How to be a better clinician with reflective practice
30 April 2021
Spring 2021
Thinking about your experiences to gain insights into your practice, improve patient care and the way you work is all part of reflective practice. Sophie Goodchild explores how to bring the learning tool into personal clinical practice.
Reflective practice (RP) looks back in order to move forward. It’s a skill that encourages deep thinking about events, focusing on what actually happened, decisions made and the consequences.
Everyone has ways of processing both positive and negative occurrences, but RP requires conscious, continuous and sustained effort (Koshy et al, 2017). Even a conversation with a colleague can generate meaningful insights if practitioners set aside time to reflect and make RP routine.
The learning approach is important for healthcare providers because it can lead to improvements in the quality and safety of care given to patients, is looked upon favourably by employers, and can assist optometrists in managing challenging professional situations.
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Related further reading
The College of Optometrists and the Optical Fees Negotiating Committee (OFNC) call on the government to make a long-term commitment to primary eye care in its NHS 10-Year Health Plan as part of the shift from hospital to community.
The College of Optometrists calls for vital community minor and urgent eye care services to be universally commissioned in England
Optometrists talk to patients about eye health every day, and have an important role to play in health promotion and public health.