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Nurse Education in Practice 11 (2011) e25

Contents lists avai

Nurse Education in Practice

journal homepage: www.elsevier .com/nepr

Book Review

The Critically Reflective Practitioner, S. Thompson, N. ThompsonPalgraveMacmillan, Basingstoke (2008). ISBN: 978-0-230-57318-5

The need for practitioners to reflect effectively is not onlya requirement for personal development in line with NMC regula-tions, but an essential component to enable practitioners to bothlearn from practice and to make choices in care that areevidenced-based and linked to patient values and choices.

The chapters in part one lead the novice reflector into an under-standing of what reflection is not and to remove the many mythssurrounding reflective practice. Of particular interest was the refer-ence to the work of Donald Schön and the development of howevidence and professional knowledge may be used in practice.The differences between reflection in action and reflection onaction are made quite clear when integrating theory into practiceand drawing on previous knowledge or experience. I feel that thissection deals well with creative thought linked well to feelingsand emotions and how this may influence practice. This sectionalso deals well with the moral and ethical concepts of reflectingon practice to enable a more holistic picture and suggests that allsections must be used in conjunctionwith each other. What caughtmy attention in the last chapter of part one was the need forpersonal space when reflecting and often the support needed toallow the practitioner to see the wider picture. The inclusion ofdouble loop learning will clearly demonstrate to lecturers theneed for practitioners to develop skills of learning from learningand seeing the ‘bigger picture’.

Part two focuses on taking the skills in part one further. Chapter4 looks at problem solving skills both when reflecting in and onaction. These are interesting strategies for developing reflectiveskills further with the development of such strategies to suit theindividual. The creative approach of changing practice as a result

doi:10.1016/j.nepr.2011.03.028

of good reflection is explained well and signposts the reader tolook ‘outside the box’.

The consideration of recording and assessing reflection withinChapter 5 deals well with continuing professional development,clearly leading the reader into why reflective accounts can benefitpractitioners and practice through an analytical approach. Onceagain this chapter encourages the reflector to look at the biggerpicture through conceptual thinking. The detailed section onassessing reflective accounts can only aid the lecturer when assess-ing a reflective portfolio in both pre and post registration studentsparticularly in summative accounts. As with most practitioners,barriers to reflection have been discussed well and Chapter 6 dealswith barriers and possible solutions in addition Chapter 7 looks atthe ways forward in the development of a deeper understanding ofreflection, integration of theory to practice, but more importantlythe need for the practitioner to take on responsibility for devel-oping reflective skills when making positive changes in practice.

All chapters provide a simple but detailed discussion on thevaried aspects of reflective practice with excellent boxes on the‘Voice of experience’ and ‘Practice focuses’ which enhance thereaders understanding through personal experiences.

Over all the entire book is an excellent source of information forboth the novice and expert reflector and provides an invaluableresource for lecturers in providing a holistic view of the reflectiveprocess and afford many challenges to those academic supervisorsnot familiar with the need for double loop learning.

Patricia Williams*Cardiff University, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Heath Park,

Cardiff, United Kingdom* Tel.: þ44 (0) 2920687821.

E-mail address: williamspm1@cf.ac.uk