My Experience Of A Reflection At A Work Based Learning Experience

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Description During March 2016, in Stage 1 of the pharmacy degree, I attended a two day work placement in a community pharmacy as part of the Work Based Learning module within the Capability unit. The purpose of Work Based Learning is to increase engagement with learning and to develop skills specific to patient pathways. This will link to Stage 4 of the MPharm course in which the main unit is Patient Centred Care. Therefore, it is imperative that I enhance my patient education skills through my own education. In one particular circumstance, on the second and final day of my placement, a patient entered the pharmacy to collect their prescription items. As the patient came in, the pharmacist told me that I would be responsible for giving the …show more content…

In this instance, I will reflect on how the incident aided my learning. I will also look at how effectively I educated the patient. Thoughts and Feelings When the pharmacist I was working with asked me to give the patient counselling points I felt nervous. The reason I felt nervous was because I had never given a patient counselling points so I was unsure how to proceed. However, through the Prescription Processing module in the FS4 unit of Stage 1, I knew what counselling points constituted of; I just hadn’t given them to a patient directly before. Due to my uncertainty, I asked the pharmacist for some tips on how to proceed. He said to use simple language and tell the patient the medication’s dose and frequency, as well as how long to take it for. He also said to mention the cautions and side effects, and which side effects would require coming back to see the pharmacist or the patient’s GP. I was also told to mention any interactions (i.e. if alcohol interacts with the drug to cause drowsiness then avoid driving). These points are in accordance with the NHS’s Patient Counselling and Consultation Skills (2014). Having a mental checklist of what to do improved my confidence when it came to talking to the patient, therefore making me feel less …show more content…

I found the feedback the pharmacist gave me to be most effective in educating me and improving my clinical skills. The pharmacist’s comment about my lack of non-verbal communication was especially relevant. Mehrabian’s (1981) research shows that 55% of meaning is in facial expression, 7% in spoken words and 38% in tone of voice. Therefore, for more effective communication and patient education it is important that my body language is engaging and appropriate to the situation. Stage 2 of Kolb’s 1984 four-stage Experiential Learning Model, involves reflective observation of an experience. The cycle treats reflection as an imperative part of learning. Upon reflection of the patient counselling scenario, I have realised that actually experiencing an event, rather than simply observing, has proven effective in my learning. This is supported by Bonwell and Eison (1991) who discuss how active learning is important in aiding student education.

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