title: Reflective practice in the accident and emergency setting.
abstract: The object of this paper is critically to analyse the issue of reflective practice within the writer's own professional arena. The writer is a senior nurse within an Accident and Emergency (A & E) department. It has long been recognised that a gap exists between theory and practice in nursing. There has been much discussion in the nursing literature about the development of the reflective practitioner and how reflection in practice can assist in closing the theory-practice gap. Nurses have always experienced great difficulty in identifying a theory of practice. Jarvis (1992) states that reflective medicine is a frequently used but infrequently defined concept in nursing at the present time. For both qualified nurses and students alike, reflection can be utilised as a learning process to help them expand and develop their clinical knowledge and skills to directly benefit client care (Dewing 1990). Schon (1987) has identified reflection as a process of knowledge acquisition originating in practice and best suited to solving complex practice based problems. Reflection is an active process of exploration and discovery which often leads to unexpected outcomes (Boud et al 1985). Reflection that occurs in the process of an experience is referred to as reflection-in-action (Schon 1987). Nurses have the ability to think about their actions while they are carrying them out and change the actions should the professional's assessment of the situation change (Schon 1983). Reflection can lead to new understanding and appreciation which can be put to use in future experiences (Dewing 1990). This paper will commence with a brief explanation of how nurse education is developing reflection and experience to assist the student nurse to close the theory-practice gap.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Walker
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D016529:Emergency Nursing; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D006801:Humans; D009742:Nursing Theory; D013850:Thinking