflective practice has been emphasised as a highly effective tool and an integral part of learning for health care professionals, integrating theory and practice. It wasn’t until my workplace placement that I understood it’s true value and importance. Health care professionals function in complex and changing environments that requires a continual learning mind set and a passion to update and enhance knowledge and skills in order to solve complex patient and healthcare problems by the best effective and efficient means. Reflective thinking is described as thinking that is purposeful and working towards a conclusion (Musolino & Mostrom, 2005). I discovered that my reflection began as I experienced difficulty, a challenge or a problem.
Pre-conceived ideas, beliefs, values
I entered the workplace with a keen …show more content…
Reflective learning journals are recognised as a significant tool in promoting active learning and was suggested to me by my mentor and formed the grounding to this paper and allowed me to further understand my personal motives, perceptions, attitudes, values, and feelings associated with the experience, work colleagues and clients. I challenged my reflective practice due to the lack of respect given to my client during her initial on boarding and my initial errors in my thoughts. I started to asked myself at the end of each day the following