LO3: Describe legal, ethical and moral concepts in nursing and apply to professional practice, patient
safety, and public protection.
LO4: Identify and discuss contemporary NHS policies, guidelines, and clinical governance processes and
their application in practice in delivering high quality care for patients and the public.
LO5: Outline different research methods and identify application of evidenced based practice in
delivering person centred/family centred safe and compassionate care.
Your reflective essay should be written in first person and discuss the following:
Introduction: -Introduce your chosen legal, moral and/or ethical aspect of clinical practice relevant to your field of Practice.
My chosen ethical in clinical practice is elderly patient who may want to walk without supervision. The nurse desires to promote independence, but the risk of patient injury due to falls may be great. The dilemma is how to balance the contrasting issues.
-Make your introduction accurately reflect all the learning outcomes and ensure you have considered
them in your discussions.
-Identify your chosen model of reflection and the rational for choosing this particular model.
Main body: – Discuss how the ethical theories relate and underpin this issue
-Think back to your sessions on ethics – consider the moral and ethical issues for you as a nurse. Think how
these can be interpreted using the rules of ethics. Which do you consider most appropriate?
-Remember to consider all the learning outcomes above
-Consider the synergy (balance or interplay) between the law and the ethical theories on this subject
-Consider how policies and guidelines are used to assist decision making in practice and the delivery of
high-quality care
-Consider why evidence-based practice in important in person centred care delivery
-Draw your own conclusions and consider how you will use your findings and how this will affect your
future practice
Conclusion: – Give a summary of what you have discusses in your main body of the essay
-Are there any reflections or issues to consider?
Appendix: – An appendix should be included to present 4 pieces of research evidence you have used in
your essay to provide a brief overview of the pieces. A grid template will be provided to all students to
complete this section with headings provided.
Please note this guideline is not definitive and acts as a guide to support students when planning your
written essay. You may consider a number of elemnets in your esssay as long as you ensure that these
are meeting the assessemnt brief and the required learning outcomes.
Version 1: MS 120520
Examples of writing in first person (For reference only not to be copied)
I have chosen to reflect on the topic of euthanasia to demonstrate why this is of ethical importance
(Shepherd, 2017).
I will use the Gibbs Reflective Model because I have found it easy to utilise compared to other models
(Conroy, 2019). Based on my personality and style of learning, my preference lies within Gibbs’ reflective
cycle. Gibbs’s model is divided into six steps (Smith, 2015). As I describe myself as an emotional individual
this is very important to me to try and rationalise my actions (Dessi, 2016). Chenai (2013), states that this
model allows people to reflect on their feelings and thought process, by analysing the situation a
concentration is applied on what can be improved.
Gibbs (1988) reflective cycle encourages a description of the events with consideration for my feelings and
thoughts, thus providing me with clarity towards my actions, enabling me to deduce any areas I can look to
improve as well as the implementation of a plan for the forthcoming events (Wilding (2018).