2- Professional Development

Reflective Paper: A Best Practice Strategy for Professional Development
Purpose:
The purpose of this assignment is to explore a communication experience in greater depth to obtain a
clear picture of your feelings and behaviours that contributed to the experience. The overall goal is to
build and improve communication competence thru reflective practice. Reflective practice is an active
process where we examine our personal thoughts and actions either during or after an experience.
General Learning Outcomes:
The following general learning outcomes apply to this assignment:
1. Describe effective communication strategies used in interpersonal relations
2. Examine best practices and effective communication strategies to develop and maintain the
therapeutic nurse-patient relationship.
3. Examine concepts of communication climates, groups, teams, conflict and conflict management,
and intimidation in health care
4. Develop skills in self-awareness and reflection
Introduction:
In this assignment reflect upon a recent disagreement, difference of opinion, or conflict situation with
someone (preferably a non-family member), and identify how your communication contributed to the
situation.
Instructions:
1. Recall the event
• In three or four sentences, summarize objectively the recent event where you had an
interaction with someone which resulted in a disagreement.
o Note: Do not use immediate family or spouse/partner for this assignment
• Example 1: Your co-worker took an hour break instead of ½ hour which is the norm.
Because of this you missed your break. You are upset and told them they were rude and
unthoughtful. You made the decision to not speak to them the rest of your shift. They
stayed away from you the remainder of the day. This interaction resulted in a
disagreement.
• Example 2: You feel your colleague has not done their part in the group project. You
approach them and say because of their lack of work the group received a poor mark!
When they try to explain themselves, you cross your arms and look away.
2. Reflect on the response to the event
• Describe the following responses you had during the event:
o Thoughts
o Feelings
o Actions
3. Relate communication strategies to the event:
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March 23, 2022 V1.22 2
• Choose 3 communication strategies you used that either contributed to or deescalated
the conflict/disagreement.
o Define/explain each of the strategies
o Using the 3 strategies, analyze how these strategies were used in your conflict
example. Do not hypothesize on the other person’s thoughts, feelings and
actions; this is about your reaction/contribution to the event.
o You are required to go beyond justifying your reaction and uncover the
underlying reactions that were triggered.
o The strategies must be clearly labelled in your paper with the use of a heading.
o The strategies and its definition must be referenced
• Poor Example: I was angry because my brother refused to take my advice.
• Improved example: I was angry when my brother did not take my advice because it
made me feel incompetent and that he did not trust me.
4. Respond to the event:
• Answer the following 4 questions in your paper
o How does reflecting on this event influence your future interactions with
disagreements?
o What are the potential consequences to your relationships, your education, and
your future professional practice if you do not change?
o What are the potential benefits to your relationships, your education, and your
future professional practice if you do change?
o Identify two specific communication strategies you will use to change your
communication in the future and how you pan to implement each strategy.
Assignment Requirements:
1. Paper Length (not including title and reference page)is 3-5 pages
2. Write in the first person (using the word “I”
3. Utilize course textbooks for academic references (No requirement to find external journals)
a. Arnold and Boggs’s Interpersonal Relationships Professional Communication Skills for
Canadian Nurses (1st Can ed) Chapter 14
4. Utilize APA formatting for
a. Title page
b. Utilize heading levels as appropriate
i. First level headings for Recall, Reflect, Relate, Respond
ii. Second level headings for the strategiess utilized for the reflection
c. Use the same font throughout the paper
d. Use quotation marks around linguistic examples (e.g., They said “You can’t tell me that”)
e. Use in-text citation to acknowledge the work of others
f. Reference page
g. Submissions must be in a word document (no PDFs, Google docs, or Mac pages will be
accepted)
i. Save your paper with your first initial, last name, and assignment number
ii. Example:
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March 23, 2022 V1.22 3
Example:
Reflective Paper on an Interaction
Recall
I had an interaction with the check in staff at the hospital while visiting my mom…..(expand on the
description of the event)
Reflect
I could not understand why the line up was so long to get in to the hospital. I was getting frustrated with
having to wait…(expand to include my thoughts, feelings, and actions)
Relate
I used 3 different communication techniques which included both positive and negative strategiess.
Non-verbal I used non-verbal communication techniques that were negative in nature. I crossed my
arms over my chest….(expand as indicated above)
Vocal Tone I was using short sentences and the tone of my voice…(expand as indicated in instructions)
I-Statements I used I-statements to explain my… (expand as indicated in instructions)
Respond
Reflecting on this disagreement I am going to reflect on the four questions outlined below…(expand
based on the instructions)