Reflective Analysis

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Role of the student in a theatre/recovery setting: a reflective analysis
The purpose of this paper is to reflectively discuss the issues raised in the scenario in appendix 1. Using Rolfe et al (2001) model of reflection to structure the paper
In accordance with the NMC code of professional conduct (2005) all names and places have been changed in order to protect confidentiality.
Firstly, one the main issues raised here is conflict between roles. The conflict arose when the student nurse was told by a qualified anaesthetist to carry out a task, then was told she was not allowed to carry out that task by her mentor. Carr (1992) argues that in health care, the primary sources of conflict fall in to disrepute about professional roles, goals and procedures. In other words, this implies that when nurses and other health care professionals have different ideas of professional roles and procedures this can result in conflict, as with this scenario. Boggs (2003) supports this by arguing that in nursing managed care exacerbates role conflicts in a variety of ways. In this case, the anaesthetist wasn’t aware of the limitations of a student nurses role and the student nurse didn’t understand fully her professional limitations as a student in this situation.
The NMC guidance on professional conduct for nursing and midwifery students (2002) states that as a nursing student one must ‘be aware of the roles and responsibilities of other people involved in providing healthcare’. However, in this incident, as a qualified member of staff asked the student to carry out a task, the student failed to recognise that this may not be correct, and agreed to take the patient to recovery as she trusted the judgement of the anaesthetist that it would be safe and practical for her to do so. The student therefore misunderstood the role of the anaesthetist as being able to delegate and be
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