Figure 1. A cyclical model of reflection. (Gibbs, 1988)
This document is a brief introduction to 'reflective practice' which will be discussed in the practice-preparation tutorial for Stage 1 students.
Reflective Practice is a tool that is believed to result in both improvement in patient care and professional development (Hargreaves, 1997). Reflective Practice can be defined as 'the process of turning thoughtful practice into a potential learning situation' (Jarvis, 1992). There are three types of reflection:
Undergraduate radiography students are required to complete weekly reflective diaries whilst on clinical placement. These diaries will generally relate to 'reflection on action'. The aim of this type of reflection is for the practitioner, by reviewing an incident, to use the result of this analysis as a means to improve future practice (Burton 2000). It must be noted however that any reflective practice is reliant on memory and interpretation of events - selective memory is a particular problem especially following a negative event (Newell, 1992). Hence the clinical tutor, when reviewing the reflective diary with the student, may need to, on occasion, provide a balanced view of a particularly emotive event if the student has not yet achieved sufficient distance / experience to view such an event in a balanced way themselves.
Various models for reflective practice exist and can be categorised as cyclical models or structured models. Structured models (including the holistic model by Johns, 1991) involve question and answer exercises which may be limiting especially for more experienced practitioners (Burton 2000). Cyclical models provide a general framework which guides the user into the 'reflection on action' way of thought and an example of such a model is illustrate in figure 1, below.
Figure 1. A cyclical model of reflection. (Gibbs, 1988)
Radiography undergraduates are to be encouraged to utilise cyclical models of reflection as given in Figure 1. A pre-placement tutorial will introduce the principles and various models of reflection to the students. This will be consolidated during the pre-clinical week by interactive group work arranged with the University of Exeter Counselling Service.
Burton, S. (2000), A critical essay on professional development in dietetics through a process of reflection and clinical supervision, Journal of Human Nutrition and Diet, October 2000, Volume 13 (5), pages 323-332.
Gibbs, G. (1988), Learning By Doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods, Further Education Unit - Oxford Polytechnic, Oxford.
Hargreaves, J. (1997), Using Patients: exploring the ethical dimension of reflective practice in nurse education, Journal of Advanced Nursing, Volume 25(2), February 1997, pages 223-228.
Jarvis, P. (1992), Reflective Practice and Nursing, Nurse Education Today, Volume 12, pages 23-30.
Johns, C. (1991), The Burford Nursing Development Holistic Model of Nursing Practice, Journal of Advanced Nursing, Volume 16, Pages 1090 - 1098.
Newell, R. (1992), Anxiety, Accuracy and Reflection: the limits of professional development, Journal of Advanced Nursing, Volume 17, pages 1326-1333.
Reed, J. Proctor, S. (1993) Nurse Education - a Reflective Approach, Edward Arnold, London.
Schon, D.A. (1987) Educating the Reflective Practitioner, Jossey-Bass Publishers.