Facilitating Reflective Practice

Reflective practice (Health Education & Training Institute, 2011, p21-23) is a key skill for the student to learn and the supervisor to facilitate.  The student is encouraged to become more self-aware, identifying their strengths and weaknesses and determining strategies for improvement.  Developing reasoning skills enhances the delivery of safe patient care.  The ability to reflect on practice and ‘learn from experience’ is considered an ‘essential characteristic for professional competence’ (Mann, Gordon & MacLeod, 2009).  This contributes to becoming a ‘life-long learner’, creating a clinician who can manage unique situations and continue to develop into the future independently.  A supervisor who is able to consciously and visibly reflect on their own practice provides a valuable role model.

In this video Jodie Booth, an occupational therapist with Queensland Health's Deadly Ears program, describes how she facilitates reflective practice in clinical education placements.

Tips to facilitate reflective practice:

• Using guided and advanced questioning techniques within both formal and informal teaching opportunities.
• Encouraging the use of a reflective journal (as often supplied by the University).
• Modelling reflective practice by being open about your own practice and past learning experiences.

For a reflection model and practical examples, please refer to p21 of the Superguide (Health Education & Training Institute, 2011).