Reflective practice is a process of thinking clearly, honestly, deeply, and critically about any aspect of our professional practice. It requires committing to creating space to reflect on one's work and has long been recognised as an integral part of safety and quality.
Reflective practice is considered good practice and is foundational to processing the challenges of high stress and high risk associated with healthcare work.
For example, reflective practice directly strengthens our work in patient safety and quality using structure reflective processes to consider things such as:
Process the factors underpinning failures,
Identify opportunities for learning,
Distinguish accountability,
See the interplay of culture and
Strengthen teamwork.
Resources
CEC has developed a suite of resources to support the development of reflective practice skills. This includes tools and tips sheets that guide the application of reflective skills in different contexts e.g., as an individual; with peers; or within your supervision.
These questions can be used to help guide individual reflective practice such as when journalling or preparing to bring a topic to a reflective practice session.
Use this tip sheet when helping someone in a reflective practice session move beyond automatic negative thoughts to more constructive ways of thinking.