Learning Journals and Critical Incidents: Reflective Practice for Health Care Professionals

This is the 2nd edition of the best selling book "Learning Journals and Critical Incidents" which has been widely acknowledged for its contribution to the understanding of the importance of reflection and reflective practice within modern health care practice. This edition has been thoroughly updated to recognise changes and developments in both theory and practice over recent years. The book illustrates how reflective practice can fulfill a fundamental need for all health care professionals to make sense of their clinical experience. It shows how these sense-making processes are complex and need to be sustained over time. A variety of models are represented, classified and critiqued. Models which view reflection as orderly, cognitive, linear, step-by-step processes are set alongside those which view reflection as a more messy, value-laden, cyclical and context-bound activity. Practical suggestions of how to use them are given and their advantages and limitations are discussed. The clinical implications of the principles and processes associated with reflective practice are discussed in the text and are then drawn together in conclusion.