Reimagining reflective practice and reflective practice environments in a post pandemic world: A discussion paper

ABSTRACT

Covid-19, the disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is recognised as one of the most challenging global events of the twenty-first Century. The detrimental impact of the pandemic resulted in high rates of infection, morbidity, and mortality, with health-care workers firmly positioned on the frontline of this unparalleled international crisis. An emerging literature detailing the impact of COVID-19 on health-care practitioners identifies high levels of depression, anxiety, and distress. Accordingly, there are calls for the implementation of effective interventions to tackle the impending spectre of psychological morbidities and staff burnout. While it is important to explore new approaches, it is also valuable to examine how existing strategies, such as reflective practice, can be repurposed to specifically address practitioner well-being. This requires a reimagining of reflective practice and a reimagining of the reflective practice contexts in which reflective activity occurs. This paper presents The Reflective Practice Integrative Framework, which illustrates how reflective practice can be used to address the complex aims of supporting effective patient care, while also facilitating practitioner well-being. The Reflective Organisational Learning Framework is also presented which can be used to develop effective reflective practice environments through single, double, and/or triple loop learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Covid-19 pandemic
• Donald schön
• Reflective practice
• Single-, double- and triple-loop learning
• The reflective practice integrative framework
• The reflective organisational learning framework

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

No external funding.

Notes on contributors

Ann Donohoe

Ann Donohoe is an assistant professor at University College Dublin, Ireland and is a faculty member of the UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems, Health Sciences Centre, Belfield Campus. She has expertise in educational research and has a particular interest in reflective practice in health professions education. Dr. Donohoe has conducted research into the use of blended and e-learning strategies that are specifically designed to facilitate students to engage in reflective practice. Dr Donohoe has over 20 years’ experience in higher education and has been involved in the development, co-ordination and delivery of a wide range of programmes at undergraduate and graduate level both nationally and internationally. Dr. Donohoe has extensive experience in working with faculty from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds and her broad clinical experience has enabled her to teach a variety of subject/content areas. Her PhD is in the area of teaching and learning in higher education and she has research expertise in devising innovative pedagogical approaches and assessments. Dr Donohoe is also involved in exploring how students can be facilitated to engage in reflective writing.