REFLECTIVE WRITING MARIE LEWIS

29/09/04

Reflection is a requirement of nurse, midwife

and health visiting education and practice.

[Nursing and Midwifery Council 2002]

“The process of internally examining and

exploring issues of concern, triggered by

an experience which creates and clarifies

meaning in terms of self, and which results

in a changed conceptual perspective”

Boyles and Fales [1983]

In English

• It is the process of looking at yourself, what you

do and why.

• The purpose is to evaluate what works well,

what not, and how to learn and develop.

• The end result is confident, competent midwives

who provide a high standard of midwifery care.

We all reflect on aspects of our lives everyday,

it is the natural process of assessing what

you did, what you said, why you did it, was it

the best thing to do.

“ Should I have parked here?”

“Perhaps I shouldn’t have let her go to the

disco”

“I wish I hadn’t told him I’d spent £50”

As Midwives • We must reflect on our practice-

• Our knowledge

• Our skills

• Our attitudes

The development of a professional portfolio is a requirement of maintaining registration, reflection on practice is an important element of this.

[NMC 2002]

Reflection • Reflection can take many forms:

• Private, individual, written or mental.

• Reflecting with a trusted colleague or

supervisor of midwives.

• Group reflection

• Remember all reflection must remain

anonymous to maintain confidentiality.

There are no hard and fast rules for how to

do written reflection, if you explore the

literature you will find many models for

reflection which are designed to help you.

Choose the one that suits you.

John’s model [1994]

1. Identify the incident/ describe

2. Reflection/ what was I trying to achieve,

how did I feel, What influenced my

decisions.

3. Alternative action/ What if anything would

I do differently?

4. Learning/ What have I learned, how do I

feel now?

Bouds Model [1995]

1. Reframe the incident through discussion

with others.

2. Work through the experience using

positive feelings, look at the positive

aspects.

3. Re-evaluate the experience integrating

new skills and knowledge.

Gibbs Reflective cycle [1988]

Describe what

happened.

What were you

thinking and feeling?

Evaluation.

What was good and bad?

Analysis Conclusion

What else could I have done?

Action Plan

What would you do

next time?

Atkins and Murphy [1993]

1. Description/ record the main issues

2. Critical Analysis/ examine all aspects of

the situation

3. Synthesis/ bring together new and old

knowledge to problem solve.

4. Evaluation/ make judgements about the

effectiveness of your care.

Remember

• The models are designed to help you, you

can use any or a combination.

• Keep your writing anonymous to protect

confidentiality.

• Don’t forget the good stuff! Reflection is

not about beating yourself up.

Gibbs and Breakfast • I woke up , I felt hungry, I thought I should eat something so I had a

biscuit with my coffee.

• It was good to eat something, it was bad that I chose a biscuit.

• I chose a biscuit because it was quick and I like the taste though I was still hungry after and I still hadn’t got much energy.

• I could have chose a bowl of cereal but I had no milk. Maybe I should have had toast but I don’t really like it unless it is dripping with butter. There were some eggs in the cupboard and I had some fruit in the bowl. I could have made boiled eggs and used my new blender to make a fruit smoothie

• Tomorrow I am going to get up early and have boiled egg for breakfast with wholemeal toast and a fruit smoothie. That should give me more energy and I shouldn’t still feel hungry afterwards.

• NOT!

HAVE A GO!

• Choose something simple that happened

to you yesterday.[ even if it is only what

you had for breakfast!]

• Decide which model you would like to try.

• Have a go!