A 24 page overview of the reflective process in psychiatric nursing. Includes an extensive literature review and a proposal to evaluate the degree to which psychiatric nurses at a major psychiatric hospital are exposed to the reflective process in on-the-job training and the degree to which they consequently employ the reflective process in their professional lives. Bibliography lists 30 sources.
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practice is receiving more and more emphasis in nursing training. Teekman (2000) contends that reflective thinking is both an obvious and a needed component of nursing. This can
involve such activities as comparing and contrasting scenarios or details, pattern recognition, categorization of perceptions, framing (that process of building the mental connections that enable analysis and increased understanding), and
self-questioning (Palmer, Burns, and Bulman, 1999). The value of reflective practice in psychiatric nursing training is particularly evident. The preliminary purpose of this paper is to support these
contentions through a carefully constructed overview of the literature and the current state of the nursing environment. The second purpose is to propose a study in which the value
of incorporating reflective practice into psychiatric nurse training programs can be illustrated. SUMMARY OF ISSUES
AND THEMES Teekman (2000) emphasizes that reflective thinking is highly praised in the nursing environment. In addition to the emphasis reflective practice
is currently receiving in Ireland, in Australia and other regions it has become a prerequisite for beginning nurse practitioners (Teekman, 2000). Irelands influence in reflective practice is now beginning
to be felt around the country. Among other developments, the English National Board for Nursing and the Nursing Council of New Zealand have lobbied for the development of "reflective
nurse practitioners (Teekman, 2000). As Payer and White (1996) emphasize, however, there is considerable variation in the manner in which medicine is implemented across the world. This is
particularly true in regard to psychiatric medicine. With additional emphasis on the value of the reflective practice in psychiatric nursing, however, it is hopeful that these variations will become