reflecting on practice

bill4745, RN · Apr 9, 2007

What is 'reflective practice'?

MM2007 · Apr 9, 2007

Hello, sorry reflective practice, is reflecting on what was good and bad about a particular incident, and how in the future you could improve the outcome.

allnurses Guide · Apr 9, 2007

http://www.trainer.org.uk/members/theory/process/reflection.htm

here is a little description of some of the various reflective practice papers

In the UK we are encouraged to be reflective practitioners by our professional body (Nursing and Midwifery Council) by maintaining a professional portfolio to evidence current practice and professional development. Part of this could be reflective in nature.

leosrain, BSN, RN · Apr 9, 2007

You're definitely not a Canadian Nurse :)

Reflective practice is drilled into our heads from day one of nursing school here. It is simply a proccess of exploring our experiences and evaluating our own actions using evidence-based-practice to either support what we did or to seek out more apopriate options. In nursing school we did this by writing dozens and dozens of reflective papers during clinical. As registered nurses we are expected to continue this practice as part of our continuing competencies.

Sean

What is 'reflective practice'?

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Apr 9, 2007

don't know about your interpretation of reflective practice but I hope the perceptions of others are included as well. For instance, did I ask the patient how he feels 1 hour after getting pain meds? Did the family make a positive/negative comment that I could file away in my head to consider later? A co-worker? We all think about comments after our shift. I hope we use them to improve our practice and to learn from others from evidence-based reading.

CrufflerJJ, BSN, RN, EMT-P · Apr 10, 2007

Hello everyone, i am just coming towards the end of an essay based on the advantages and disadvantages of reflective practice and its benefits to patients. So far i have the advantage that it improves the quality of patient, what else tho ?
Thankyou.

In ANY job, you must avoid over-confidence. If you think you know everything, do everything perfectly, don't need to ask questions, you are certainly making mistakes. In dealing with patients, these mistakes can have unpleasant consequences.

I would think that there is a "balancing act" between questioning yourself too much (did I do this right...did I do that right?), versus not questioning yourself enough. If you don't ask questions about how you might improve, you're "stuck in a rut", and will likely never improve.

This "constant improvement" ("Kaizen" to those familiar with Japanese quality systems) is applicable to many aspects of your job. Not only direct patient care, but also paperwork, how you handle samples to avoid errors, process improvement,...

As a paramedic (and accelerated nursing student as of 6/07), I find myself asking after a run "what could I have done better?". If the answer is "nothing", and you've HONESTLY looked at the situation, then so be it. Reflection offers you the opportunity to do your job better, detect problems faster, communicate important facts more clearly/in a more timely manner.

By reflecting after the fact, it enables you to run more on "autopilot" if you face the same situation again. Rather than being a total newbie in each situation, worrying about each & every step, it enables you to step back & focus more on the "big picture", and in doing so, it frees you up to detect serious issues that you might otherwise have missed.

As to the negatives of reflection, you've got to be careful that you don't question yourself too much. There's a fine line between being overconfident and being wishy-washy. It's good to ask "how could I do better", but not good to waste too much time doing that if there is no real opportunity for improvements. To question yourself ("reflect") too much leads to being hesitant, fearful of making a mistake, worrying "what if I do something wrong". To swing too far the other way results in you becoming an egotistical "I can do no wrong" uncaring, unobservant, "cookie cutter" caregiver. Either extreme has its own dangers. As with many things in life, it's a balancing act between paralysis on one extreme and uncaring chaos on the other.

allnurses Guide · Apr 10, 2007

MM2007, there is an article about the pitfalls of reflective practice, it is 2001 so a little old but still relevent.

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2648.2001.01960.x

it is worth having a look at. As for reflective practice I quite like Bev Taylors Technical, practical and Emancipatory reflection which addresses reflection wholistically and allows you to take account of how your practice impacts upon yourself, your patients, your colleagues and your organisation.

PM me if you need any more help. I am just finishing a MSc which is reflectively based so at the moment eat, breath and sleep reflective theory