The Reflective Cycle (from Gibbs 1988)

Reflective Model – Stevenson (1993)

Choose a situation on your placement.

Ask yourself:

What was my role in the situation? Did I feel comfortable or uncomfortable? Why? What actions did I take? What actions did others take? Was it appropriate? How could I have improved the situation for myself, the patient and my

mentor? What can I change in the future? Do I feel as I if I have learnt anything new about myself? Did I expect anything different to happen? What and why? Has it changed my way of thinking in any way? What knowledge from theory and research can I apply to this situation? What broader issues, for example ethical, political or social, arise from this

situation? What do I think about these broader issues?

Both from Palmer A, Burns S & Bulman C (1994) (eds) Reflective Practice in Nursing Oxford Blackwell Scientific

REFLECTIVE CYCLE

DescriptionWhat happened?

FeelingsWhat were you thinking and feeling?

EvaluationWhat was good and bad about the experience?

AnalysisWhat sense can you make of the

situation?

ConclusionWhat else could you have done?

Action PlanIf it arose again what would you do?

Format for Critical Incident Reflection (after Minghella & Benson 1995)

Ask yourself: What actually happened? What did I think and feel about it at the time? What do I think and feel about it now? (on reflection) What did I do that I feel that I could have done better/differently, and would like

to improve? What did I do well? Thoughts following classroom session/facilitated reflection

From Mingella E & Benson A (1995) Developing Reflective practice in mental health nursing through critical incident analysis Journal of Advanced Nursing 21 (2) 205 – 213

Model for Structured Reflection – Johns 1998

From Johns C (2000) Becoming a Reflective Practitioner Oxford Blackwell Scientific p 47

Looking in Find a space to focus on self Pay attention to your thoughts and emotions Write down those thoughts and emotions that seem significant in realising desirable

work

Looking out Write a description of the situation surrounding your thoughts and feelings What issues seem significant Aesthetics

o What was I trying to achieve?o Why did I respond as I did?o What were the consequences of that for the patient/others/myself?o How were others feeling?o How did I know this?

Personalo Why did I feel the way I did within this situation?

Ethicso Did I act for the best? (ethical mapping)

What factors (either embedded within me or embedded within the environment) were influencing me?

Empiricso What knowledge did or could have informed me?

Reflexivityo Does this situation connect with previous experience?o How could I handle this situation better?o What would be the consequences of alternative actions for the

patient/others/myself?o How do I feel now about this experience?o Can I support myself and others better as a consequence?o How ‘available’ am I to work with patients/families and staff to help them meet

their needs.

Driscoll (1994) Three Elements in the Process of Reflection

1. What …. (returning to the situation) Is the purpose of this situation? Exactly occurred? (write or verbalise in own words) Did you see; did you do? Was your reaction? Did other people do? (eg. colleagues, patients, significant others) Do you see as the key elements of this situation?

2. So what….(understanding the context) Were you feeling at the time? Are you feeling now: are there differences, why? Were the effects of what you did/did not do? Good emerged from the situation? Were your experiences in comparison to your colleagues? Are the main reasons for feeling differently from your colleagues?

3. Now what …. ( modifying future outcomes) Are the implicatiojns for you/colleagues/the patient? Are you going to do about the situation? Needs to happen to alter the situation? Might you do differently if faced with a similar situation? Are the best ways of getting further information related to the situation,

should it arise again?

From Driscoll J (1994) Reflective Practice for Practice Senior Nurse 13 (7) 47 - 50