Presentation made for the students of Saidu Medical College , Swat

1. Department of Medical
Education
Saidu Medical College Swat

3. Reflection and
reflective writing
By
Dr Amjad Ali Khan

4. Future is tough
• Employers want graduates:
• who are self-aware,
• who capitalize on their strengths,
• who will have impact wherever they work,
• who are committed to personal
development and life-long learning, and
• who can confidently provide evidence for
these claims.

5. You can achieve all that if you
are:
• Willing to learn from experience and
change things
• Being open and honest
• Willing to share and discuss your
experiences
• Being motivated to replay / describe /
analyse experiences
• Able to make an action plan
• Able to make time for Reflection

6. Definition
Reflection is a metacognitive process that
occurs before, during and after situations
with the purpose of developing greater
understanding of both the self and the
situation so that future encounters with the
situation are informed from previous
encounters.

7. What is reflection?
Exploration / examination of ourselves and our
actions (often written but also spoken)
• Considered (having been thought about carefully)
• rational, unemotional*
• in relation to theory / wider context / other
perspectives
Why do it?
• to develop understanding / learning / skills
• and give us a path by which to move forward
*(even though it often deals with feelings, reactions and emotions)

8. The basics:
Experience
ReflectionAction

9. Contexts and purposes
• Episode / experience/ process
• Short/specific e.g. lesson we have taught,
procedure we have carried out
• Longer process e.g. project work, group work,
course, client-practitioner relationship
• Critical incident
• Positive or negative
• your own development, e.g. skills,
strengths, challenges (may also be required for education or
work)

10. When do you need to reflect?
• Everyday events
• Positive experiences
• Negative experiences
• Eventful incidents
• Unusual incidents
• Routine activities
• Important events
• Meaningful events

11. How to reflect
• What happened?
• What did I need to do?
• How did I perform?
• What did I think/feel?
• Why did I think or feel this way?
• How did my thoughts/ feelings affect
others?
• What are consequences?
• How can this help me in the future?

13. Description
• Where was I?
• Who else was there?
• Why was I there?
• What was I doing?
• What happened?

14. Feelings
• How was I feeling at the beginning?
• What was I thinking about?
• What did other people’s actions make me
think / feel?
• How did I feel about the outcome?
• What do I think about it now?

15. Evaluation
• What was good about the experience for
me, the patient, others?
• What was bad about the experience for me,
the patient, for others?

16. Analysis
• ‘Breaking it down’
• What did I do well / not so well?
• What did others do well?
• Did it go as expected?
• Why / why not?
• What theory / research helps me
understand the experience?

17. Conclusions
• Could I have done anything differently?
• What are the key things I have learned from
this incident - about me, my performance,
others and their performance?

18. Action Plan
• What would I do in a similar situation in the
future?
• What aspects of my knowledge / skills could I
develop?
• How will I do this?
• What goals can I set myself for the future?
• What outcomes / competencies do I need to
focus on now?

19. What you gain from reflective
writing
• Helps you learn from experience
• Helps you build on your expertise
• Developing your expertise is an important
aspect of evidence based practice
• Reflective writing can be used as evidence
to include in your portfolio to help you
achieve your placement outcomes

20. References
• Atkins, S. and Schutz, S. (2008) 'Developing the skills for
reflective practice', in Bulman, C. and Schutz, S. (eds.)
Reflective practice in nursing. 4th edn. Chichester:
Blackwell Publishing, pp. 25-54
• Elbow, P. (1973) Writing Without Teachers. New York:
Oxford University Press
• Gillett, A., Hammond, A. and Martala, M. (2009)
Successful academic writing. Harlow: Pearson Education
Limited.
• Jasper, M. (2003) Beginning reflective practice.
Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes Ltd
• Moon, J.(2006) Learning Journals: A Handbook for
Reflective Practice and Development. (2nd edn.)
London: Routledge

21. Handouts
• http://www2.port.ac.uk/media/contacts-and-
departments/student-support-
services/ask/downloads/Reflective-writing---a-
basic-introduction.pdf
• These would be emailed to you.

22. Task
• Write a reflection on this session.
• Submit your reflection to DME.

23. Thank You