Our task this week was to complete a journal entry relating to self-awareness and its importance in nursing.

In other words, it addresses the “WHAT” portion of the Driscoll model. The writer uses descriptive vocabulary and does not attempt to analyse or interpret the task. For example, the student writes “Our task this week was to complete a journal entry relating to this week’s topic of self-awareness and its importance in nursing.” There is no attempt to explain this activity or analyse its significance.

Note, the “WHAT” section of the assignment represents the most basic form of reflection and serves only as a detailed recounting of an event There is limited reflective value in this paragraph other than its ability to record the details of what has happened. However, a complete description is still essential in order to situate the paragraphs that follow. In other words, it is not possible to describe the impact of the activity or experience without first articulating in detail what they were.

Before the session thought I would be the only one unsure of the topic and its relevance to nursing> I was surprised to learn others appeared to feel the same. I realised I could develop a better understanding of myself by exploring my values and beliefs. Up to now, I had not really considered what makes me, ‘Me’.

I feel I am just starting to understand that in becoming self-aware, I can learn to recognise my strengths and limitations, understand my emotions and appreciate the impact my behaviour might have on the therapeutic nurse-patient relationship, as suggested by Reference (date).

It attempts to interpret or evaluate the description in the first paragraph. For example, in the first paragraph the writer notes that the “task this week was to complete a journal entry relating to self-awareness and its importance in nursing.” In the second paragraph, the writer attempts to place the experience into a more meaningful context by stating that they “hadn’t really understood how my values and beliefs might influence patient care.”

By connecting the described experience with these thoughts, the writer considers the SO WHAT. For example, the writer not only describes the experience as not being aware, but goes on to explore self -awareness in the context of nursing and provides evidence to support that claim: “I feel I am only just starting to understand that in becoming self-aware, I will learn to recognise my strengths and limitations, understand my emotions and appreciate the impact my behaviour might have on the therapeutic nurse-patient relationship, as suggested by Reference (date).”

The session encouraged me to be more open-minded about myself.     I hope that by examining my values and beliefs I will learn to identify any unconscious bias that has the potential to impact on my delivery of high-quality person-centred care which, reference (date) states is fundamental to meeting the needs of individual patients.

Appreciating and acknowledging differences will help me in developing my professional knowledge, skills and attitude in line with the Nursing and Midwifery code (NMC, 2018).

The evidence suggests that the student is becoming more aware of the relevance of the topic “The session encouraged me to be more open-minded about myself. I am hopeful that by examining my values and beliefs I will learn to identify any unconscious bias that has the potential to impact on my delivery of high-quality person-centred care which reference (date) states is fundamental to meeting the needs of individual patients.

Here the student is reflecting back what is they were thinking about & applying supporting evidence.

In this section the student writes that “Appreciating and acknowledging differences will help me in developing my professional knowledge, skills and attitude in line with the Nursing and Midwifery code (NMC, 2018).

This is a good example of how to link the present experience to a future context in which the student attempts to apply learning to something new.