+ Reflective Practice Dr Caroline Whelan GP Registrar August 2012

+ Why do we need it? We have to do it to pass To find gaps in our knowledge so we can address them & then apply what we learn To widen our professional boundaries To benchmark our performance against our peers & supervisors To develop as adaptive experts To generate the questions that might enable service improvement or research

+ What constitutes reflective practice? Observing what is obvious & less obvious look for the unfamiliar Self-awareness What you sense or feel about the experience Use of I Self-regulation Recognise your own boundaries Check against competencies

+ What constitutes reflective practice? Internal conversation How you feel about the situation Write about your reaction to the situation Use feeling words Openness You are willing to highlight areas of your performance that fall short of what might be expected Learning Show what you need to learn & be specific about how you are going to achieve this

+ How do we actually do it? Learning log Record of professional development Quality not quantity But......if there is insufficient quantity then it is unlikely that an adequate quality will have been demonstated & the areas of the curriculum are unlikely to have been covered. A list of descriptive entries is not acceptable

+ What to write about Chose meaningful experiences Important to think why have you chosen this specific case Cover all areas of the GP curriculum (check by clicking on review preparation) Difficult patient encounters Difficult encounters with staff Things which went well Significant event analyses

+ The e-Portfolio template What happened? What if anything happened subsequently? What did you learn? What will you do differently in future? What further learning needs did you identify? How and when will you address them?

+ What happened? Brief synopsis which puts the case into context Include emotions you were feeling at the time so reflections can be made on these Did the case remind you of a previous case or past experience? Don’t be afraid to be critical of your own actions How did your colleagues react to the situation?

+ What if anything happened subsequently? Complete the story Reflect on how you feel about the situation now

+ What did you learn? New medical knowledge How will this help you in your future practice? Concerns about your own ability/thought processing How it will make you change? Insight into your own attitudes & beliefs How did the case challenge you? How will it make you change? Implications on service provision

+ What will you do differently in future? Turn your learning needs into actions What will you do differently next time What would you like to improve

+ What further learning needs have you identified? Specific short term goals Relate these to the GP curriculum Can be knowledge/behaviour based Plus longer term goals to help you become a good GP Break it down into manageable tasks Set a time scale (be realistic) Move it to your PDP (then do a log entry about your learning to complete the cycle)

+ PDP Simple Measurable Achievable Relevant Time based

+ Useful websites East of England Deanery GP page – click on resources and download the Being a Reflective GP PDF